San Antonio police treating 3-year-old's disappearance as a missing person case, not an abduction

'We have not had much success in trying to determine where Lina is right now,' the police chief said

Police have not had much success in locating missing 3-year-old Lina Sadar Khil and are still treating her disappearance as a missing person case, not an abduction, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said on Wednesday evening. 

"I want to be clear that we are not treating this as an abduction right now," McManus said about 72 hours after Lina was last seen. 

"If it were an abduction, we would either be looking for an individual or we would have evidence of the child being abducted, and hopefully a tag number or a suspect to go along with that. Right now we don’t have any of that, so we’re treating it as a missing person." 

Lina's mother was watching her on a playground at the family's apartment complex in northwestern San Antonio when she briefly left the area and the little girl vanished on Monday evening. 

Lina Sadar Khil, a 3-year-old girl, disappeared from a playground in San Antonio on Monday evening. (San Antonio Police Department)

(San Antonio Police Department)

(San Antonio Police Department)

Police have gone door-to-door at that apartment complex, Villas del Cabo, and reviewed hours of surveillance video in the surrounding area, but don't have any leads yet, McManus said. 

"We have not had much success in trying to determine where Lina is right now," McManus said on Wednesday. "We have not come across anything yet that may help us as far as the video goes." 

SAN ANTONIO BILLBOARDS SET UP IN SEARCH FOR MISSING 3-YEAR-OLD WHO VANISHED FROM PLAYGROUND

Police called in K-9s that specialize in missing persons on the evening that Lina disappeared and have used helicopters to search by air. 

The FBI's Child Abduction Rapid Deployment has been called in to assist, even though it is not yet considered an abduction, McManus said. 

That team consists of about 60 agents nationwide who "map registered sex offenders in the area, handle national and international leads, guide investigative efforts using the protocols from the FBI’s child abduction response plan, coordinate forensic resources as needed, and incorporate the Bureau’s technical assets."

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said they are still treating Lina Sadar Khil's disappearance as a missing person case, not an abduction.  (San Antonio Police Department)

(San Antonio Police Department)

Lina's family settled in San Antonio two years ago after fleeing Afghanistan from "threats that were posed to us," the little girl's father told KENS-TV.

"During our entire lives we have not been as saddened as we were yesterday and today," Riaz Sardar Khil told the local news outlet. 

The Islamic Center of San Antonio is offering a $20,000 reward for information that leads to finding Lina. 

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The Texas Department of Public Safety issued an amber alert for Lina on Monday evening, referring to her as an "abducted child."

Lina was last seen wearing a red dress, black jacket, and black shoes. She's about 4 feet tall and weighs 55 pounds. 

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