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SUV Used In Eighth Grade Girl's Kidnapping Found In Wooded Area, But She's Still Missing
An Amber Alert remains in effect for 13-year-old Hania Aguilar, who was taken from the front yard of her Lumberton, North Carolina home.
The SUV connected to the abduction of a 13-year-old North Carolina girl who witnesses say was forced into the vehicle by a bandana-masked man has been found, but there is still no trace of the eighth-grader.
An Amber Alert remains in effect for Hania Noleia Aguilar, according to the News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina.
"Someone called 911 and said they saw the vehicle backed up in the woods," Lumberton Police Chief Michael McNeil said during a press conference on Thursday. "We immediately secured the scene. There is an incredible amount of investigative work going on to find Hania. That's our main goal right now."
Policeare searching the surrounding area for the missing girl.
The FBI said the green 2002 Ford Expedition was found in a wooded area of Lumberton, the same town where Aguilar was abducted. She was in the front yard of her home waiting for her family to bring her to school just before 7 a.m. Monday. She had her aunt's car keys and was on her way to start up the vehicle when witnesses say a kidnapper dressed in black with a yellow bandana over his face forced her into her aunt's SUV and drove off, according to local police.
Federal authorities tweeted out Wednesday a photo of that SUV and urged anyone with information to contact them, and within the day someone tipped them off about the vehicle in the woods.
Aguilar is described as 5 feet tall, weighing about 126 pounds. She has black hair and brown eyes. She was last wearing a blue shirt with flowers, paired with blue jeans.
Her family is urging whoever took Aguilar to return her to safety.
"I want for him to remember that he is a son, he has a mother, probably sisters," family member Maria Bonilla said at a press conference earlier this week, according to WTVD in Raleigh. "For him to have a heart. To put his hand on his heart and think about his family, if someone would take his mother, sisters or a member of his own family. That's all."
The FBI is offering a reward up to $15,000. Anyone with information is urged to call 911 or a special tip line established for the kidnapping at 910-272-5871.
[Photo: FBI]
