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American Morning

Local Police in California Investigating Disappearance of 7- Year-Old

Aired February 06, 2002 - 07:09   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Local police out in California investigating the disappearance of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam from her home over the weekend say they're making progress but "time is of the essence." Investigators have questioned a male neighbor. They say he could become a suspect, although he is not one yet. And while leads are few, the family and community remain hopeful that the little girl will be found alive.

CNN's Thelma Gutierrez is in San Diego this morning -- Thelma, good morning.

What's the latest on the investigation?

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Jack.

We're standing at Creekside Elementary School, where Danielle is in the second grade, where classmates and teachers are holding out hope that she will be found alive. Now, the search for 7-year-old Danielle was very intense for the past four days but last night it was called off. San Diego police say they are confident that she is not in this area.

Danielle was last seen on Friday night when her father put her to bed. Police say her mother went out with friends and returned at 2:00 a.m. She noticed the alarm lights were blinking and that a side door was open. She did not go out, upstairs, however, to check on Danielle.

The parents say they didn't realize that she was missing until Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. A neighbor who lives two doors down from the family whose name has not yet been released has been questioned by police. His vehicles were impounded yesterday. Items were removed from his home and investigators say the man has been cooperative. He told investigators that he had gone out to the desert about 80 miles away on Saturday and Sunday, the time that Danielle was reported missing, and he took investigators there yesterday. The man was free to go home last night when he returned from the desert.

The family right now, Jack, is in seclusion -- back to you.

CAFFERTY: What's the latest on the search? You said that they're not looking in that immediate area around her home. They don't think she's there anymore. What's going on as far as the search is concerned?

GUTIERREZ: Last night they called it off. It's still a question as to whether anything will resume today in this immediate area. They said that they were confident she is not here. They had canine units in for the past four days. They talked to all 184 residents in this area and they feel that she is just not here. They don't know where they're going to proceed from now, but when it, when the sun comes up I'm sure that the command center will go up and we'll find out what their plan is.

CAFFERTY: All right, it doesn't look good, does it?

Thanks, Thelma, very much.

Thelma Gutierrez reporting from San Diego.

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