FBI seeks help in case of missing girl

As the search for missing 3-year-old Lina Sardar Khil enters its second week, the FBI has identified an 18-minute gap from the time she was last seen on video until her family noticed she was no longer on the playground at their gated apartment complex.

Meanwhile, the San Antonio Police Department has closed its temporary command post nearby at USAA, where it was coordinating its search for the girl.

Justin Garris, acting special agent in charge of the FBI San Antonio Field Office, said investigators are seeking the public’s help to learn where Lina was from 4:49 p.m. to 5:07 p.m. on the day she went missing. He said there was no “visibility” of Lina during that stretch of time.

Lina’s parents reported her missing at about 7 p.m. Dec. 20. Her mother had stepped away for a brief moment as Lina was on a playground at the Villas Del Cabo apartments, 9400 Fredricksburg Road, when she vanished. The apartment complex is a gated community, although the entrances are always open.

“A lot of the tips that we have acquired are from outside that 18-minute window,” Garris said. “Any information or leads or anything they (the public) can provide us during that 18-minute window would be of huge value to the San Antonio police and FBI.”

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said shutting down the temporary command post is not an indication the department has reduced its focus on this investigation.

“Right now, what we’re doing is going over reams and reams of data,” he said.

McManus has said police have searched all 300 apartments at the complex, some more than once. The chief said investigators are looking at “some people” in relation to Lina’s disappearance, but he did not elaborate on that point.

The chief said the command post was intended to coordinate searching the apartment and its immediate surroundings. He said it is “disheartening” that police have not found anything leading them closer to Lina.

“We have gone over and over and over that, so there’s really no need to have that command post set up here,” McManus said. “Everything else right now is being done through telephone and social media.”

Lina is described as being 4 feet tall and weighing 55 pounds. She has brown eyes and straight, shoulder-length brown hair that was in a ponytail when she disappeared. She was wearing a red dress, a black jacket and black shoes.

McManus said K-9 teams are searching the greenbelts between the apartment complex and Loop 410. Officers also continue to interview people and receive calls and texts regarding her case.

Officers could be seen riding ATVs as they searched the apartment grounds after McManus spoke Tuesday.

The FBI has brought in its Child Abduction Response team, behavioral analysis unit and data exploitation units.

On Thursday, the Islamic Center of San Antonio, a nonprofit supporting the Muslim community, announced on Facebook a reward for information that helps find Lina has increased to $100,000. Additionally, Crime Stoppers of San Antonio is offering a $50,000 reward.

Lina’s family came to the United States from Afghanistan in 2019. Margaret Costantino, executive director of the Center for Refugee Services, said last week that Lina’s family is among thousands of Afghan refugees in San Antonio, and they have been clients of the center since they arrived in the U.S.

Anyone with information regarding Lina’s disappearance is urged to call the missing persons unit at 210-207-7660. jbeltran@express-news.net | Twitter: @jbfromsa