Delaware girl reported missing in NCCo now being treated as MD homicide; abduction no longer believed
A 3-year-old girl who was the subject of an Amber Alert issued the night of June 10 is still missing, though police no longer believe she was abducted, as her mother initially claimed.
The alert for the child has been canceled, police said.
In a brief news conference held on June 11, New Castle County Police said this was not an abduction and this is being treated as a homicide investigation by Maryland State Police. The FBI is also investigating.
County police issued an Amber Alert shortly after 10 p.m. on June 10, which said the girl's mother contacted police to say her daughter had been abducted at gunpoint by an unknown white man.
The mom claimed it happened in the 500 block of Gender Road, a mostly wooded area in Ogletown, about 7:15 p.m. She said she was driving and Dinkins was upset, so she stopped the car to calm the girl down.
The mom told police that's when her daughter was taken. She also claimed that an "unknown white female" was driving a car that the man was in.
As police and the FBI investigated the abduction, Sgt. Andrea Botterbusch said detectives determined the mother's account was false.
'The Amber alert is now canceled and there's no danger to the public,' Botterbusch said. 'Sadly, this incident is now being treated as a homicide investigation.'
A day later, one of the few residents who lives near the road said she didn't hear anything until police knocked on her door about 9 p.m. on June 10.
About 12 hours later, on June 11, two unmarked police SUVs were parked along Gender Road. By 10 a.m., one of the SUVs had left.
The area where police were told the abduction occurred is mostly wooded, with almost no shoulder to safely park a car. There are a few long streets leading to a development and corporate compound tucked away off the road.
An Amber Alert is issued when a child has been abducted and is at risk of serious injury or death. Law enforcement agencies send descriptions of the missing children, their abductors or other information to broadcasters.
The alerts also show up on electronic highway signs. Drivers can expect to see this notification on highway signs across the state.
While AMBER is really short for America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response, it was created as a legacy to 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was abducted and killed in Texas in 1996. The slaying remains unsolved.
This is a developing story. Return to delawareonline.com for updates.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware girl reported missing now being treated as Maryland homicide
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Sen. Alex Padilla disputes Trump administration's account of his forcible removal at a DHS event
Sen. Alex Padilla disputed the White House's account of the events surrounding his forcible removal from a news conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles on Thursday, pushing back against key details about what exactly preceded his handcuffing by federal law enforcement agents. Both the White House and Noem said Padilla, D-Calif., failed to identify himself to security, yelled and lunged toward Noem. "This man burst into the room, started lunging towards the podium, interrupting me and elevating his voice, and was stopped, did not identify himself, and was removed from the room,' Noem said in an interview on Fox News. 'The way that he acted was completely inappropriate." Padilla denied all of Noem's characterizations in his first interview after the incident — on MSNBC with NBC News' Jacob Soboroff. "That's ridiculous. It's a lie but par for the course for this administration," Padilla began. "They said I wasn't wearing my pin. My polo says 'United States Senate,'" Padilla said. "There was no threat. There was no lunging. I raised my voice to ask a question, and it took what, maybe, half a second before multiple agents were on me." The Department of Homeland Security and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Noem held a news conference in Los Angeles related to ongoing immigration raids across the city that have triggered volatile protests. Padilla, who was attending a nearby briefing, interrupted Noem's remarks, which he characterized as increasingly inaccurate and partisan, before he was forcibly removed from the event, put down on the ground and handcuffed by FBI officers, resulting in widespread backlash from Democrats. Padilla called the degree of force FBI agents used against him 'excessive' and an 'overreaction' because of his view that he wasn't 'threatening in any way.' He highlighted that because Noem's event was taking place in a federal building, he underwent a security screening and was escorted by federal agents at all times. Despite that, Padilla said, he was shoved out of the room by several agents, forced onto the ground and handcuffed. He complied with all of the agents' orders, he said, because of lessons he learned from his upbringing in the majority-Latino San Fernando Valley. 'Where I grew up, you know what happens if you don't obey law enforcement. So I began to go on my knees to the extent that they would let me,' Padilla said. 'I kept repeatedly asking themselves, 'Why am I being detained?' No answer. 'Why am I being detained?' No answer. 'Why am I being detained?' No answer.' Democrats have widely condemned the incident, with former Vice President Kamala Harris, Padilla's Senate predecessor, calling it a "stunning abuse of power" and Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., the head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, calling for the arrest of the agents involved. 'We want a fast and full investigation on the assault of Sen. Alex Padilla. That's what we want. We want those people that assaulted him to be looked at and to be arrested,' Espaillat said, adding that the Hispanic Caucus is 'fully behind' Padilla. FBI leadership has defended the actions of the officers amid the backlash, noting that Padilla was in plainclothes and not wearing a security pin and accusing him of resisting law enforcement officers. "Our FBI LA personnel responded in support of Secret Service completely appropriately. We stand by them and appreciate their swift action," a spokesperson for the bureau said on X. Former Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best, an NBC News contributor, said that the situation was 'unfortunate' but that she believed the officers 'had an obligation to respond' and acted appropriately. 'Their job is to make sure that no one causes harm to the secretary,' Best said. 'If the security detail hadn't acted in a situation like this, I think they would have been in hot water." Padilla said that after federal agents removed his handcuffs, he was invited to meet with Noem for 'a few minutes,' an opportunity he said he accepted in order to question her about Trump's decision to authorize the deployment of several thousand National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines to Los Angeles in response to protests over immigration raids. She did not appear conciliatory during the meeting, he said. 'You'd think she might have started the meeting with an apology for what happened? Of course not,' Padilla said. In the hours after the incident, Padilla has sought to tie his interaction with law enforcement agents to the ongoing immigration raids in Los Angeles, speculating that if federal personnel can use excessive force against a senator, they might use similar force when pursuing nonviolent immigrants. 'If they're willing to do this to a United States senator representing the state of California, just imagine how it's going with their immigration enforcement on the streets when they show up at restaurants and are trying to detain a cook or outside a Home Depot trying to detain a day laborer,' he said. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Alex Padilla Tears Up Recounting His Kristi Noem Detainment on MSNBC: ‘It's All BS Coming From Trump'
California Sen. Alex Padilla appeared on MSNBC's 'The Beat' for his first interview following his forceful removal from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's Los Angeles press conference Thursday, giving correspondents a glimpse behind the viral moment. Padilla was forcefully removed by FBI agents and other plainclothes officials from the event after attempting to ask Noem a question about the Trump administrations ICE actions in L.A. Video footage shows the senator being pushed out of the room, pinned to the ground and being placed in handcuffs. NBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff pressed the senator on what made him particularly emotional speaking with the press pool outside after the incident. The Padilla came from a family of day laborers in the San Fernando Valley, and said this administration's target on immigrants, especially in L.A., feels personal. 'I understand their plight. I understand their struggle. I understand their sacrifice to just find the American dream, a good opportunity, maybe a good job, the ability to raise a family, and have the next generation have it a little bit better than you did,' Padilla told MSNBC with tears in his eyes. 'All the talk about immigration, you know, the — the misinformation, disinformation about, you know, invasions and insurrections, it's all B.S. coming from Trump.' Soboroff noted that the senator was raised by a father, who was a short order cook, and a mother, who was a housekeeper. After studying at MIT, Padilla returned to his hometown to rise the ranks in the public sector and serve his community. He told MSNBC that the Trump administration's targeting of immigrants is misguided. 'If all they were going to do is target violent, dangerous criminals, true threats to our national security, that'd be one thing. Nobody has a disagreement there,' he said. 'What's happening in practice is so many — yes, undocumented — immigrants, but who are otherwise law-abiding, peaceful and hardworking, to think this administration changed policy for federal agents to enter schools, houses of worship, let alone workplaces? If immigrants are that bad, why is that where you're looking for them?' The senator also responded to Noem's claims that he 'lunged' at her during the press conference. 'That's ridiculous. It's a lie, but par for the course for this administration, right?' he said. Padilla was down the hall in the federal building waiting for a scheduled briefing that had been pushed back because of the Secretary of Homeland Security's press conference, he said. The senator said he was escorted into the conference room to listen, but he had to speak up. 'At one point, it was just too much to take,' he said. 'This notion that Donald Trump and Kristi Noem have to come in and rescue the people of Los Angeles from Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass? It was too much. And so I spoke up. I introduced myself and said I had a question.' Padilla also told Soboroff and MSNBC host Ari Melber that he had an opportunity to speak with Noem, but he did not get an answer to his question or an apology. 'If this can happen to a United States senator for having the audacity to ask a question of the secretary of homeland security,' he explained, 'then just imagine what can happen to anybody in the country.' Watch the full interview below: The post Alex Padilla Tears Up Recounting His Kristi Noem Detainment on MSNBC: 'It's All BS Coming From Trump' | Video appeared first on TheWrap.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Geraldo Rivera: Sen. Padilla's removal a ‘bad look'
(NewsNation) — NewsNation correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera said Thursday he believes Democratic California Sen. Alex Padilla's removal from a DHS press briefing in Los Angeles was rough handling and was a 'bad look' for the law enforcement officers who restrained him. 'The United States senator has a right, even if it's a stunt, to get in front of a camera and have a dialogue with Kristi Noem,' Rivera said. Video shared of the incident shows Padilla being restrained by law enforcement and forced out of the room and him later being pushed to the ground and handcuffed. In the video, Padilla is seen interrupting the conference held by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, looking to ask her questions. FBI head Patel suing MSNBC columnist over nightclub hopping claims DHS accused Padilla of failing to identify himself and stated that he 'lunged toward' Noem. However, in the video, Padilla identifies himself as he moves toward the front of the room. FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said the agents who removed Padilla acted 'completely appropriately' in assisting Secret Service officials. Noem later said in a post on X that she and Padilla met for 15 minutes after the conference and exchanged phone numbers to talk more later. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
