FBI, Marines Join Search for Missing 3-Year-Old Girl

By Chris Jasurek
November 28, 2017 Last Updated: November 28, 2017
(Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)

The Onslow County Sheriff’s Department, local fire departments, the FBI, and the Marine Corps are all contributing to the search for a three-year-old girl who disappeared from her Jacksonville, North Carolina, bedroom on Monday, Nov. 27.

Mariah Kay Woods disappeared sometime between midnight and Monday morning from her home on Dawson Cabin Road in Jacksonville.

Her mother, Kristy Woods, told WNCT News that she checked on her daughter at 11 p.m. on Nov. 26.

Her live-in boyfriend said he saw the child when she woke up around midnight, after which he sent her back to bed. At 6:45 Monday morning the girl’s grandmother went to wake the child but she was not there, ABC News reports.

Kristy Woods made a tearful plea to anyone who might have abducted her daughter: “Just bring her home, please, safe and sound. She’s my baby, she’s my everything.”

State officials issued an Amber Alert on Nov. 27. The FBI joined the search on Tuesday, Nov. 28.

Shelley Lynch, the spokesperson for the FBI’s Charlotte, North Carolina, office, told CBS News that it had sent members of the “Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team or CARD team,” adding, “FBI CARD Team members are highly trained and experienced experts on missing children cases.”

Part of the search area includes Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base. Marine Corps personnel are assisting in the search, Fox News said.

Family members told WNCT that there was no sign of forced entry or any disarray in Mariah’s room, but did say that the home’s back door was unlocked.

Mariah’s grandmother told WNCT that Mariah had an orthopedic problem with her left leg, which made it difficult for the child to walk steadily. It seemed unlikely that Mariah would have wandered off, given her difficulty walking.

Law enforcement officials have interviewed Kristy Woods and her live-in boyfriend and searched their home and their vehicle, ABC reports.

They also interviewed Mariah’s biological father.

“[Officials are] working everything that can be worked to find this little girl,” said Onslow County Sheriff Hans Miller. K9 units, helicopters, and drones were all combing the woods around the missing girl’s home.

“We don’t know what happened. It’s entirely premature to try to determine what happened,” Sheriff Miller told ABC.

Mariah Woods is described as being about 2 feet 9 inches tall and weighing 30 pounds, with blond hair and blue eyes.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call either 911, or the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Division at 910-989-4070, or Crime Stoppers at 910-938-3273.

Information can also be anonymously texted via Text-A-Tip by typing TIP4CSJAX and your message to 274637 (CRIMES).

How do you react when you hear about Amber Alerts in your area? Do you think Amber Alerts help authorities find missing children?

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From NTD.tv