Category: News and Views
TRACY, CA - Tracy Police Department officers were searching for an 8-year-old girl Saturday missing from her home in a Tracy mobile home park since Friday afternoon.
Sandra Cantu was last seen at the Orchard Estates mobile home park around 4:00 p.m. Friday.
After returning home from school, Sandra left to go to a friend's home inside the same mobile home park around 3 p.m., Tracy police Sgt. Tony Sheneman said. Sheneman said Sandra left the friend's home and was last seen outside her own home around 4 p.m.
Sheneman had no information about who saw the girl or whether family members saw Sandra after she came home from her friend's home. Sandra lives with her mother and grandparents.
The girl's mother called police around 8 p.m.
"We have no indication that an abduction has occurred and it is our hope that (TV) viewers will see Sandra and immediately notify the police department and get her on her way home," Scheneman said.
"It's definitely out of character for her to be gone this long," Sandra's uncle Joe Chavez said. "She always calls and checks in. She's not allowed to leave the mobile home park. She never goes out."
The FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children were called in Saturday to assist in the search. After canvassing area parks and schools overnight, authorities were contacting all the park's residents Saturday and searching cars to uncover more information, Scheneman said.
Sandra Cantu is described as 4 feet tall, 45 pounds with brown eyes and hair. She was last seen wearing a pink Hello Kitty t-shirt and black leggings.
"She's a very friendly girl and I just pray she's ok. If she's out there, we just want her to come home," Sandra's aunt Angie Chavez said.
Authorities were trying to reach Sandra's father, who lives in Mexico. Family spokeswoman Lisa Encarnacion said he had been estranged from his family for several years and family members did not think he was involved in Sandra's disappearance.
Family and friends held a vigil for Sandra outside the family's home at 8 p.m. Saturday.
At the entrance to the mobile home park, Tracy Police and other law enforcement agencies screened each car leaving and entering the area. They planned to continue that checkpoint throughout the night before resuming their search by foot and from the air around 8 a.m. Sunday.
At least 200 law enforcement officers and community volunteers were expected to help with that effort, which will cover more remote areas outside town after Saturday's search turned up no evidence of Cantu's whereabouts in her neighborhood.
Anyone with information about Sandra's whereabouts as asked to call the Tracy Police Department general number at 209-831-4550 or Det. Tim Bauer at 209-321-4461.
Oh my God! Have you heard any more about this poor little girl? That would be so awful, and I know it happens all the time but I just dunno what I would do if it were my child. I surely hope they find her soon if they've not already!