Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Vigil held for 5-year-old who vanished from Bridgeton park

Dozens of people have attended a vigil for a 5-year-old girl believed to have been kidnapped from a southern New Jersey park.

The maternal grandmother of Dulce Maria Alavez speaks at a press conference as authorities appeal for help finding the 5-year-old girl, who was apparently abducted from a Bridgeton park.
The maternal grandmother of Dulce Maria Alavez speaks at a press conference as authorities appeal for help finding the 5-year-old girl, who was apparently abducted from a Bridgeton park.Read moreOona Goodin-Smith / Staff
    by Associated Press, The Associated Press
    Published 

BRIDGETON, N.J. — Dozens of people have attended a vigil for a 5-year-old girl believed to have been kidnapped from a southern New Jersey park.

Family, friends and supporters gathered Saturday night for a vigil at the park in Bridgeton where Dulce Maria Alavez disappeared Monday. Supporters lit candles, prayed, sang hymns and wore yellow, the color that Dulce was wearing when she went missing. A pastor prayed the girl's abductor would "send this baby home."

Dulce's grandmother, Norma Pérez, said, "I miss her. I need her."

The missing girl and her 3-year-old brother were playing at the park while their mother sat in her car with an 8-year-old relative.

Authorities believe the girl was taken by a man who led her to a red van.

There’s a $35,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case.