Where is Lina Khil? What we know about 3-year-old who went missing at Texas playground

The search for a 3-year-old girl who went missing from a playground in Texas has reached its second week, leaving investigators frustrated with the lack of progress.

Lina Sardar Khil was last seen the afternoon of Dec. 20 when she and her mother were at a playground at an apartment complex on Fredericksburg Road in San Antonio, McClatchy News reported.

An 18-minute gap from 4:49 p.m. to 5:07 p.m has investigators puzzled, as there was no sign of Lina during this time, said Justin Garris, acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Antonio office.

During a news briefing held Tuesday, Dec. 28, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus called it “disheartening”that the search has not provided more answers.

“There’s nothing that we haven’t done to try and find her and it’s frustrating and disheartening and disappointing that we haven’t come up with something yet,” McManus said.

Here’s what we know about Lina’s disappearance and the ongoing search.

Dec. 20 — Lina goes missing

Lina’s mother left the toddler unattended at the playground for an unspecified amount of time Dec. 20, and Lina was gone when the mom returned, McManus said last week.

The family reported Lina missing at 7:15 p.m., about two hours after she was last seen, according to the police chief. An Amber Alert was then issued for Lina.

She was last seen wearing a red dress, black jacket and black shoes, police said. Lina is 4 feet tall, weighs 55 pounds and has brown eyes and brown hair. Her hair is shoulder length and was last seen in a ponytail.

An ‘aggressive’ search

Lina’s disappearance is being investigated as a missing person’s case, “unless evidence would lead us to believe otherwise,” McManus said during the Dec. 28 news briefing. He said investigators are “looking into some people,” but he did not offer specifics.

McManus said there were no new updates as to where Lina is, adding that investigators “have not lessened the intensity of the search.”

“We continue to get leads and continue to go over social media posts, seeing if we can come up with anything that can lead us to where Lina might be or what happened to her,” he said.

Police have used K9 teams in the search,have sifted through dumpsters and searched along green spaces of an interstate. Last week, McManus said officers went door to door in the apartment complex to look for Lina, McClatchy News reported.

The FBI is also aiding police, in what Garris calls “an aggressive investigation and search.”

A plea for help

Police and FBI have asked anyone with information into Lina’s disappearance, especially in the 4:49 p.m. to 5:07 p.m. window of Dec. 20, to come forward. Anyone with information regarding the missing child is urged to contact the police department’s Missing Person’s Unit at 210-207-7660.

A $50,000 reward is being offered by Crime Stoppers of San Antonio for information that leads to the arrest or indictment of anyone involved in her disappearance. An additional $100,000 reward was being offered by the Islamic Center of San Antonio.

McManus spoke at the Islamic Center last week, urging people to come forward.

“We need your assistance. If you know anything, even if you think it might not help, we want you to call to give us any information you may have,” he said.