April Jones Still Missing: Details of Police Efforts and the Arrest of Kidnapping Suspect
Aussie child Riley Martin found by a team of netizens and authorities
Machynlleth, POWYS - April Jones, who was snatched Monday evening, is still missing. Police officers have arrested a suspect, but they have yet to locate the British five-year-old girl with cerebral palsy.
Here is a point-by-point account of the case of the missing April Jones:
- April was last seen Monday evening. Witnesses said she got on a vehicle around 7 pm. Prior to the snatching, April was playing with a friend in the Machynlleth, Powys neighborhood.
- Police arrested a kidnapping suspect named Mark Bridger on Tuesday. The man owned a car similar to the vehicle described by witnesses in the kidnapping report.
- Detective Superintendent Reg Bevan appealed to those who were in contact with Bridger to assist the detectives in their investigation. Police aims to establish Bridger's location between 6.30pm on Monday and 3.30pm on Tuesday.
"We also need information regarding the movements of the blue Land Rover Discovery registration L503 MEP between Monday evening and Tuesday afternoon," Bevan said.
- On Wednesday, April's parents revealed that their child has been suffering from cerebral palsy. Without regular medication, she would be in much pain.
- Volunteers have come forward to help with the search. Search coordinators are looking into 32 villages near Machynlleth, Powys. But the Powys police appealed for volunteers to step back so that police officers would not be distracted in their efforts.
- On Facebook, a help page for April Jones has been created. About 162,000 users have expressed their support to April's family.
In Australia on Thursday, a missing child named Riley Martin was found through the help of both the police and the community. Netizens were able to help via the social networking site Facebook. Volunteers who saw the missing child ad helped to find the 4-year-old boy with Down Syndrome.