MISSING

Amber Alert Issued for 5-Year-Old Girl Who Vanished at New Jersey Park

Dulce Maria Alavez was believed to have been taken by a man who drove off with her in a red van, police said.

A 5-year-old girl is believed to have been abducted from a New Jersey park Monday night, prompting police to issue an Amber Alert late Tuesday. Dulce Maria Alavez was playing with her younger brother at a playground in Bridgeton, New Jersey, when a light-skinned, possibly Hispanic male took her and placed her in a red van before driving off, according to the Amber Alert issued by the New Jersey State Police. The unidentified man is roughly 5 feet 6 inches tall, and wearing orange sneakers, red pants, and a black shirt, according to the alert. Noema Alavez, the girl’s mother, told reporters her son had first alerted her that something was wrong when he began crying and “pointing behind those buildings over there.” “We thought she was just hiding … she was just playing hide and seek,” she said.