Worried family members were among dozens of people gathered Monday night in Birmingham, Ala., to pray for the safe return of a 3-year-old girl who was abducted from a birthday party Saturday night.
Two “persons of interest” were taken into custody by police Sunday night in the disappearance of Kamille “Cupcake” McKinney, but the child has not been found and police say they believe more people are involved in the kidnapping, Birmingham’s AL.com reports:
“We ask that you just continue to pray for her safe return,’’ said Lekisha Simpson, Kamille’s grandmother. “I just want to say to the public, to everybody, if you see something, say something. Don’t be afraid to speak up.”
“Everybody knows Cupcake out here. This girl, this baby, is looking for her mother and her father,’’ said Tina Powell, who is like a great grandmother to Kamille. “She don’t understand who took her and she needs to come home.”
About 9 p.m. Monday night, ABC 33/40 reported a “heavy police presence,” including K-9 units, in the area of the Parkway Villa apartment complex in Center Point outside Birmingham, but police left without saying what, if anything, they had found.
Kamille was at a birthday party in the parking lot of a residential development with other children when she disappeared about 8:30 Saturday night, AL.com reports. Children told authorities that a man got out of an SUV, grabbed Kamille and put her in the vehicle before driving away.
Using photos taken from footage from surveillance cameras at a gas station nearby, police distributed images of a man described as a person of interest as well as that of “the suspect vehicle,” a Toyota Sequoia.
The man, as well as a second person and the Sequoia, were taken into police custody Sunday night. However, police did not find Kamille, and they said they believed other people were involved in the kidnapping, according to AL.com.
There does not appear to be any connection between Kamille’s family and those being held by police, authorities say.
An AMBER alert has been issued, and local, state and federal agencies are now involved in the search.
On Monday night, some 48 hours after Kamille’s disappearance, Jasmaine Deloach of Angel Arms Operation Exploited and Missing Persons in Birmingham, pleaded with Kamille’s captors to let her go, AL.com reports:
“She cannot tell on you. She cannot do anything to harm you, so if you have any heart please let her go,’’ Deloach said.
“If you have a problem with the police, I will meet you somewhere to get that child,’’ she said. “I do not want you to harm her. Please don’t panic. Don’t have hate in your heart.”
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said her office is offering a $5,000 reward for information that leads to Kamille’s whereabouts and the arrest and conviction of those who kidnapped her, according to WVTM 13.
Kamille was last seen wearing a pink T-shirt with a Minnie Mouse/leopard print design and leopard-print shorts, AL.com reports. She was wearing yellow, white and blue hair bows. Police say her shoes were found in the parking lot, and so the child is believed to be barefoot.
Anyone with information about Kamille’s whereabouts is asked to call Birmingham police at 205-297-8413, or -8313, or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.