It has been more than a week now, and still no sign of missing 21-month old Daphne Webb of Oakland.
Family and friends gathered for a vigil at 79th Ave. and International Boulevard Wednesday evening to keep the story alive for the media and those who live nearby.
The vigil was held at the same spot where Daphne was first reported missing last Wednesday by her father, 49-year old John Webb.
He told police he left Daphne in his SUV for two minutes while he bought a couple items at a corner market.
He says when he came out, she was gone.
Webb was arrested last week for child endangerment for leaving the child in the car unprotected, but the D.A. decided against pressing charges. Webb says he's been talking to police.
”I went down there (to the police station) today and they told me they have tips from all over, including Atlanta, Georgia, as well as local tips but some people are on drugs and their stories are far-fetched,” he said.
Oakland police want to know when was the last time anyone else saw the girl alive. Nobody, other than the father, reports seeing her since June 27. That's 12 days before she was reported missing to police.
Webb says there’s an explanation. “I talked to the mother on the phone and she heard the girl in the background. Even before any of this happened, I was a home body-I never went nowhere,” he said.
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Alameda Superior Court records show the mother, 31-year old Kiana Davis, was convicted in April of child endangerment when police found her passed out behind the wheel of a parked car with Daphne in the back seat. Davis told police she had been drinking and taking drugs.
The mother could only visit the girl occasionally as part of her child endangerment conviction.
Her father says she didn’t visit the daughter at all during the week before Daphne’s disappearance is “too personal” to discuss.
Davis too has been in touch with police about progress in the investigation.
”Nothing like they’re going to find her today, but we are hopeful, we are prayerful. I just want her to come home, we miss her,” she said.
The family has started a website at www.findbabydaphne.com in the hopes someone knows something about her whereabouts.
