Another car was found in the Delta-Mendota Canal near Patterson Tuesday was not connected to a missing child's case in Stanilaus County.
For a full week police have been searching for 4-year-old Juliani Cardenas who was kidnapped last Tuesday.
The man the little boy calls "Daddy," 27-year-old Jose Esteban Rodriguez, is suspected of kidnapping Juliani from his grandmother's arms. An Amber Alert was initially issued, but it has since been downgraded to a local search. Signs in San Jose remain lit because the suspect's mother lives here. Rodriguez is the former boyfriend of the boy's mother and helped raise him.
So far officials have found six vehicles in the canal. All were unrelated to the search.
Authorities are focused on the canal because a worker reported seeing a car similar to one being sought by officers go into the water in the hours following the kidnapping.
Rodriguez's mother, Donna Avila of San Jose, pleaded Monday for her son to return the boy. She said she believes her son is hiding out.
The Sheriff's Department is looking for a 2003 Toyota Corolla with a spare tire on the right front with the California license plate 6HBW445.
