The search for a 21-month-old girl reported missing earlier today in East Oakland has taken officers to an area near a shoreline park where the girl and her family would sometimes visit, a police spokeswoman said tonight.
The search now also involves the FBI, and investigators are asking for the public's help in determining when the girl, Daphne Viola Webb, was last seen with her father, John Webb, before the girl was kidnapped from Webb's car, police spokeswoman Officer Johnna Watson said.
However, police are not questioning the father's version of the story and are simply gathering as much information as possible for their investigation, Watson said. The girl's disappearance is being considered a kidnapping.
Webb told police that his daughter was taken from his car while it was parked outside Gazzali's Supermarket at 7838 International Blvd.
The father had left the girl in the car with an adult family member who is mentally disabled while he went inside. He came back to find the girl missing and reported it to police at 11:09 a.m.
The California Highway Patrol issued an Amber Alert for the girl and investigators have been combing East Oakland for her throughout the day.
A suspect was seen carrying Daphne away from the supermarket, Watson said. The suspect is described as a black or Hispanic woman between 30 and 40 years old with long black hair who was wearing a light-colored top and blue jeans.
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Daphne is described as black, with short, curly black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing orange two-piece pajamas with pink hearts, and pink socks, Watson said.
Officers today conducted a house-to-house search of the area with K-9 units and closed 78th Avenue between International Boulevard and Locust Street.
Part of the search now is focused on the area around Doolittle Drive near the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline park where the family would sometimes visit, Watson said.
Police are also continuing the search in the neighborhood surrounding the store where the girl disappeared, where the family lives.
Anyone with information on the girl's whereabouts is asked to call Oakland police at 510-238-3641 or 911.
