Police chief: Discovery of bones unrelated to missing girl’s case
SAN ANTONIO — Volunteers searching beyond an area where police were looking for Lina Sardar Khil discovered a bag of bones Thursday afternoon.
But the bones are unrelated to the search for the missing 3-year-old girl, said San Antonio Police Chief William McManus.
Lina’s mother reported the girl missing about 7 p.m. Dec. 20 from a playground at the Villas del Cabo apartments, 9400 Fredericksburg Road.
Volunteers with nonprofit Search and Rescue SATX found the bones in the 9800 block of Fredericksburg. It was not immediately clear whether the bones were human or animal, McManus said.
The bones appear to be “very, very old,” the chief said. “There is nothing on this scene that is related to missing Lina.”
The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office will examine the bones, McManus said.
The volunteer group has no affiliation with the city of San Antonio, Police Department spokesman Cory Schuler said in an email. The department has not requested any assistance in physical searches from anyone other than state and federal partners.
“We appreciate the public’s willingness to assist in our efforts to locate Lina,” he said via email. “Evidence collection is a vital part to any investigation, so we would encourage anyone who may believe they have found evidence to contact law enforcement.”
Schuler said the department has asked that anyone with information on Lina contact the missing persons unit.
“We do appreciate the effort in attempting to assist in reuniting little Lina with her family,” he said. “No lead is ever too small for our department to follow up on.”
Ninety-five volunteers with Search and Rescue SATX split into four groups to search within a 3-mile radius of the Villas del Cabo apartments Thursday, according to nonprofit co-director Nina Glass. She said that in addition to bones, the group turned in a cellphone found during the search.
Early in the afternoon before learning that one of the volunteer groups ended up finding bones, Carmen Martinez, her husband, Chris, and other volunteers spoke about what drew them to search. Martinez, a teacher, said she knows what it is like to have a loved one missing. A few years ago, her uncle, who had Alzheimer’s disease, went missing for months. He was found dead behind a church near his home.
Martinez said she remembers how the community supported her and how some people helped to search for her uncle, so she decided to do the same now.
“I know what to look for,” Martinez said. “I know that things that might seem insignificant may be significant.”
Search and Rescue SATX started looking for Lina on Wednesday, drawing a crowd of almost 40 volunteers who searched within a 1.5-mile radius of the apartment complex. Glass, 44, said she first got permission from police and was told that searching was fine as long as the group did not interfere with the investigation.
The group will not search for the next couple of days because many people won’t be available during the New Year’s holiday, but Glass said she intends to continue searching until Lina is found. Efforts to organize more volunteer groups will continue next week, she said.
Volunteer Mario Aguirre, 62, said he helped with search efforts similar to this years ago when he lived in Illinois. Searching has been tough, he said, but he was drawn to it because he would want someone to do the same for one of his loved ones. Although he was worried that the group wouldn’t find anything, he is glad to try.
“I’m a grandfather,” he said. If you were in the family’s shoes, “wouldn’t you want the community and other people in the area to come help you search?”