Police offer $250K in case of Bay Area child missing 6 years
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco police on Friday increased a reward to $250,000 from $100,000 for information that can help them find a child who vanished in 2016 and solve her mother’s slaying.
The FBI, which is helping in the investigation, also released an updated age-progression photo of what Arianna Fitts may look like as an 8-yearold.
She was 2 years old when she was last seen in Oakland in February 2016. The body of her mother, Nicole Fitts, was found on April 8 of that year, buried in a shallow hole in San Francisco’s McLaren Park. Authorities offered the initial $100,000 reward last year on the anniversary of the discovery of the body.
Nicole Fitts was last seen on April 1, 2016, when she received a phone call to go meet her daughter’s babysitter, authorities said.
Investigators don’t believe the child was with her mother at the time of her death, but do believe Arianna’s disappearance is connected to Nicole’s killing, said Scott Schelble, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Francisco division.
Officials said at a news conference Friday that they believe there are multiple people with direct knowledge of the case who are not fully cooperating with the investigation and an even larger number of people who may have heard details of what happened that night and where Arianna Fitts could be.
“Perhaps you heard of something or thought of something from that night. Perhaps you know more about Nicole’s last movements or have heard some information about Arianna’s whereabouts,” Schelble said. “We are asking you, please to come forward to law enforcement.”
San Francisco Police acting commander of investigations James Aherne asked that anyone who interacted with Nicole around the time of her death to reach out to authorities, even if they’ve already spoken to police.
“We’re asking every person who saw or interacted with Nicole on that Friday or the days before to think back to that time. Try to remember everything you can about that time,” Aherne said.
Nicole Fitts was a 32-year-old single mother of two who lived in San Francisco and worked at a Best Buy store.
Arianna was last seen while in the care of the babysitter and her husband. Police have not named any suspects or people of interest in the case.