JENNIFER MURILLO-PEREZ - 2 yo - Apache Junction AZ

Arizona police
searched Saturday for a missing two-year-old who disappeared from her
home while her mother did laundry in an Apache Junction mobile home
park. Police are treating the disappearance as a possible abduction.

Jennifer Murillo-Perez was playing with her siblings on Friday when her mother,
Minorva Murillo, heard her cry out. When she ran outside Jennifer was
gone and the other children had no explanation for what happened.
Police canvassed the neighborhood going door to door, but had no information
indicating there might be someone who wanted to take the girl.
The Arizona Department of Corrections has assisted the search with a K9 Unit of blood hounds.
Jennifer is described as weighing approximately 30 pounds and standing three
feet high, with brown eyes and brown hair. She was wearing a blue dress
and pink sandals at the time of her disappearance.
Anyone with information regarding Jennifer's whereabouts is encouraged to
contact the Apache Junction Police Department Division of Criminal
Investigation.

Poster's Note: This incident occurred close to midnight. What was the toddler doing at that tie at a laundromat, playing with her siblings outside?

According to Jennifer’s mother, Minorva Murillo, she was doing
laundry in the laundry room of a mobile home park near Ironwood Drive
and Apache Trail while her children played outside nearby. It was
approximately 11:30 p.m. Friday night. She heard Jennifer cry out and
she ran outside to check on her. Jennifer was not with the other
children, when asked where she was, the children said they did not
know. Police were called and they searched door-to-door within the
confines of the mobile home park. Pinal County Sheriff’s came to aide
in the search. Bloodhounds have been used to search the area for
Jennifer without results.
According to Police Chief Jerald Monahan“This young person has been missing for a long time now.”…”She was in an open area. Foul play hasn’t been ruled out.”…

Pictured
to the left is the area where the children were playing at the time of
Jennifer’s disappearance. Although, admittedly, not a very great place
for children to be playing at 11:30 p.m. there are not too many places
she could be hiding. I can’t imagine someone coming along and snatching
her without at least one of the other children seeing it happen. I keep
looking at that picture and I wonder if she is trapped behind or
underneath that dumpster on the left. Surely searchers must have looked
there. I suppose someone could have snatched Jennifer and took her
somewhere without the kids seeing the abduction. The other alternative
is the mother is lying about what happened to her daughter. However, I
am sure police have verified that Jennifer was in fact outside playing
with them at some point last night.

Victim: Jennifer Murillo Perez

Jennifer
is a 2 1/2-year-old Hispanic female with brown hair and brown eyes. She
is 2′5″ tall and weighs approximately 30lbs. Jennifer was last seen on
Friday July 17, 2009 at 11:30 p.m. in the vicinity of the laundry room
of a mobile home park near Ironwood Drive and Apache Trail. When last
seen Jennifer was wearing a blue dress and pink sandals.

Anyone with information about Jennifer’s disappearance is asked to
call the Apache Junction Criminal Investigation Department at
480-982-8260.

TomTerrific0420 wrote:According to Jennifer’s mother, Minorva Murillo, she was doing
laundry in the laundry room of a mobile home park near Ironwood Drive
and Apache Trail while her children played outside nearby. It was
approximately 11:30 p.m. Friday night. She heard Jennifer cry out and
she ran outside to check on her. Jennifer was not with the other
children, when asked where she was, the children said they did not
know. Police were called and they searched door-to-door within the
confines of the mobile home park. Pinal County Sheriff’s came to aide
in the search. Bloodhounds have been used to search the area for
Jennifer without results.
According to Police Chief Jerald Monahan“This young person has been missing for a long time now.”…”She was in an open area. Foul play hasn’t been ruled out.”…

Pictured
to the left is the area where the children were playing at the time of
Jennifer’s disappearance. Although, admittedly, not a very great place
for children to be playing at 11:30 p.m. there are not too many places
she could be hiding. I can’t imagine someone coming along and snatching
her without at least one of the other children seeing it happen. I keep
looking at that picture and I wonder if she is trapped behind or
underneath that dumpster on the left. Surely searchers must have looked
there. I suppose someone could have snatched Jennifer and took her
somewhere without the kids seeing the abduction. The other alternative
is the mother is lying about what happened to her daughter. However, I
am sure police have verified that Jennifer was in fact outside playing
with them at some point last night.

Victim: Jennifer Murillo Perez

Jennifer
is a 2 1/2-year-old Hispanic female with brown hair and brown eyes. She
is 2′5″ tall and weighs approximately 30lbs. Jennifer was last seen on
Friday July 17, 2009 at 11:30 p.m. in the vicinity of the laundry room
of a mobile home park near Ironwood Drive and Apache Trail. When last
seen Jennifer was wearing a blue dress and pink sandals.

Anyone with information about Jennifer’s disappearance is asked to
call the Apache Junction Criminal Investigation Department at
480-982-8260.

Tom, it is not a very large area, is it? I wonder about dumpsters and laundry machines, refrigerators,ice machines in the immediate area. But I guess they have checked the entire area. Why were these children outside so late? You know a coloring book, a blanket to lie down on inside it is not that hard to keep your children near you even if you are doing laundry.

APACHE JUNCTION, AZ -- The search for an Apache Junction toddler is
over after the girl was found at a suspect's home late Saturday
afternoon.

Police say 2 1/2-year-old Jenifer Murillo Perez was kidnapped late Friday night.

She
was found at the home of a person police say is not a family member,
but known to the family. That person is now in police custody.

Police say the girl was in good condition and in good spirits.

Apache
Junction Police Capt. Thomas E. Kelly said that about 11:30 p.m. the
girl's mother, Minorva Murillo, was doing laundry at a mobile home park
near Ironwood Drive and Apache Trail with Jenifer and two other
children playing just outside the laundry room.

"I've got three grandchildren, it kind of worries me," said neighbor Jeannie Groover.

Murillo
told police she heard her daughter cry out and she ran outside to
check. The mother asked the other children where Jenifer was and they
told her they didn't know.

"It's a little kid," said neighbor
Jeremy Sheffield. "If you can't be worried about a missing kid, what
kind of person are you?"

Officers, along with Pinal County
Sheriff's deputies, searched the neighborhood all day, going door to
door looking for the child. They also used blood hounds in the search.

So far there is no word on the identity of the suspect.

An 18 hour nightmare came to an end Saturday
evening for an East Valley mother whose child went missing. An Apache
Junction man has been arrested for the 2 and half year old’s
disappearance. Apache Junction Police said 21-year old Alec Holtz is
under arrest for kidnapping Jennifer Perez late Friday night.

Perez and her mother were reunited at the Apache Junction Police
Department. Authorities said the little girl was safe and unharmed, but
was taken to a local hospital as a precaution.
By late Saturday night, police hadn’t discovered a motive. They said
Holtz was a stranger to the child and her family. An all out search was
conducted that included bringing in a K-9 unit. Police searched every
car at the trailer park where the girl went missing near Ironwood and
Apache Trails.

“The quick response from everybody, volunteers in the community
really lead to the quick recovery of this child,” said Mark Cwynar with
the FBI.

Police said Holtz is suspected of taking the little girl right
outside a laundry room where her mother was washing late Friday night.
Detectives said Jennifer was just outside the door, several feet from
her mother before she went missing. Authorities said the mother then
heard her child cry and she ran out, but at that point her daughter was
already gone. Detectives said it was information the mother shared that
broke the case.

“And that was a male subject was seen outside the laundromat about
an hour before she went there and the child came up missing,” said
Chief of Police Jerald Monahan with the Apache Junction Police
Department.

Investigators questioned people living at the trailer park and were
eventually lead to Holtz’s house a couple miles away. Police said the
suspect had been visiting some people at the trailer park earlier.

“When officers and detectives went to his home and began to inquire
about the child, he indicated the child was there with him,” said
Monahan.

That’s when authorities quickly grabbed Jennifer and took Holtz into
custody. Investigators credit good old police work and determination
for the safe return of little Jennifer.

“That two and half year old expected us to rescue her and that’s the way it turned out,” said Monahan.

Holtz could face kidnapping charges. Police are also questioning an aunt he lived with.

what a wonderful ending....wish more would end this way....Thank goodness for the quick response of LE and all involved...

TomT, thanks for letting us know all the updates... :hug:

The man police arrested after finding him
with a missing toddler from an Apache Junction trailer park Saturday is
facing child molestation and kidnapping charges, police said Sunday.
Alec Holtz, 21, was booked last night and scheduled to have his
initial appearance this morning, said Capt. Thomas Kelly with the
Apache Junction Police Department.

Police spent nearly 18 hours searching for the 2-year-old girl after
her mother, who was working in the laundry room, heard the girl scream
outside and then could not find her. Police came out to the mobile home
park, at 102 Ironwood, at 11:30 Friday evening.
other agencies and a K-9 unit from the Arizona Department of
Corrections searching for the girl.
Police say they eventually found the girl with Holtz, who had been
visiting someone in the trailer park, in his home. She had been
inappropriately touched, Kelly said.
Holtz does not have a significant criminal history, though police have had contact with him in the past, Kelly said.

A 2-year-old girl who was kidnapped from an Apache Junction trailer
park has reunited with her family, but Sunday more details are emerging
on what happened in the 18 hours she was missing. Police say
that 21-year-old Alec Holtz kidnapped and sexually abused the little
girl, and that there may be more victims out there. The toddler was taken
about 11:30 p.m. Friday from outside of an Apache Junction laundry
room. After an extensive search, authorities located her at Holtz's
house about 6 p.m. Saturday. She
was found sitting in Holtz's bedroom about a mile away from the trailer
park. Police received a tip from a neighbor who said the same man kept
showing up at the trailer park, asking questions and acting
suspiciously. Zach Kennison says, "He just showed up asking
about how much rent is… everything that he said about himself just
seemed like a lie." Police say Holtz was scoping out the place,
searching for a victim. "It's extremely bold, and that's one of the
reasons that we have concern that this is not his first attempt to do
this," says Capt. Thomas Kelly of the Apache Junction Police Department. With only a first name, investigators managed to track Holtz down and rescue the little girl. "We're very happy he's off the street and I'm just hoping we don't have many other unknown victims," says Capt. Kelly. Holtz is facing charges of kidnapping and sexual misconduct with a child.