Alabama Amber Alert: Police detain man for questioning after 3-year-old taken from birthday party
(FOX NEWS) - A person of interest was taken into custody Sunday night in the case of a 3-year-old Alabama girl believed to have been abducted from a birthday party this weekend – but the child's whereabouts remain a mystery.
Kamille “Cupcake” McKinney was last seen Saturday at her home in Avondale, where witnesses say she was “picked up at a birthday party by an unknown male/female in a dark SUV,” according to an Amber Alert. Investigators later released surveillance photos of a vehicle and an unidentified man before announcing Sunday night that both had been found – and the individual was being held for questioning, FOX10 reported.
“I feel a little better that they got him but the search goes on because Cupcake still isn’t home,'' the girl’s father, Dominic McKinney, told AL.com. “We’re still not stopping. I feel better that they caught him, I do, but until I see that baby, they can catch him all day.”
The SUV seen in the surveillance photos was found parked at a condominium complex about 10 miles away from McKinney’s home. Residents living there told AL.com they called 911 after they identified the car and determined the man in the photos was their neighbor.
“An abduction like this, a child just being taken off the street, is in no way common to the city of Birmingham,’’ Birmingham police Deputy Chief Scott Praytor told AL.com. “We’re trying to make sure we get this child back to her family.”
He said police are treating the disappearance as an abduction by a stranger, but haven't ruled out other possibilities.
McKinney is described as having brown hair and brown eyes, measuring 3-feet tall and weighing 60 pounds. She was last seen wearing a pink Minnie Mouse shirt.
Dominic McKinney also says his daughter is sweet and lovable -- and “ain’t the girl that’s going to get in the car with just anybody.”
“We have a family that is very upset, friends that are very upset, a community that is very upset right now,’’ Praytor told AL.com. “We will remain on this case until we find Kamille.”