Wed, 07 Oct 2009 5:12p.m.
By Melissa Davies
Police have warned the parents of missing toddler Aisling Symes they now face the grim possibility she has been abducted.
Aisling has been missing for more than 48 hours and despite intensive searches, there is no trace of the two-year-old.
Her distraught family are pleading for people to help them find their daughter.
There seemed to be search and rescue personnel on every street in West Auckland today, as the search area widened to a 3sqkm radius. But the question foremost in police minds today is how far could a two-year-old girl possibly have wandered at 5:30pm in the evening without anyone seeing her?
"Police must turn their mind more and more to the fact that that is possible scenario that she may have been abducted," says Insp Gary Davey. "Right from the start we have had that as a possibility."
It is a possibility Aisling's family cannot comprehend.
"If you are the person that has my niece, we don't understand why you wouldn't have told us," says aunt Aithne Potts. "We don't understand why it has been so long. Please tell us where she is, we just want her home."
Police say they have now begun profiling potential suspects in the area, even though there is still no evidence of foul play.
Searchers say there is no chance a body is in the muddy creek behind the house where she went missing, they have searched it too well. But it is possible she fell in there and has been washed out to sea.
"My concern is as time goes on and there are no more positive sightings of Aisling, that the possiblity of her wandering too much further in my view is slim," says Mr Davey.
Chinese media are covering the story of the one person who did see Aisling wandering off. The woman, believed to be Asian and in her 30s, still has not come forward to police.
Aisling's family are still hoping their toddler is just lost somewhere and will eventually be spotted, and tempted to accept help.
"She likes strawberries, tomatoes, cheese is another favourite," says Ms Potts. "She'd be able to say cheese, and I think if given the chance she'd empty the fridge of cheese."
Aisling's picture hangs in shop windows throughout West Auckland, and there are plenty of volunteer searchers.
Police are asking anyone within 5km of Longburn Rd to search their property for Aisling, whose family face a third night without her.
3 News