A new search for possible evidence in the 2021 disappearance of Lina Khil yielded nothing but disappointment for the girl’s family on Friday.
A tip on Wednesday sent local and federal authorities searching an area near where the 3-year-old Afghan refugee disappeared from a playground on San Antonio’s North Side.
The tip came from an inmate at the Bexar County Jail, a family advocate for Khil’s family said Friday.
The San Antonio Police Department said it exhausted all resources Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in searching a wooded area behind The Helix apartment complex on Bluemel Road, not far from the South Texas Medical Center. Officials determined the tip was not credible, and no evidence was found.
“There are no further updates on this active missing person’s case,” said Ricardo Guzman, public information officer for SAPD. “SAPD will continue to follow up thoroughly on every tip received as we continue the search for Lina Khil.”
SAPD detectives, at least one K-9, the SAPD Crime Scene Investigations Unit and FBI investigators scoured the area. After using excavation equipment to dig up the area, three officials walked across the creek to where Riaz Khil, Lina’s father, who sat watching.
“Thank God, they didn’t find anything bad,” Khil said through an interpreter. “We want to find her, but not this way.”
Khil said he has asked SAPD previously to change the investigator leading the case, but has been unsuccessful.
“I wish they can find my daughter, Lina,” he said. ” … We hope SAPD and FBI focus on this case and find Lina.”
Lina was last seen Dec. 20, 2021, at a playground at the Villas Del Cabo apartment complex in the 9400 block of Fredericksburg Road. Her mother, who reported her missing, last saw her daughter between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. that day.
The Khil family came to the United States from Afghanistan in 2019. The family noted that the child’s sixth birthday is next week, on Feb. 20.
Anyone with information on Lina’s disappearance may contact SAPD’s Special Victim’s Unit at 210-207-2313.
