$200,000 reward offered in search for Lina Sadar Khil, 3-year-old who disappeared from playground

A local religious organization in San Antonio is offering a $200,000 reward for anyone who provides information that leads to the safe return of Lina Sardar Khil, a 3-year-old girl who went missing from a playground in December. The Islamic Center of San Antonio (ICSA) is asking anyone with information to call the city's police department.

The child and her family fled Afghanistan in 2019 after "threats that were posed," Lina's father, Riaz Sardar Khil, told CBS San Antonio affiliate KENS-TV.

Lina was last seen in the playground of an apartment complex on December 20. Her mother walked away briefly, and returned to discover her child was missing. Lina was last seen wearing a red dress, black jacket and black shoes and had her brown hair in a ponytail, police said.

Lina Sardar Khil  @SATXPolice

Two weeks later, the FBI became involved in the case. The bureau's elite 12-member FBI Underwater Search and Evidence Response Team flew in from Washington, D.C. and was checking a lead, although there had been few, Police Chief William McManus said.

"I wish I could be more uplifting. I know this looks like we're really onto something. But all we're doing here is following up," he said at a briefing at the search site in January. 

Lina's father was seen praying near the creek where the FBI team was working, KENS-TV reported. The site is a little more than two miles from the family's home. 

Volunteers had also been looking for Lina, searching on the other side of a bridge that was less than a mile from the FBI's dive site.

"It is rocky," volunteer Frank Trevin told the station. "There is a lot of debris. A lot of the debris gets washed down river. It accumulates. It is pretty dangerous down there."

The San Antonio Police Department told CBS News there have been no updates to the case and it is still an active missing person investigation. "The San Antonio Police Department, in partnership with our federal partners have worked tirelessly on finding Lina," the department's public information officer said. They are encouraging anyone with any information to come forward and contact the missing persons unit at 210-207-7660.

CBS News has reached out to ICSA and is awaiting response. 

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