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Police conduct "all-out search" for missing 11-year-old N.H. girl Celina Cass

FBI joins search for missing 11-year-old N.H. girl Celina Cass
Celina Cass Personal Photo

(CBS/AP) STEWARTSTOWN, N.H. - The number of law enforcement officers investigating the disappearance of 11-year-old New Hampshire girl Celina Cass grew Thursday to more than 100, as they turned a school into a command post and went door to door seeking clues.

Pictures: Celina Cass

Thursday marked the third day of community-wide searches, in which townspeople continued to pass out fliers of Cass, who was last seen when she went to bed Monday night.

Investigators from state and federal agencies worked together in the Stewartstown Community School.

Jane Young, a top investigator for the New Hampshire attorney general's office, said investigators were "not leaving any stone unturned."

"It is our greatest hope that we find her and bring her home safe to this community and her family," said Young, who described an "all-out search."

Though police have said there's no indication that Celina ran away or that someone took her, and there were no signs of a struggle, the FBI brought in its child abduction rapid deployment team with agents from Virginia, New York and Philadelphia.

More than 100 tips poured in, and investigators were acting on all of them.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children was asked to assist in mapping the locations of sex offenders in the area and sent a representative. Ernie Allen, the center's president, said investigators are likely working on several different theories simultaneously and ruling them out one by one.

Several areas of concern are the girl's young age, which makes it unlikely that she'd run away, the fact she was had been using a computer before she disappeared and the close proximity of the Canadian border, Allen said.

Across the border, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the province of Quebec were alerted to the girl's disappearance, but there had been no sightings as of late Thursday afternoon, said Sgt. John Sparkes, an RCMP investigator in Sherbrooke, Quebec.

The specter of the girl's disappearance has hung heavy over Stewartstown, a community of 800 residents with one blinking streetlight and a handful of stores.

Debbie Whelan, who dialed 911 after Celina's older sister Kayla went to her house looking for the missing girl Tuesday morning, said community residents continue to pray for her return even as unsettling thoughts enter their minds.

Anyone with information is asked to call the state police at 603-846-3333.

More on Crimesider
July 28, 2011 - FBI joins search for missing 11-year-old N.H. girl Celina Cass
July 27, 2011 - Police search for missing 11-year-old N.H. girl Celina Cass

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