SALT LAKE CITY – Police scoured the neighborhood Tuesday of a missing 5-year-old girl whose parents said she disappeared from her front porch after arguing with them about having to go to bed.
Destiny Norton was last seen Sunday night. Her parents, Rachael and Ricky Norton, said it was unlikely she would have wandered off.
"I'm just hoping and praying she's going to come home soon," her mother said.
The case was being investigated as a missing person, not an abduction, Detective Joe Cyr said. The family is not under suspicion, he said.
The family set up a search center at a nearby park. Dozens of volunteers looked for the girl and handed out flyers.
Police were focusing on the block where the girl lives and the block directly west of her home, police Detective Robin Snyder said. Officers were searching cars, sheds and abandoned buildings, Cyr said.
A $15,000 reward was offered for information leading to a resolution in the case, Snyder said.
Destiny — 3 1/2 feet tall and about 45 pounds, with brown eyes and blonde hair — was last seen wearing a long black and gray T-shirt.
On Monday, police questioned a 51-year old man who had been acquitted of child sex abuse charges in 2002, but he was released from custody, Snyder said. The girl's father said he had seen the man in the area and acting suspiciously Sunday night, Snyder said.
Police also questioned about 100 registered sex offenders who live in the area.
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