Parents of Isabel Celis, Arizona 6-Year-Old, Plead for Return
Isabel Celis's parents say they are cooperating with police.
April 25, 2012— -- Pleading for the safe return of their 6-year-old daughter today, the parents of missing Tucson girl Isabel Celis spoke publicly for the first time, pleading to get their child back home.
"Just please, please, to the person or persons who have Isabel, tell us what you want. We will do anything for her. We're looking for you, Isa," Sergio Celis, the girl's father, said tearfully today.
Standing with family members clad in matching "Bring Isa Home" T-shirts, Celis and his wife, Becky, spoke directly to their daughter's captor, saying in both English and Spanish that they would do anything for her return. The parents have offered $6,000 for information about her disappearance.
Celis was reported missing by her father around 8 a.m. Saturday after her mother left for work and her father went to wake her up. The child was not in her room, and a bedroom window was opened with the screen removed, police said.
The little girl was last seen around 11 p.m. Friday, when she was put to bed, he said.
While the police have not ruled out Celis's parents as suspects, they have said the family has cooperated fully with police during the investigation.
"We have tremendous gratitude to the millions of people around the world who have prayed for Isabel," Becky Celis said. "Please continue to pray for her return. We don't want the focus to be taken off Isabel by talking in front of the cameras."
Police have continued to look for Celis this week by searching homes in the neighborhood, digging through a nearby landfill, and searching waterways and drainage systems in Tucson today. Investigators have also obtained surveillance video footage, including that from a camera pointed at the Celis house from only 75 yards away, that might yield clues from Friday night or early Saturday morning, police have said.
FBI search dogs, including a scent dog and a cadaver dog, hit on something in the house that police noted was "important" to the investigation on Sunday. Police then executed search warrants on the Celis home and other homes in the neighborhood, though they would not say which ones.
Police noted that there are 15 registered sex offenders in the neighborhood, all of whom have been interviewed by police.
Tuesday night, a behavioral profile team from the FBI searched the Celis family's home and interviewed family members, but police are still asking from leads for the community.
On Saturday morning, about an hour after the 6 year old's father called 911 to report his daughter missing, Emily Collins says Isabel's brother walked into a nearby store searching for his sister.
"He came in and he asked did you hear anything," Emily Collins, who works at the store, told ABC News. "'The little girl was last seen around 11 p.m. Friday, when she was put to bed,' he said. 'We were all sleeping and we didn't hear anything and the next thing you know she's gone.' He asked me once again, 'we were sleeping and we didn't hear anything and she's just kidnapped.'"
ABC News obtained a police questionnaire detectives used to interview neighbors, which asks whether they have surveillance cameras, heard dogs barking the night of the girl's disappearance, and know any of Celis's normal habits and routines.
Police have scaled back the search operations near the family's home, but said they will focus in on specific areas beginning today to try to solve the case.
"We love you and we miss you so much, and we will never give up, never give up looking for you," the girl's father said today.
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