Amber Alert Issued After Mom Chases Car Carrying Abducted Daughter

July 6, 2010— -- Alisa Maier's mother made a desperate but futile attempt to catch up to the car carrying the man who abducted her 4-year-old daughter in Louisiana, Missouri, according to a neighbor.

"She got in her van and took off up the road in the direction that her son pointed but the car got away," neighbor Anita Mcklevis told ABCNews.com.

Authorities issued an Amber Alert for Alisa, who was apparently abducted Monday evening while playing with her older brother outside the family home on South Carolina Street.

Police met with the FBI to discuss the case as volunteers went door-to-door with fliers, asking for help from anyone who may have seen Alisa.

The girl was playing with her brother in the front yard as her parents prepared dinner inside the home, according to police and neighbors. Her brother told police that a black four-door car, probably a convertible with tinted windows, pulled up to the house and a thin man made off with the Alisa.

At a news conference Tuesday, the missing girl's grandfather Roy Harrison pleaded for her return. "I want this baby back," he told reporters.

"Please, anybody, if you know anything, call this guy back here," he said, pointing to Louisiana Police Chief Richard Hughes. "Call the FBI. Call whoever you need to call."

Harrison said Alisa is "a really good girl, always smiling, happy-go-lucky. We really appreciate everybody getting together to try to help us find her."

Police were examining surveillance video from local businesses in hopes of finding some clues in the case.

"We really haven't limited the scope, we're following all leads," Hughes told reporters. "The FBI is here to assist. We do have both state agencies from Illinois and Missouri."

The town is near a bridge that crosses the Mississippi River into Illinois and law enforcement officers from both states were involved in the search.

"We're getting a lot of leads and we are following up on them," FBI spokeswoman Rebecca Wu told ABCNews.com. "So far we've gotten nothing substantial. We're looking at everything. We're investigating this as a non-family abduction."

She said a team of FBI agents from across the Midwest had been assigned to the case.

Alisa has straight brown hair, brown eyes and weighs about 40 pounds. She stands 3 feet tall and was last seen wearing a white-shirt and blue denim shorts.

Mcklevis said her son was standing outside a friend's house near the place of the alleged abduction and saw a dark car circling the neighborhood for hours before Alisa went missing. "He didn't pay too much attention and went inside the house," she said.

"When my son came back out, he said Alisa's brother was saying that a young man who looked to be in his early 20s had grabbed his sister and taken her away," Mcklevis said.

Mcklevis described Louisiana, Missouri, located 75 miles north of St. Louis, as a quiet, safe place.

"We were up all night just thinking about this," she said. "This is kind of town where you don't have lock your doors. You know everybody. The kids play outside all the time."Mcklevis said her son gave a statement to the police Tuesday.

Alisa's brother described the alleged abductor as a thin white male, possibly in his late teens or 20s with dark, curly hair. He was driving a black or dark-colored four-door sedan with possible front end damage, according to authorities.