SAN ANTONIO – Tuesday marks the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of Lina Khil and San Antonio Police have released a video highlighting the investigative efforts to find her.
The toddler was last seen at a playground at the Villas del Cabo apartment complex in the 9400 block of Fredericksburg Road on Dec. 20, 2021.
Video released by SAPD Tuesday shows new footage of Lina at the playground on the day she disappeared.
SAPD officials said a resident of the complex had a surveillance camera that captured Lina playing with her mother and younger brother.
“At some point during the video she walked off the screen and that was the last sighting that we have of her on video,” said Jeremy Volz, the lead detective in Lina’s case.
San Antonio police, the Special Victim’s Unit and members of the community have been searching for the now-4-year-old since her disappearance but Lina is still missing.
SAPD refused KSAT’s interview request on Tuesday, but Volz says in the video that the department had partnered with other local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies in trying to follow up on the “hundreds of leads” they’ve received. None, though, have led to Lina.
Retired FBI Agent Abel Peña’s non-profit group, Project Absentis, has also been generating and following up on leads in Lina’s case. Peña says there’s a “high likelihood” Lina walked off with someone.
“We’re not certain whether she walked off willingly, but we do know that she may have been familiar enough with the people that she felt comfortable walking with them,” Peña told KSAT on Tuesday.
Khil is from an Afghan family, and Peña said his group knows there are a “number of calls, maybe conspiracy theories” suggesting the parents were involved or there was “something more sinister” that happened with respect to the Afghan community.
“As of yet, I mean, we haven’t got any information to suggest that any member of the community was involved,” Peña said.
Crime Stoppers is offering up to $50,000 for any information leading to charges in Lina’s case.
The Islamic Center of San Antonio is also offering a reward for Lina’s return. The reward was increased to $200,000 in February thanks to a private donor.
“There is a critical witness somewhere out there. That person that knows something needs to come forward and disclose,” SAPD officials said. “We believe that children don’t just vanish into thin air and if that person that saw something, that knows something — if that person has not come forward, it’s not too late to do so.”
Anyone with any information regarding Lina is asked to call SAPD’s missing person unit at 210-207-7660 or Crime Stoppers at 210-224-7867.
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