Missing Girl Spotted at a Third Rest Stop

The search for Leticia Hernandez was given new promise Monday when a witness reported seeing the 7-year-old Oceanside girl with a man and woman at a highway rest stop near El Paso, Tex., police said.

The report brings to three the number of sightings of the girl, who has been missing since Dec. 16 from her home in the 1300 block of Bush Street. “It really gives us new hope,” said Mary Jane Midstokk, an Oceanside police officer. “It’s a positive sign.”

A child matching Leticia’s description was first spotted at a Buckman Springs rest stop on Interstate 8 in east San Diego County on the day of her disappearance, but the witness did not report the sighting until five days later.

A second sighting occurred Wednesday morning and was reported within 24 hours. In that incident, several witnesses reported seeing a girl resembling Leticia at the San Simon rest stop on Interstate 10 in Arizona, just west of New Mexico. The girl was seen with a man and a woman, and witnesses said she appeared distraught, scared and intimidated.

In the latest sighting, which occurred about 4:30 a.m. Friday, the girl was seen at a third rest stop, this one east of El Paso on Interstate 10. A witness told authorities Monday that he saw the girl leave the ladies bathroom and return to an older car. A man was in the car, but police said the witness did not get a good description of him.

Police said the woman accompanying the girl was described as a white female, mid-30s, 5 feet, 10 inches tall, about 130 pounds, with dirty blond collar-length hair. The car was described as a dirty maroon midsize sedan, possibly a 1975 or 1976 model.

“They were in the female restroom, they were out of the car and using the facilities.” said Sgt. Bill Krunglevich of the Oceanside Police. “The indication we have is that the girl seemed to be OK and in the company of the female.”

The woman, the girl and the vehicle match descriptions given in the San Simon sighting, police said. Police also noted that the couple is moving the girl eastward to an undetermined location.

“It appears to be a continuation of the same sightings, with one male and one female and the vehicle, along with the young girl, in an easterly direction on the interstate,” Krunglevich said.

He said that a photograph of Leticia and a composite drawing of the woman had been shown on west Texas television stations Thursday night, and that the El Paso witness apparently saw the pictures on TV before the sighting.

Police are attempting to get more public service announcements on television stations in Houston and Dallas, as well as stations in Louisiana and Arkansas, on the belief that the couple will continue eastward.

“We’re still pushing with the media,” Krunglevich said. “We’re still working with the FBI. And now we’re working hard in the state of Texas.”

He hopes police can catch up with the little girl.

“It seems they’re heading east on an extremely slow pace,” he said. “They’re moving very slow, always on the interstate, always pulling off at interstate rest stops.”

Anyone with information about the case should call Oceanside Police at 966-4911.