What happened to Lina Sardar Khil? Officials release new footage as search for 4-year-old continues after one year of disappearance

Police released new footage of Lina Sardar Khil, the 4-year-old who was reported missing a year ago. San Antonio resident Lina went missing while playing at a playground on December 20, 2021.

On Tuesday, December 20, a year after Lina's disappearance, authorities released new surveillance footage from the day she went missing. Lina was seen playing and eventually walking off the frame in the footage. Authorities claimed it was the last time she was seen.

The 4-year-old was dressed in a red dress, a black jacket, and black shoes in the video. She has been described as being 4 feet tall and weighing about 55 pounds during her disappearance. Lina Sardar Khil lived in an apartment complex in San Antonio, Texas.

Lina's family and the San Antonio Police Department have asked that the public continue to look for the 4-year-old.

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Additional surveillance footage of Lina Sardar Khil has been released by San Antonio police department

On December 20, 2021, Lina played at the playground of an apartment complex called Villa Del Cabo in San Antonio. Lina’s mother and brother were also present there moments before she disappeared. Police released surveillance footage sent to them by a resident of the same apartment in the 9400 block of Fredericksburg Road.

According to Jeremy Volz, the lead detective in the case

“At some point in the video she walked off the screen, and that was the last sighting that we have of her on video.”

Volz also mentioned that many detectives, police officers, and FBI agents have tried to look for Lina Sardar Khil. They even went door to door in the hope of finding her, but their efforts have been in vain.

Detective Jeremy Volz also said that the department has received several tips, but none has led them to Lina Sardar Khil. According to the San Antonio Express-News, professional divers and law enforcement officials have been looking for Lina. However, the search has not been fruitful yet.

Detective German Fuentes, who is also associated with the SAPD’s Special Victims Unit, considers the disappearance of the Texas girl to be “suspicious.” Fuentes said,

“To be honest, they are suspicious circumstances based on the child’s age, the fact that we have not found any evidence to indicate where she is at.”

He added,

“There is a critical witness somewhere out there. That person that knows something needs to come forward and disclose.”

When Lina Sardar Khil vanished in 2021, Police Chief William McManus said that the law enforcement officials and the FBI had been looking for her by ground and by air. He said,

“We have every available asset at the police department working on this case right now. We are sparing no assets nor resources trying to find 3-year-old Lina.”

McManus further stated,

“The beginning hours, the beginning moments of her going missing...I mean, we started fast. We had resources on the scene from the Federal Bureau of Investigations. We checked everywhere. We checked dumpsters; we checked closets. We searched every single apartment in that complex, some more than once. We had cadaver dogs going through that apartment complex.”

William McManus also mentioned that they did have a person of interest. However, after a thorough investigation, the officials found nothing solid. The authorities did not reveal the identity of the person of interest.

The surveillance footage that police have released shows that Lina is playing at the playground between 4.30 pm and 5.10 pm local time until she goes off the frame. According to law enforcement officials, Lina was last seen then. Police also mentioned that even after so many days, the child’s whereabouts are entirely unknown.

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Reward prizes announced for missing child

Many rewards have been announced as well, for anybody who can provide solid leads to solve the case. Crime Stoppers had announced a reward of $50,000, and the Islamic Center of San Antonio had announced a reward of about $200,000.

Lina’s father Riaz Sardar Khil in an interview with the Express-News said,

“It is a lot of money that could get Lina back but what I think is, we don't need money. Just please feel our pain and give back Lina. Please pray for Lina,”

According to Riaz, the last time he saw Lina Sardar Khil was at 1:00 pm or 2:00 pm on the same day that she disappeared. The Khil family reportedly fled Afghanistan and came to the US in 2019. Several Afghan refugees lived in the area where the child vanished.

Riaz mentioned that he initially thought that someone had taken his daughter, as it was very common back in their country. He was expecting someone to drop her daughter back home once news circulated that she was missing. When it did not happen, Riaz realized that his then 3-year-old daughter was kidnapped.

Speaking about the disappearance case of Lina Sardar Khil, Volz stated:

“Until she’s found, no person and no theory can be ruled out on what happened to her.”

The San Antonio Police Department issued a release where they urged anybody knowing anything about the disappearance of Lina Sardar Khil to contact Crime Stoppers or the police department’s missing person unit.