FBI joins search for missing Ind. girl

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — FBI agents joined the search for a missing 9-year-old Indiana girl with physical and emotional problems on Monday, descending on the mobile home park where she lived that’s a known haven for registered sex offenders.

About a half-dozen people in black windbreakers, several of whom identified themselves as FBI agents, were at the mobile home park in Fort Wayne where Aliahna Lemmon went missing from a family friend’s home on Friday. Some with search dogs were seen at a nearby storage facility.

FBI agents also were outside a trailer identified by the girl’s step-grandfather, David Story, as her mother Tarah Souder’s home. A box truck was backed up to the mobile home Monday night, and a sheriff’s official said a forensics team was sweeping the trailer looking for evidence such as hairs and fibers.

Across the street more than 100 people gathered at a candlelight vigil and prayed for the girl’s safe return. Story cried as he thanked the crowd for their support.

Monday’s renewed search came a day after local police significantly rolled back a coordinated effort by several law enforcement agencies, said Fort Wayne police spokesman Cpl. Jeremy Tinkel. He said the same size search could not be sustained on Sunday due to the Christmas holiday.

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