An El Salvadorian native taken into custody by Fort Worth Police last Sunday is now facing charges for aggravated kidnapping and sexual assault of a child.
The six-year-old victim’s parents told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that they locked their house and went to sleep around 10 p.m. Saturday night. When the child’s father woke up around 4 a.m. Sunday morning, he found the front door open and his daughter was nowhere to be found.
Jimmy Pollozani, a spokesperson for Fort Worth Police Department, told the Star-Telegram that local and Northern Texas law enforcement agencies were immediately notified of the girl’s disappearance. She was also listed as a missing person in the Texas Crime Information Center and National Crime Information Center.
Around 2 p.m. Sunday, the child was located in the wooded area of Fort Worth’s Titus Paulsel Park, just over a mile from her home.
The Star-Telegram reports that police found the child after a volunteer assisting with the park’s search party heard what sounded like a child screaming.
Shortly after the child’s discovery, police caught Edis L. Moya Alas, a 35-year-old El Salvadorian, hiding in the same wooded area of the park.
Moya was detained and booked in the Mansfield Jail with bail set at $200,000. An immigration hold was also placed on Moya when federal agents determined he was in the country illegally. Police have yet to determine if Moya has any relation to the child’s family.
The girl was taken to a hospital to be checked, but police say she had no visible injuries upon discovery.