GARY | The FBI and U.S. marshals joined the Gary Police Department on Wednesday night in searching for missing Portage toddler Jada Justice.
The three departments were pooling their resources in a joint investigation into finding the missing 2 1/2-year-old girl, Gary police Cmdr. Anthony Titus said.
Authorities said the focus of the search will be in three areas: the Gary neighborhood where Jada was discovered missing, as well as neighborhoods in both Hobart and Porter County.
"We're covering all our bases," Titus said, declining to elaborate on specific neighborhoods that were to be searched by police.
Titus spoke Wednesday night during a news conference at Glen Park Gas at Ridge Road and Louisiana Street, the site of the alleged abduction.
Nearby, friends of the family, including Angie Balboa, flagged down drivers and passed out fliers with Jada's photo and information.
"Have you seen this baby? Call 911," Balboa said to each driver who passed by.
Hobart resident Angelica Castillo, the 18-year-old cousin of Jada, had been baby-sitting the girl Tuesday night at her home in the 3900 block of Missouri Street when she went to the Gary gas station to purchase milk.
Castillo called police after she came back out of the gas station and discovered the toddler missing, Titus said.
Titus said Castillo is being held by the Gary Police Department as a person of interest and said she could be charged with neglect.
But preliminarily, Titus said, it does not appear Castillo had anything to do with the toddler's disappearance.
"She and other family members are cooperating fully," he said.
FBI spokeswoman Wendy Osborne said her department is pulling together resources to find the missing girl.
The incident does not meet the criteria for an Amber Alert, which requires a vehicle description and a suspect, Osborne and Titus said.
Jada, who is 2 years and 10 months old, was last seen sitting inside her cousin's older model Cadillac about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Jada is 2 feet 2 inches tall, weighs about 35 pounds and is black. She was wearing an orange skirt and a striped shirt, police said.
Jada's uncle, Mike Valdez, sought residents' help in finding the missing girl, who lives in Portage with her mom, Melissa Swointek, and the girl's two brothers.
"We as a community, should make every effort possible to reunite this child safe and sound with her mother and as quickly as possible," Valdez said.
Gary Police Department spokesman Cpl. Gabrielle King said the case had been entered in the national computer system and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children database.
Hobart police, who had joined the investigation Wednesday morning, spent the day combing the neighborhood, starting at Castillo's home.
King said a Lake County police helicopter and police canine units were brought in to help search for the girl beginning Tuesday night.
Hobart police also were issued a search warrant to go through Castillo's house, which was cordoned off with yellow tape.
Valdez said his niece was staying with Castillo because Jada's mom had planned to go out of town with a boyfriend and was visiting friends.
Times correspondent LuAnn Franklin contributed to this report.
