Police turn to Internet, TV in search for 7-year-old

Shaunta Grimes

Wednesday, Oct. 27, 1999 | 11:44 a.m.

Metro Police are turning to national television and the Internet in their effort to find 7-year-old Karla Rodriguez, who has been missing since last Wednesday.

The syndicated television show "America's Most Wanted" has been asked to feature Karla on its show Friday or Saturday, Metro Detective Gary Sayre said.

Police are gathering information to get her photo published on the Polly Klaas Foundation website, which offers assistance in the recovery of missing children. The foundation was named after a Petaluma, Calif., child who was kidnapped from her bedroom on Oct. 1, 1993.

The foundation offered on Saturday to put information about Karla on the website, said Barbara Broom, a case worker for the foundation, but it is waiting for needed permission from Karla's parents. It is not unusual for the family of a missing child to not immediately respond to an offer of help from the foundation, she added.

Police were still interviewing Karla's family members today as the search for the missing girl entered its seventh day.

Karla was reported last seen playing with friends about 7 p.m. Wednesday in the 700 block of Bonita Avenue, northeast of the intersection of Sixth Street and St. Louis Avenue, police said. She was wearing a black jacket, blue and white shirt and red pants.

Karla is 3 feet 6 inches tall, weighs 50 pounds and has shoulder length, wavy, black hair and brown eyes.

Karla's mother walked her about halfway to John S. Park Elementary School, 931 Franklin Ave., about 7 a.m. last Wednesday, police said, but school officials say the girl did not report to school that morning.

Anyone with information about Karla's whereabouts is asked to call police at 229-LOST or 229-2907.