Police keep searching for missing girl

Keith Paul

Wednesday, July 17, 2002 | 9:48 a.m.

Metro Police continue to search for Karla Rodriguez, even though tips on her 1999 disappearance have slowed to barely a trickle.

The Las Vegas girl was 7 years old when she disappeared in October 1999, so now as she closes in on her 10th birthday, police have a picture of what she might look like at age 10.

"We have to keep things going," said Detective Roberto Juarez of Metro's missing persons unit. "We're not going to find her or find out what happened to her if we don't keep pressing."

Metro investigators have been searching for Karla since she disappeared Oct. 20, 1999, after being seen playing in her neighborhood near Sixth Street and St. Louis Avenue that night. She disappeared just blocks from her house, prompting a door-to-door search.

The search for Karla has drawn nationwide attention, and her picture has appeared on Purely Sedona bottled water, on home mailers that regularly feature missing children, and on the hood of Joe Nemechek's stock car at a race at California Speedway in 2000.

Juarez said the age-progression picture can give people an idea what Karla might look like today, since a child can change a great deal in three years.

Police are still chasing down any tip that comes in about Karla. About eight months ago police got a tip that she was seen in New Mexico. Police in New Mexico went to where Karla was said to be and found a little girl, but it wasn't Karla, Juarez said.

Police have checked out many tips including the theory that Karla's extended family in Mexico had taken her. Police in Mexico along with FBI officials checked out the town where her relatives live, but nothing was found, Juarez said.

The search for Karla continues, and Juarez said the investigation will remain open until the case is solved.

"It will never close until it is resolved," he said.

Anyone with information on Karla Rodriguez's whereabouts is asked to call Metro's missing persons unit at 229-LOST (5678), Secret Witness at 385-5555 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at (800) 843-5678.