The 12-year-old Chinese girl abducted from an airport in Washington, DC, is believed to be in “extreme danger,” as investigators try to determine whether she knew the couple who took her.
JinJing Ma went missing from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Thursday morning and was seen leaving with an Asian couple in a white Infiniti SUV with New York plates.
“We are still looking for JinJing Ma,” Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Chief of Police David Huchler said at a press conference Friday. “We have conducted interviews across the country, tracing the footsteps of the tour group she was with.”
Huchler said the child was not taken by “any force.”
“We’re still very concerned because we don’t know the reason why this child left with the female,” he said.
JinJing had arrived in the nation’s capital with her tour group following a trip to New York City. The group had visited the World Trade Center memorial, where JinJing was approached by a couple.
It’s unclear whether it’s the same couple seen leaving the airport with JinJing in tow, but police believe the two events are related.
A witness told cops that he may have seen the same woman giving Ma food in Manhattan, according to NBC New York.
The Chinese tour group landed in the US on July 26. It continued on to San Francisco despite JinJing’s disappearance.
The girl vanished after saying she had to go to the bathroom around 8:15 a.m. at the airport. Police said she was seen meeting the Asian woman and changing her clothes before they fled in a late-model Infiniti. Officials believe an Asian man was driving the car.
Authorities have tried to reach the girl’s grandfather in China but have so far been unable to reach him. They’re also working to see if she has any family in the US and who her parents are.
“For us, this is our priority number one. It’s of utmost importance,” said Huchler.
JinJing is 4 feet 11, about 90 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen at the airport wearing a white T-shirt, blue jeans and a black jacket, according to an Amber alert.
The woman she left with is about 5 feet tall and was wearing a black dress.
With Post wires
