Reward offered in California girl's disappearance

Danielle van Dam, 7, was reported missing February 2.

By Art Harris
CNN

SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- The parents of a missing 7-year-old girl said Monday they are offering a $25,000 reward for "legitimate information" leading to the safe return of their daughter.

"These are resources we've pulled from our family," said Brenda van Dam, whose daughter, Danielle van Dam, was reported missing February 2. On that morning, her mother went to wake the child in her second-floor bedroom and discovered she was gone.

More than 200 volunteers joined investigators over the weekend, trudging through about 25 square miles of canyons, coastal hills and ravines in a mountainous region about 80 miles east of San Diego, but they found no trace of the girl.

The case so far has stumped police because it appears to be one of the rarest types of investigations -- an apparent abduction by an acquaintance or a stranger. There has been no ransom note or any message from a kidnapper.

Immediately after Danielle was reported missing, her family's San Diego house was declared a crime scene. To guard against contamination, police removed everyone, including the girl's parents, Brenda and Damon van Dam. Investigators spent 15 hours collecting possible evidence.

"When the child is still missing, you treat everybody as a suspect," Detective Jim Ryan said recently.

RESOURCES Daniellemissing.com     To phone in tips "Danielle Missing" Information Hotline: 1-800-251-9927 San Diego Police Department: (619) 531-2000 1-800-THE-LOST 1-800-CRIMETV

Search teams hit the hills, and police dogs went door-to-door in a suburb of half-million-dollar homes. Friends, neighbors, parents -- all had to be ruled out as suspects.

The van Dams passed lie-detector tests.

"I personally was very happy to take it because I knew we would pass it," Brenda van Dam said.

In such cases, convicted sex offenders are checked. There are some 88,000 registered in California alone.

Detectives punched in the Van Dam ZIP code: Thirteen names popped up in an area of 35,000 people, with dozens more in nearby counties.

In addition to Danielle's neighborhood, police have searched the desert 80 miles east of San Diego. There, high winds and shifting sands -- as well as dune buggies and bikes -- can hamper a search. But police went there after a van Dam neighbor offered to show them where he was the day after Danielle turned up missing.

The neighbor has been cooperative, police said.

The search for the girl is expected to continue this week.

Danielle's parents thanked volunteers for their help over the weekend and appealed for more people to come forward and assist in the search.

"It's getting harder, but we're holding onto the hope," said Damon van Dam, the girl's father.

He held a poster of his daughter with her picture under the headline, "Danielle come home."