Dulce Alvarez was 5 years old when she vanished from a park in Bridgeton, New Jersey on September 16, 2019, while playing with her 3-year-old brother.
[Ads /]
Investigators with the Cumberland County Prosecutors Office are hoping a new age progression image of Dulce, created by a forensic artist at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, can help bring her home.
NCMEC's forensic artist, Christi Andrews, created Dulce's new image.
Age progressions are crucial in aiding police in many missing and unidentified cases.
NCMEC generates age progression images every two years until a missing child turns 18, then every five years after that.
"When starting an age progression, the first thing I do is study the images of the missing child, in this case, Dulce," Andrews said. "I want to understand the structure of her face as much as possible. I was lucky enough to get images of her biological family in addition to images of Dulce, which gave me clues as to how the family members grow and age over time."
About a month after Alvarez's disappearance, police released a sketch of a man who remains a person of interest in the case.
The Cumberland County Prosecutor's Office said the sketch was developed after a witness who recently came forward was able to provide a description.
[Ads /]
The Bridgeton Police Department, CCPO, the New Jersey State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation continue to investigate this matter.
If you have any information about the disappearance of Dulce Alavez, call NCMEC at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678), the Bridgeton City Police Department at 856-451-0033, or your local FBI field office at 800-225-5324.
----------
* Get Eyewitness News Delivered
* More New Jersey news
* Send us a news tip
* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts
* Follow us on YouTube