Hania Noelia Aguilar was abducted from the front yard of her Lumberton, North Carolina home on Nov. 5, police said.
Now police and the FBI are hoping her special shoes could lead them to her.
Hania’s family recently bought her a “new and very distinctive pair of sneakers,” Lumberton police and the FBI said in a news release on Nov. 24.
The shoes are Adidas brand — white with black stripes on the sides and distinctive, multi-colored stitching on the back near the ankle.
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Hania is wearing the shoes in the photos the FBI and police are using in their search, but law enforcement officials also provided close-up photos of the same type of shoes they’re looking for.
“Think through what you’ve seen since November 5th, have you seen a discarded pair of shoes, did someone try to sell you shoes, did they show up in a donation bin? We want to make sure we draw attention to the shoes because they are distinctive and the kidnapper could try and get rid of them for that reason,” FBI Supervisory Senior Resident Agent Andy De la Rocha said, according to Lumberton police.
Investigators “have run down dozens of leads” related to the shoes in their search for Hania since Nov. 5, and “now is the appropriate time to ask for additional help from the community as a precautionary measure to make sure we’ve exhausted all options with the shoes,” police said.
Hania is a Hispanic girl, about 5 feet tall, weighing about 126 pounds, according to the FBI. She has black hair and brown eyes and was last seen wearing a blue shirt with flowers and blue jeans.
Anyone with information about the shoes or Hania’s abduction is asked to call the tip line at 910-272-5871 or the Lumberton Police Department at 910-671-3845.
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