Crews Search Westmoreland Co. Land, Water For 2-Year-Old Nalani Johnson
DELMONT, Pa. (KDKA) - The desperate search for abducted 2-year-old Nalani Johnson continues as new details about her disappearance are released.
The search began Monday morning, and now there are two new searches -- one along Route 22 and a water search in Loyalhanna Creek.
The new searches broke out after Allegheny County police put out a photo of a car seat the public needs to be on the lookout for.
Shortly after Allegheny County Detectives talked to Westmoreland County emergency officials, the search intensified.
Rescue boats from Westmoreland County's Swift Water River Rescue team took to the waters of Loyalhanna creek, covering five miles.
The targeted areas were chosen "because of the waterway and how it goes over 22, and how the vehicle did travel the Route 22 corridor," Lt. Watson Smith Jr. with the New Alexandria Fire Department explained.
The criminal complaint reports that kidnapping suspect Sharena Nancy told investigators the girl's father sold Nalani to someone else for $10,000 and Nancy was to drive the girl "20 minutes from a gas station in Monroeville along Route 22."
Earlier Monday morning, crews also scoured the Delmont area.
They started gathering at Delmont this morning, all hoping "that we can find Nalani and we can take her home."
That's what Taji Walsh, the grandmother of missing 2-year-old Nalani Johnson, said as search parties looked for the child.
Walsh organized a search in Delmont after being told the child's alleged abductor's cell phone may have pinged somewhere close to the area.
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The Delmont Volunteer Fire Company got involved to guide the search as best as they could.
Delmont Fire Captain Bill Walk and his firefighters assisted in the search.
"The people volunteered to go wherever they wanted to go," he said.
"Our search for the fire department is going to take a lot of parks and backwood areas where you can't really get an SUV or something like that back there. And we're going to extend the search all the way to Blairsville."
WATCH: KDKA's Ross Guidotti reports live from Delmont
Many of the volunteers took flyers to post in and around the area.
While the circumstances are heartbreaking, there can be a small amount of warmth found in the mass of people that came out to show their support.
"Actually there are a lot of people who just came out," Walk said. "They're not family -- they just showed up to help."
"It just warms my heart that there's people out here that actually still do care," Walsh said.
She wants to get Nalani's face out there as much as possible as the girl is still missing.
