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Here's another version of the story......
Man...I hope they are now searching the river!
Girl Believed Abducted
Father Left Room; Upon Return, She Was Gone
July 26 — Police in suburban St. Louis are searching for a 6-year-old girl who apparently was kidnapped this morning from a neighborhood home where she had been staying.
"We are calling this an abduction and treating it as such," said St. Louis County police spokesman Rick Eckhard, according to The Associated Press.
Police said there was no indication Cassandra "Casey" Williamson had run away or left the home on her own.
"It was not in her character to leave the home," Eckhard said. "She's still in her nightgown, so we believe it was an abduction at this time."
Casey was last seen in the kitchen of a Valley Park, Mo., home by her father before 7 a.m. and was reported missing to police around 7:30 a.m. after her parents could not find her, police told ABCNEWS. The father, Ernie Williamson, told police he left the room briefly, and when he returned, the girl was gone.
The Williamsons had stayed overnight at a neighbor's home across the street from their own house, said Sgt. Bob Frohne of the St. Louis County Police, which handles policing duties for Valley Park, about 20 miles southwest of St. Louis.
The family and police went door to door in the neighborhood, but turned up no trace of the girl, a police spokeswoman said. A search of the neighborhood continues with helicopters, bloodhounds and citizen patrols.
"We've excluded any other reason that she would be missing and now we have to assume the worst," Frohne said. "There's no logical explanation for her not be in the home."
‘Unemployed Fellow’ Interviewed
Frohne said he did not know why the Williamsons were not staying in their own home, but that police have interviewed "an unemployed fellow [who] spent the evening on the couch in Cassandra's family home."
Police have not released the man's name, but picked him up in the neighborhood near the Meramec River, which is being searched, Frohne said. They have not called him a suspect.
The Associated Press quoted Ernie Williamson as saying the man was missing from the home where he and his daughter were staying around the time Casey disappeared, but turned up later. The man was wet, and said he had gone for a swim in the river, according to Williamson.
In addition, Frohne said police continue to seek "another person" for questioning, but he would not give details.
Casey is 4 feet tall, 48 pounds. She is white, has blond, shoulder-length hair, and was last seen wearing a white nightgown with red flowers, police said.
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