Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
(KSL News/AP) -- More than a full day after she disappeared, police have no clues where a five-year-old Salt Lake girl is, or how she disappeared.
Monday police cancelled an Amber Alert for Destiny Norton. Her family is asking volunteers to help look for the girl by meeting in the northwest corner of Liberty Park Tuesday morning at 7:00. After an extensive search on Monday, police say they're done searching unless they come up with someplace specific to look for her.
While the family hangs onto hope that the girl is alive, police have interviewed but released a person of interest in the case. And now, a reward is being offered for information.
Destiny was last seen at 8:30 Sunday night. Police say she was getting ready for bed at her home near 700 South 500 East. Police say she got in an argument with her parents and stormed out of the house. When the parents went to check on her ten minutes later, the five-year old was nowhere to be found.
Part of the investigation Monday afternoon appeared to center around a dumpster behind the home.
Police dedicated a significant amount of attention to the dumpster. They covered it with a blue awning and a number of investigators appeared to be combing through the contents of the dumpster.
Late Monday afternoon police finished whatever they were doing at the dumpster and left with two large evidence bags. One was labeled "pillow", the other, smaller one, labeled "FBI".
Destiny has short, blonde hair with green streaks, and was last seen wearing a black and gray adult size shirt. Monday night we learned that her bottom front teeth are silver.
Rachael Norton, Missing Girl's mom: "The longer time goes by, the more worried I am getting about her."
Detective Robin Snyder: "As you all know, when it comes to a missing person investigation, an hour is a very long time to not find somebody who's been missing. And the more hours that pass by, the harder we need to search because we've got to find her. It's been almost 19 hours. That's a long time for a child to be missing."
Police cancelled the Amber Alert before noon, as the situation did not really meet the criteria for an Amber Alert. Police cannot confirm if the girl has been kidnapped. They are now calling the case an Endangered Child Alert.
For much of the day, police focused on 51-year-old Svkija Ferhatovic. He was called a person of interest early on because the missing child's father initially described him as a suspicious looking person.
Det. Joe Cyr, Salt Lake Police Dept: "The father is the one that called us about him, because the father saw him and his car. And that is why the police officers on duty at the time stopped him and talked to him. Because he has voluntarily come in, is being voluntarily interviewed, that bodes well for him."
Ferhatovic turned himself in to police this morning and spent the day at police headquarters. He was released around 8 pm, and is still considered a person of interest. But police are finished questioning him.
There is a man with the same last name and same birth date who was charged with second-degree child sex abuse. Both those cases ended up in a not guilty verdict.
Police contacted or questioned 103 sex offenders in two neighboring zip codes. They also have questioned friends and family. They've also searched the girl's home and say it has been cleared.
Rachael Norton, Missing Girl's mom: "I am just hoping that she is sleeping somewhere, and that somebody did not pick her up. Because she is a really cute little girl, and if somebody picked her up, I am worried that something that might happening to her.
Robert Green, Neighbor: "He (the father) has just been an emotional wreck, crying like a little baby. I swear he was walking around for six hours straight yelling for his little girl."
Sunday night, detectives activated a messaging service that called thousands of residents in the area to put them on the lookout. And they say dozens of people turned out, wanting to help look for Destiny.
Lt. C.T. Smith, Salt Lake City Police Dept.: "They've been going out in extended areas with flyers we've made up, contacting anybody they see in the street, trying to find out more information."
Destiny's family has called for volunteers to meet Tuesday at the northwest corner of Liberty Park at 7 am.
Police support the search, and say they hope getting Destiny's picture the most exposure possible can only help the case.
Police did not ask for volunteers to help search Monday because they felt the five-block area around the girl's house had been covered well by police. They didn't have any reports of her being seen anywhere else, so there weren't new places to focus on.
Jeremy Richards, Friend Searching for Girl: "I went down 1700 South just recently, the park down there. Went to Hawthorne Elementary to see if she was there. I am just really worried about her."
Zach Willner, Family Friend: "It's scary man. I mean, normally if she is at a friend's house or something, somebody might see something on the news."
The girl's mother, Rachelle Norton, says her daughter would NOT just walk away. She believes someone took her.
Police say they are investigating this case as if Destiny was taken, in an effort to be extremely thorough.
Det. Joe Cyr, Salt Lake Police Dept: "We are now concerned for her safety, and we have to treat it as though she was taken, and that is based upon what the parents are telling us."
Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Destiny Norton is asked to call Salt Lake City Police Department at 799-3000. Details of the cash reward are not available yet.
(The Associated Press contributed to this story)
