The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts. All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages. Listener discretion is advised. I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski. And I'm your co-host, Eli Sulkowski. And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases. Hello everyone and welcome back. Welcome back everyone.
Cold and Missing, this is our 39th episode. Big three nine. Wow. That's very exciting, honey. Yeah, we're starting to, starting to knock on a year's door. You know what I mean? Yeah. So this week is, um... Yeah, we are on Missing this week. Alright. Would you like to start us off? Yeah, let's do it.
Great. So today I have a missing person case, but just as a quick content warning at the top, this case does involve a child and there will be brief mentions of war and a brief mention of a suicide bomber. Today we are covering the case of Lina Sadar Khil. And this takes place December 20th, 2021 in San Antonio, Texas. But first a little bit about Lina. Lina is three years old in 2021. She was born February 20th, 2018 and she would be five years old today.
Her family describes her as the life of their home, a sweet child who loved to play with others. Lina was the oldest child and her family had recently settled in the Villas Del Cabo apartments in San Antonio, Texas. Lina and her family were refugees from Afghanistan. Lina's father, Riaz Sadar Khil, had been a soldier in the Afghan army and had assisted the U.S. military. The family had to flee Afghanistan when threats were made against their life.
In the U.S., Riaz was able to get work as a cross-country truck driver and Lina's mother, Zarmeena, made friends with the close-knit Afghan community in the Villa Del Cabo apartments. However, Zarmeena, Lina, and her younger brother went back to Afghanistan in August of 2021 to take care of Zarmeena's parents who had fallen ill. Riaz was working as a truck driver so he couldn't stay at home with the children during this time.
While in Afghanistan, the U.S. was withdrawing and Lina's family were amongst the thousands who fled to the airport after the fall of Kabul. When Lina was near Abbey Gate, a suicide bomber detonated near them and Lina was knocked unconscious from the blast but was otherwise unharmed. Ultimately, the U.S. did have to arrange for Lina and her family to get out of Afghanistan. When Lina returned to San Antonio, her family took her to therapy to help her cope with her experiences.
And now a timeline of events. On Monday, December 20, 2021, after a cold and rainy weekend, Lina and her brother asked if they could go play at the apartment complex playground. The Villa Del Cabo apartments are gated but there are two entrances that are always open. And the playground sits in the middle of the apartment complex. So at around 4 p.m. Lina, her mother, and her brother head to the playground. As the playground is so close to their apartment, you can see it from the front door.
Lina immediately begins playing with about a dozen other children at the playground. The kids also run around the area of the playground because I looked at some pictures of the apartment complex and this playground is really small. There's not even a swing set or a jungle gym or anything on it. There's like a little plastic tunnel you could crawl through, like a balance beam, a platform and like a rocking horse. I would say easily 15 steps and you would like clear it.
It's very small but next door to it or right next to it is a soccer field and then there's a parking lot. So the children would kind of run back and forth through the center of this apartment complex. Now there are different stories about what happens next. There are kind of three versions of it. But I think an account given by the San Antonio Express News is the closest. It has elements of all three of the stories in there and it seems to make the most sense to me.
So Zarmeena was watching Lina run with the other children in the parking lot near a large tree. An apartment building blocks Zarmeena's view of Lina. After a few minutes, when Lina doesn't run back into view, Zarmeena goes to look for her but can't find Lina. Zarmeena thought perhaps Lina had slipped past her and had ran back to the apartment already. But when she goes to check, Lina is not there either.
Family and friends began to look for Lina and initially they think that she had just went with another family, which culturally was not uncommon. After around an hour and a half to two hours of searching, the family called police at 650. Police arrive quickly and secure the apartment complex and they begin checking every car entering and exiting. Eventually police believe Lina was abducted and an amber alert is issued.
The FBI get involved that evening as police search the grounds and start door to door canvassing. They also expand the search to an apartment complex next door. The next day, Tuesday, December 21st, police continue to search but they begin to walk back the abduction theory, saying at this time there was no evidence of an abduction. Police and FBI set up a temporary command center nearby to help coordinate the search for Lina. Lina's family, however, believe that she was abducted.
They believe if she had wandered off with any other family, they would have returned her already. Lina's father, Riaz Sardar Khil says, quote, during our entire lives we have not been as saddened as we were yesterday and today, end quote. Over the next week, police will search every apartment in the apartment complex, some more than once. And this is around 300 apartments. Police also bring in dogs to help search the grounds, but no trace of Lina is found.
On Tuesday, December 28th, this is eight days since Lina's disappeared, the FBI announced that they have security footage of Lina from a resident's home security system. The FBI are asking for the public's help to identify the 18-minute gap from when Lina was last seen on camera to when her family noticed her missing. The time frame is from 449 p.m. to 507 p.m. Federal agent Justin Garris says, quote, a lot of the tips that we have acquired are from outside that 18-minute window.
Any information or leads or anything the public can provide us during that 18-minute window would be of huge value to the San Antonio police and FBI, end quote. The Temporary Command Center is taken down as police focus on different leads rather than coordinating searches on the apartment complex grounds. It's also at this time that the Islamic Center of San Antonio announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to Lina.
On Monday, January 3rd, 2022, so Lina has been missing for two weeks now, but we are into a new year. Twelve members of the FBI underwater search and evidence response team joined the search for Lina and spend the next several days searching bodies of water around the apartment complex. Police say they're just following up on leads. Police chief William McManus says, quote, I wish I could be more uplifting.
I know this looks like we're really on to something, but all we're doing here is following up, end quote. On Thursday, February 20th, 2022, Lina's family and friends gather to pray for her safe return on the two-month anniversary of her disappearance and also to celebrate what should have been her fourth birthday. Lina's father Riaz says, quote, today is to remember and pray for Lina. We have not forgotten her.
Today is to remind law enforcement officers that now is two months and we don't have Lina with us, end quote. The reward for information for Lina has grown to $250,000, thanks in part to another donation from the Islamic Center of San Antonio and a donation from Crime Stoppers. Lina's father says, quote, it is a lot of money that could get Lina back, but what I think is we don't need money. Just please feel our pain and give back Lina. Please pray for Lina, end quote.
On September 23rd, 2022, this is nine months now since Lina disappeared, police say they have exhausted every lead, even psychics, and searched every inch of the apartment complex, but have not found any trace of Lina. Police Chief William McManus says, quote, I have not talked to anyone about this case, family or law enforcement that are not just baffled. Nobody vanishes into thin air. And I don't believe that Lina did either. I never give up.
I don't think the police ever give up on a case, end quote. Zarmeena, Lina's mother, often dreams of her but always wakes up heartbroken. Riaz says, quote, we came from Afghanistan to have a happy and safe life here, but it didn't happen. My whole life was ruined, end quote. On December 20th, 2022, this is one year since Lina's disappeared, police released the footage of Lina at the park before walking off frame, about 18 minutes before her family noticed she was missing.
The family is hopeful that releasing the footage will jog someone's memory of Lina and also prove that the family had nothing to do with her disappearance. The family has had to move from their apartment because they were being harassed by people who thought that they were guilty. Lina's father Riaz says, quote, no one can imagine that which we are going through. We have to hold and be hopeful, but inside we are broken, end quote.
Police do confirm that early in the investigation, there was a person of interest that has since been eliminated. Detective German Fuentes says, quote, we believe that children don't just vanish into thin air. We have not found any evidence to indicate where she's at other than where she was last at, end quote. Police also say that tips have slowed down. In the beginning of the investigation, they were getting hundreds of tips each month, but now they just get three or four a month.
The family is being assisted by retired FBI agent Abel Marc Pina, who runs Project Absentis. And this is an organization that's made up of retired law enforcement officials that at little to no cost to families will go and help them investigate missing person cases. And Abel Pina, he gets involved in January and he says, quote, I think what we've determined is that she did leave voluntarily. She walked away with individuals, but we don't know after that what happened.
There were witnesses that saw her, you know, walking with various people throughout the day. I think she walked off with perhaps individuals she knew or at least were familiar with, and their reasoning behind that could have been more sinister or nefarious, in that they maybe lured her away from the apartment complex and perhaps taken her away, taken her somewhere else. But there was no indication that she was forced, end quote.
And the language in this quote, I know just our listeners might have this reaction as well, but the language of like, she did leave voluntarily. It's like she's three years old, how can she leave voluntarily? But I think all that this quote is saying in very technical language is that she walked away with somebody that she felt comfortable with, like she wasn't snatched or grabbed that this is somebody that she would have felt comfortable walking to and walking with.
So I just want to point that out because the language is a little technical and cold, in my opinion. On February 20th, 2023, a vigil is held on Lina's fifth birthday and a new age progress photo is released. Pamela Allen, the CEO of Eagles Flight, an organization that helps families in crisis, says quote, the harshest part about this is sitting next to her parents and seeing their pain on full display as they speak of their daughter, end quote.
Lina's father says quote, Lina, you are in our hearts and we have not forgotten you. We will do everything we can to find you. Anybody who knows anything about Lina, please share this information with the police department or with me, end quote. And then most recently on April 25th, 2023, so this is just a few weeks prior to the recording of this podcast, Lina's father Riaz takes a polygraph test at an FBI office.
He hopes that by passing a polygraph test, both him and his wife will be cleared and that will enable police to focus on different avenues. The family had previously declined taking a test because they were worried that their fragile emotional state would affect the outcomes. At the time of recording this podcast, the test results are unknown. Riaz begs for his daughter's return and says that he would forgive whoever took her as long as she was returned safe.
And with that, if you know anything about the whereabouts of Lina Sardar Khil, please call the San Antonio Missing Person Unit at 210-207-7660. And there is an active $250,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts. And the sources for today's timeline come from the San Antonio Police Department, Box 29, Ken's 5 News, the San Antonio Express News, and People Magazine. So that's the missing case of Lina. Lina Sardar Khil. Well, while we were recording, you know, I just saw her picture.
What an expressive little soul. I'll just say that. And it should be noted for our listeners out there that Lina would probably only respond in Pashto or understand Pashto. So that's just something to keep in mind if you think you see somebody who looks like Lina. I don't really have questions.
So one point that I wanted to clarify in that critical timeline of when Lina disappeared, just because there are some different stories out there, and even within this podcast, you know, it mentions there's the video of when Lina was last seen and that 18 minute gap.
But based off of the language, it does seem as if in that 18 minute gap, her running into the parking lot and kind of running around with the kids and then being blocked by this apartment building, it does seem like that could have happened in that 18 minute block still. Yeah. And there were some witnesses that could put Lina in the parking lot as well.
But they were looking for more people to come forward to try to pin in those last 18 minutes, because that's where the case is really, is in those 18 minutes when she's last seen on camera and before her family. It's always in the unknown. Yeah. It's just so frustrating, especially because it's right now. Like, I'm like, there's too much technology out there for, they're listening on our phones. How is there no nothing? You know, like... But no trace of her at all. No evidence.
And they looked in every apartment building in that apartment complex. And she's so young. And just that she's so small. It's yeah, I mean, I don't need to go into detail. But like, that's, it's easy. It's easy to do something bad to someone when they're small, if that's like what happened. And I just like really don't like that. I like, I mean, I want justice for everyone. But like, I want justice for this family. You can feel the pain.
Their community in San Antonio, the way that they showed up for this family, like, this child is loved. Deeply loved. This child is loved. And like the community care aspect within that community seems like, like loyal and sacred, you know, from what they've done down to the like reward, the reward that they were like, we're gonna come up with it. Yeah, this is our family too. Like, if anyone there is listening, we're like thinking of y'all. For sure. Like, what you did is awesome.
It's like an example of like, what a community is. Again, if you know anything about Lina's disappearance or her whereabouts today, you can call the San Antonio Missing Person Unit at 210-207-7660. And there is a $250,000 reward for information leading to her safe return. Yeah, information. Anything like, let's like, let's bring Lina home. And this week, we have one kind of exciting announcement. We have a website now. We do. You can go to www.coldandmissing.com.
And everything that I ramble about at the end of this podcast, you can do there. You can subscribe on your favorite podcast app. You can leave us reviews. If you want to donate to our cause here, you can do that. It's all at coldandmissing.com. So please check it out. Utilize the site, please. Please just for my wife, you guys, please. She worked so hard on this. Ali, don't take this out. Please go to the site. It's beautiful. So it's all there.
You can leave us a review, which we always appreciate. It helps others find this podcast, which get other people to know about these cases, which get other people looking for these missing people or get other people talking about these cold cases. So please rate, review, subscribe. We appreciate you. So if you're already doing that, thank you. But that's all I have. Have a good week and stay safe, y'all. Stay safe, y'all.