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FBI: Search continues for kidnapped North Carolina teen

LUMBERTON, N.C. — The FBI and other police agencies are continuing their search to find a 13-year-old girl kidnapped from a North Carolina mobile home park.

The FBI said Saturday that agents are conducting searches on foot and using drones as part of the search for Hania Noelia Aguilar.

Relatives say the eighth-grader went outside last week to start a relative's SUV to prepare to leave for the bus stop. Police say a man then forced her into an SUV and drove off.

Authorities said the SUV was later found in Lumberton, several miles from the mobile home park.

A total reward of $30,000 is being offered for information leading to Hania.

The FBI said it has no reason to believe Hania has been spotted in Charlotte.

On Tuesday, officials said someone in Charlotte called to report seeing a girl who looked like Hania. They said the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department was looking into the report, but at this point, there is no reason to believe it is accurate.

On Tuesday, the girl's mother released a handwritten statement:

"I trust in God that my daughter will return. No one knows the pain I have in my heart. Despite all the criticism and speculation against me, I would never use my daughter’s name in order to take advantage of this situation. I thank all those people who have provided me help. Please, if you know something, call. I ask everyone not to make absurd comments. For the love of God respect my pain. I only want Hania, my princess, back. I miss her."

Investigators said they airlifted evidence to FBI headquarters in Quantico, Virginia so it can be analyzed and processed quickly in hopes of locating the missing teen.

The FBI said investigators need help to identify a person seen walking near the area where Hania was abducted on Nov. 5. FBI officials said their plea grows more and more urgent by the minute.

[LINK: FBI poster released on Nov. 9]

Search crews said they need to talk to anyone who lives near Rosewood Mobile Home Park and Quincey Drive and will be walking in the neighborhood to make contact with everyone.

Investigators want to speak Hania's neighbors and those near where the suspect vehicle was found in Lumberton. Relatives and police say the eighth-grader went outside last week to start a relative's vehicle when a man forced her into an SUV.

Police Chief Michael McNeill asked Monday for people to contact police if someone they know is acting strange.

He said, "Maybe they haven't gone to work, haven't come home or they aren't answering your calls or your text messages."

The FBI released a new missing person poster for Hania. On the poster, the photos that show Hania wearing red were taken the day before the abduction.

Surveillance video the FBI released the day prior shows what appears to be a man wearing light-colored shoes, a light-colored shirt and a hoodie walking south on Lambert Street, then turning north on Highway 41/Elizabethtown Highway toward the Rosewood Mobile Home Park.

FBI officials said surveillance images also helped them find the green SUV that was stolen and used in the kidnapping of Hania.

According to the FBI, the SUV was located around 8 a.m. Nov. 8 off Quincey Drive in Lumberton, 10 miles from her home.

Officials said the FBI's Evidence Response Team processed the vehicle for any clues.

Hania’s mother, Elsa Hernandez, is pleading for her daughter’s safe return.

"Return my daughter. I need her,” Hernandez said. “I am suffering for her. Her sisters, too."

Investigators have been collecting and analyzing surveillance video since Hania was taken from her home.

An FBI release issued last week said investigators were following nearly 50 leads in the girl's disappearance.

Hania was outside her home just before 7 a.m. on Nov. 5 at the Rosewood Mobile Home Park on Elizabethtown Road in Lumberton, according to police. She was waiting on the rest of the family to come outside and drive to school when a witness saw a man dressed in all black and wearing a yellow bandana force Hania into a relative’s SUV that was parked in the driveway.

Investigators said a family member ran over to a neighbor to ask for help, and the neighbor called 911. An Amber Alert was issued.

Capt. Terry Parker said the incident is being investigated as a stranger abduction. The FBI said the state Bureau of Investigation, state Highway Patrol and others have joined the search.

A day after the abduction, investigators conducted a roadblock canvas along Elizabethtown Road in Lumberton. Troopers showed drivers Hania's missing poster to identify people who travel that route daily and may have seen something to help find the girl.

Lumberton police Chief Michael McNeill said investigators are interviewing witnesses, family and friends, canvassing the neighborhood and checking area surveillance cameras.

[ALSO READ: Fort Bragg soldier charged after 12-year-old girl's disappearance]

Witnesses could not describe the suspect other than to say he had a yellow bandana over his face. Hania was last seen wearing a blue shirt with flowers and blue jeans.

Hania is Hispanic. She is 5 feet tall, weighing approximately 126 pounds. She has black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a blue shirt with flowers, and blue jeans.

The FBI said shared this message from Hania's mother. "I just want my daughter back with me. I'm here waiting for you. I love you, and I don't have anything against whoever did this to you. I just want you back."

"Hania, we are praying for you,” family friend Maria Bonilla said. “Praying hard for you to come back home."

Police canvassed the community and stopped cars coming and going, asking questions.

"All her friends at school were crying and waiting for her to come back home," Bonilla said.

Neighbor Richie Chavis said Noelia is a friendly child who waves and smiles all the time. He often saw her waiting for the school bus.

"That's just wrong,” Chavis said. “Wrong in so many ways."

The Lumberton Police Department has set up a special tip line to call with information to find Aguilar at 910-272-5871.

Authorities are also asking anyone in the Lumberton area who may have a camera or video surveillance system to save the video and contact the tip line immediately.

Even if you do not see the vehicle in your video, you are still urged to call the tip line anyway because it may still contain important information.

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