7/12 12:42 PM: The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office has declined to file charges against an Oakland man whose 21-month-old child was reported missing Wednesday, prosecutors said.
Daphne Viola Webb was reported missing Wednesday morning by her father, 49-year-old John Anthony Webb.
Webb told police his daughter was abducted by a stranger at about 11 a.m. while she sat in a parked car with his 87-year-old mother while he went inside to buy something at the Gazza Supermarket at 7838 International Blvd.
Authorities have been searching for the little girl and arrested Webb Thursday on suspicion of felony child endangerment.
Webb was held at Santa Rita Jail on $100,000 bail, but district attorney’s office spokeswoman Teresa Drenick said today that no charges are being filed against him pending further investigation.
Police have said they were concerned that Webb had left Daphne with her grandmother, who suffers from dementia.
Police said they are looking into Webb’s relationship with his daughter and other possible child endangerment incidents.
Meanwhile, police are trying to understand where Daphne was last seen and where she is now.
Police are treating Daphne’s disappearance as both a missing person and kidnapping case and a child endangerment case and are conducting parallel investigations.
Foul play has not been ruled out in the case, police said.
Daphne is described as a black girl with short, curly black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing orange two-piece pajamas with pink hearts and pink socks.
Police are still seeking and treating as a suspect a woman who was described as being black or Hispanic and in her 30s with long black hair. She was wearing a light-colored top and blue jeans and was seen walking away from the area of the supermarket with a girl who looked like Daphne.
However, no one has reported seeing Daphne get abducted, police said.
Police are still trying to confirm the last time that Daphne was seen and establish a timeline for when she was last seen with her father.
Daphne lives with her father and her grandmother at a residence in the 8000 block of Greenridge Drive, off of Keller Avenue, in the Oak Knoll area of northeast Oakland, according to police.
There are many trails and parkways in that area that police are searching.
Daphne’s mother lives at a separate location, but investigators have been in contact with her and she has been cooperative and isn’t considered to be a suspect, police said.
Investigators in a boat used an underwater robot to search the water in the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline on Thursday. The park is an area where Daphne was known to be frequently taken by Webb.
Police are asking anyone who saw Webb with his daughter on Wednesday or another time recently to call (510) 238-3641.
Sasha Lekach, Bay City News
7/11 7:29 PM: Oakland police, with the assistance of the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, are continuing to actively search for a 21-month-old girl who was reported missing by her father Wednesday morning, a police spokeswoman said.
Officer Johnna Watson said one area where investigators spent much of today searching was the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline near Doolittle Drive and Swan Way, a park area where Daphne Viola Webb frequently was taken by her father, 49-year-old John Anthony Webb.
Watson said officers also handed out 200 missing person flyers in the vicinity of the Gazza Supermarket at 7838 International Blvd., where John Webb said his daughter was abducted by a stranger at about 11 a.m. Wednesday while she sat in a parked car with his 87-year-old mother while he went inside to buy something.
She said John Webb has been arrested on suspicion of felony child endangerment because officers are “concerned” that he left Daphne in the care of his mother, who suffers from dementia.
Watson said investigators also are “concerned about the relationship between the father and the child” but didn’t elaborate.
She said police are “looking into the history of other reports” of possible child endangerment by Webb but said that because of the status of the investigation she wouldn’t comment on whether he has a criminal history.
According to Alameda County sheriff’s records, Webb is being held at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin in lieu of $100,000 bail and tentatively is scheduled to be arraigned at 2 p.m. on Friday.
However, a spokeswoman for the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said Webb hasn’t been charged yet. Watson said she’s been told that Webb may be released on bail shortly.
She said Webb and other family members have been “extremely cooperative” with police.
Police are treating Daphne’s disappearance as both a missing person and kidnapping case and a child endangerment case and are conducting parallel investigations, she said.
The investigation is “very wide open” and includes the possibility that foul play is involved, Watson said.
Daphne (pictured above) is described as black, with short, curly black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing orange two-piece pajamas with pink hearts, and pink socks.
Watson said police are still seeking and treating as a suspect a woman was described as black or Hispanic and in her 30s, with long black hair, wearing a light-colored top and blue jeans, who was seen walking away from the Gazza Supermarket area with a girl similar to Daphne.
However, she said no one has reported seeing Daphne get abducted.
Watson said police are still trying to confirm the last time that Daphne was seen by anyone and establish a timeline for when she was last seen with her father.
Daphne lives with her father and her grandmother at a residence in the 8000 block of Greenridge Drive, off of Keller Avenue, in the Oak Knoll area of northeast Oakland, Watson said.
There are many trails and parkways in that area so police are searching the vicinity in motorcycles and other off-road vehicles, she said.
Daphne’s mother lives at a separate location, but investigators have been in contact with her and she’s been cooperative and isn’t considered to be a suspect, Watson said.
Investigators in a boat used an underwater robot to search the water in the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline today and will use helicopters to search that area this evening because the helicopter can probe areas that the boat couldn’t reach, according to Watson.
Police are working hard to try to find Daphne and “are continuing to go yard by yard, house by house and block by block,” she said.
Watson said police are asking anyone who saw Webb (pictured above) with his daughter on Wednesday or anytime recently to call them at (510) 238-3641.
Jeff Shuttleworth, Bay City News
