The location where Dulce Maria Alavez went missing

Crime Scene Location in Bridgeton, New Jersey

This is the location where Dulce Maria Alavez went missing.

It is situated near the corner of Burt Street and Babe Ruth Street in Bridgeton City Park in Bridgeton, New Jersey.

Dulce disappeared from the park at around 4.45 p.m. on Monday, September 16th, 2019. The prevailing theory is that a man abducted the five-year-old by luring her away from the playground and ushering her into a red van.

The van in question may have been parked behind a closed Department of Public Works building that is situated on the southern side of the playground.

Map — This is an aerial map of the area where Dulce went missing. That afternoon, Dulce and her younger brother, Manuel, were playing on the swings in the playground. Meanwhile, their mother, Noema Alavez Pérez, and their aunt, Camila, sat in the car in the parking lot, which was roughly 75 yards away. The most popular theory is that Dulce was picked up by a man who parked his van on the southern side of the Department of Public Works building. The building in question is used to store equipment such as lawnmowers. At the time, it was empty, as it closes every day at 3 p.m. (1 hour and 45 minutes before the abduction).

On the day of the kidnapping, Noema Alavez Pérez (19) brought her two children, Dulce (5) and Manuel (3), to Bridgeton City Park.

Also present that afternoon was Noema's sister, Camila (8).

When Noema parked in the small parking lot on Babe Ruth Street, Dulce and Manuel got out of the car and ran over to the playground. Meanwhile, Noema and her sister remained in the vehicle.

Noema's plan was to let her children play on the swings while she helped Camila with her homework. She also scratched some lottery tickets while she was waiting for her sister to take her school books out of her bag.

Distance — The image above shows what it would have looked like from Noema's parked vehicle. The swings were situated near the yellow canopy in the distance. As you can see, her view of the playground wasn't great, as there was a fenced basketball court and a large tree in the way. Furthermore, the court sits on a raised foundation that obscures the playground. Noema said that she could see most of the playground. However, the swings were slightly out of view.

At roughly 4.45 p.m., Noema and Camilla noticed that there didn't seem to be "any movement" in the playground.

When Noema walked over to investigate, she found Manuel crying by himself.

At the time, Manuel could not speak. Consequently, he was unable to say where Dulce had gone. Instead, he reportedly pointed at the buildings beside the playground.

abduction site — It is believed that Dulce may have been abducted by a man who parked his red van on this access road behind the Department of Public Works building. When Noema asked Manuel where his sister had gone, he reportedly pointed towards this building. Furthermore, one of the girls on the basketball court said that she saw a red van.

Initially, Noema believed that Dulce may have been playing hide-and-seek. However, a large-scale search of the immediate area failed to find any trace of the missing girl.

This is a Google Street View image of the alleged abduction site. The playground isn't visible, as it sits beyond the wall and the trees in the middle. Sadly, Bridgeton City Park did not have any surveillance cameras at the time. Consequently, investigators had to rely entirely on witness accounts.

The following day, the authorities issued an Amber Alert, which stated that the suspect in her disappearance was a light-skinned, possibly Hispanic man who was driving a red van with tinted windows and a sliding door.

On the day of Dulce's disappearance, he was wearing a white baseball cap, blue jeans, and a white t-shirt. He also had red marks on his chin, which may have been acne.

Roughly 400 motorists passed through the area at the time of Dulce's disappearance. Bridgeton Police Chief Michael Gaimari Sr. noted at a press conference in September 2020 that they had tracked down and contacted 80% of the motorists. The other 20% could not be identified.

Although the park did not have any surveillance cameras, it was impossible to exit the location without being picked up by one.

This is a wider aerial image of Bridgeton City Park. Dulce was seemingly abducted on the eastern side of the park (yellow circle). Vehicles can only access the park via West Avenue North and Mayor Aitken Drive. Credit: Google Maps.

The police believe that the suspect's vehicle may be present in some of the footage that they collected.

Parking lot — This is a Google Street View image of the parking lot on Babe Ruth Street. Noema was parked near the red ellipse. At the time, the park was relatively empty, except for a group of four young girls on the basketball court. Dulce and Manuel had the entire playground to themselves. When Dulce went missing, Noema searched for her in the wooded area beside the park. After failing to find her daughter, she walked over to the basketball court and asked the group of girls if they saw anything. Although one of them said that she saw "a Black guy" passing by, the Amber Alert described the abductor as light-skinned and possibly Hispanic. Bridgeton, New Jersey, has a large Hispanic population. In Spanish, the words for a dark-skinned person can vary and do not neatly align with their English equivalents. Depending on the context and the cultural background of the speaker, the Spanish word can be much broader, referring to a Latino person, a Black person, or even an Asian person. The description of the red van reportedly came from one of the girls on the basketball court.

The authorities have asked the public to consider how those around them were behaving in the aftermath of Dulce's disappearance. For example, the suspect may have left town, missed work, modified their appearance, or changed their vehicle.

The police have said that Dulce's mother and family were fully cooperative with the investigation. Following her daughter's disappearance, Noema gave the police full access to her phone, car, and house.

There have been few updates in the case since 2019. Dulce remains missing to this day.

Location

The address and the GPS coordinates for this location are as follows:

Address

Burt Street, Bridgeton, New Jersey, NJ 08302, USA

Map

To view directions on how to get there, you can use the Google Maps shortcut below:

Google Maps

GPS coordinates

The latitude and longitude coordinates for the park are:

39.435790, -75.239700

Directions

The main entrance to the park is about 0.4 miles north of the intersection between West Broad Street and West Avenue North.

Details about the general area

Bridgeton is situated in Cumberland County, South Jersey.

This location belongs to the following categories:

Crime Scenes Missing People Unsolved Cases

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The location where Dulce Maria Alavez went missing