Lina Sardar Khil went missing from her Northwest San Antonio apartment complex’s playground on Dec. 20, 2021.
Her family continues to look for her. On Friday, they observed the somber, three-year mark of the worst day of their lives.
The 3-year-old was last seen at the playground at 9400 Fredericksburg Road, wearing a red dress, black jacket and black shoes. She has straight, black hair.
Riaz Sardar Khil wore a red T-shirt with his daughter’s photo on it and the words, “Bring Lina Home.” Long hair frames his face, which often is tilted down. He said he’s been left to feel depression, thinking always about his little girl.
Around him, a small crowd could see photos of Lina on posters and banners, water bottles and flyers. A sketch of what she would look like today sat framed on a table for everyone to see.
Lina will be 7 in February.
“Lina Sardar Khil’s case should not be forgotten because the family deserves an answer,” said Afghan community leader Azim Jar. “Their lives are a nightmare and ignoring her case means ignoring their pain. It’s not right to just let them suffer in silence.”
Desperate for answers, Sardar Khil on Friday increased the reward for information that could lead to finding his daughter by $30,000, bringing the grand total to $280,000.
He told the crowd that there’s no progress or communication from the investigating agency, the San Antonio Police Department.
“We’ve been going through every route with SAPD … but so far, we can’t get any information that leads to finding Lina,” Sardar Khil said. “We feel like we’ve been lied to by SAPD … We feel we’ve been lied to and turned away.”
SAPD in February searched a greenway in the South Texas Medical Center with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), a few miles away from where she went missing, after a tip suggested she may be in the area.
But since that search, which ended with no evidence or credible findings, the family believes the FBI has not been involved, but isn’t sure due to inconsistent communication. Sadar Khil speaks Pashto and spoke through a translator at the event outside of the American Muslim Community Center.
Sadar Khil strongly believes his daughter is still alive. He’s unsure if she’s still in San Antonio.
Pamela Allen, a spokesperson for the Khil family and missing persons advocate, said many families go years without their missing loved ones’ cases solved, with no communication and with no answers.
That’s why some of the families of missing people, including Jason Landry, baby Gabriel Johnson and Patty Vaughn, are turning their frustration into change, pushing for a new state bill they are calling the Families of the Missing Bill.
The bill, which has yet to be filed by a lawmaker, aims to set guidelines that would require law enforcement agencies to request help from outside agencies after a certain amount of time.
Right now, local police agencies must request assistance from outside agencies like the Texas Rangers or FBI, but if that help isn’t formally requested, the agencies can’t assist. Cases are often only looked at when credible tips come in.
And as 16 agents handle dozens of cases from their desks at the Missing Persons Unit, years can pass by.
“SAPD has not involved other agencies that have offered to help,” Allen said. “SAPD needs to have legislative guidelines so that we can be able to find the loved ones that are missing.”
The proposed bill would also improve the way police communicate with families, require law enforcement to designate advocates or liaisons to share information between agencies and families.
It also proposes providing financial assistance for the families of missing loved ones to help make up for missed work to search for their family member and making it so that the Texas Attorney General’s Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit could take over missing persons cases after some time.
Landry, a student at Texas State University, was last seen on Dec. 13, 2020. Landry’s case was handed to the Texas Office of the Attorney General’s Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit in 2021 by the Caldwell County District Attorney’s Office and the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office.
That attention is what most families want. According to the AG’s website, Landry’s case underwent an extensive roundtable case review by experts in digital forensics, geospatial sciences, data mapping, criminal intelligence, and other relevant fields from agencies including the FBI, the Texas Rangers and the Department of Public Safety, Texas Search and Rescue, among other local law enforcement agencies.
In that case, the panel examined all parts of the missing persons case and concluded that all credible leads and investigative steps had been thoroughly pursued.
But Allen claims the police won’t send the case to the AG’s unit. “They don’t want to give it to them. The family is requesting things like that, and they won’t do it,” she said.
The San Antonio Report will publish its second installment of “Missing In San Antonio” on Sunday, which will feature the stories of more families of missing people.