MORGANTOWN - A relative of a 3-year-old Lewis County girl missingfor nearly six weeks has issued a public plea for her return,offering to arrange a pickup of the child, no questions asked.
The little girl's great-aunt, Vickie Bowen, released a statementthrough WDTV-TV, asking anyone with information about AliayahLunsford to call her.
"You don't even have to tell me who you are, just arrange for meto pick her up," it reads. "You don't have to be there. ... Justplease keep her safe. She is loved by so many. Please do this, wewant her home!!"
Bowen told The Associated Press on Thursday that her faith in Godis behind her confidence that the child is still alive.
"I will never give up hope until I'm proven wrong," she said in atelephone interview. "Without hope, we have nothing."
Aliayah vanished from the family's home near Bendale on Sept. 24.Investigators have said they consider her disappearance a crime, butthey have made no arrests and named no suspects.
Bowen said the FBI and other law enforcement agencies have toldthe family no more than they've told the media about the case.
At a press conference in Weston, the FBI announced it's nowoffering a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest andconviction. Special Agent Jeff Killeen urged hunters, in particular,to be watchful as they travel through the woods. The authoritiesoffered no clues about what they think may have happened to thechild.
Lena Lunsford told police her daughter was in bed at 6:30 a.m.the day she disappeared but was gone when she checked on her later.There's been no sign of the child since.
Aliayah is about 3 feet tall and 35 pounds, with brown hair andbrown eyes. She was last seen wearing purple pajama bottoms and apink sweatshirt.
At the time of the disappearance, Lena Lunsford was eight monthspregnant with twins and had four other children, from 9 months to 11years old. Bowen told the AP Lena Lunsford has yet to deliver herbabies, but she has lost custody of her other children to statechild-welfare authorities.
Lena Lunsford, 29, was indicted this week on multiple counts ofwelfare fraud, accused of swapping credits on her food stamp cardfor $50 cash five times in two months. She is charged withconspiracy to defraud the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programand five related fraud counts for knowingly selling her federalbenefits.
Lunsford's public defender, Brian Kornbrath, has not responded totelephone and email messages seeking comment about her case.
Lunsford and her husband have not made any public statementsabout their daughter, and Bowen said she doesn't understand why.
She said she decided to speak out so Aliayah is not forgotten.
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