FBI joins search for missing Bootheel girl

SENATH, Mo. -- The search continued Monday for a 3-year-old Southeast Missouri girl has been missing for two days.

The FBI has joined investigators from the Missouri State Highway Patrol and several county sheriffs in the search for Breeann Rodriguez of Senath, according to the Daily Dunklin Democrat. The girl was last seen wearing a pink shirt and pink pants, riding a pink bicycle with training wheels. Authorities say Breeann and her bicycle disappeared from in front of her home about noon Saturday.

Police chief Omar Karnes said the girl lives on a dead-end street and that none of her neighbors saw any suspicious vehicles.

"She was there [then] she was gone," Karnes said. "There is nothing. No trace. We don't have any trail."

Police questioned a person of interest Saturday, but that person has been ruled out as a suspect, Karnes said. On Sunday, about 200 people joined in a search. Police handed out fliers with the child's picture.

"We're working 24 hours a day until we find her," FBI agent Matt Brummund told KFVS12. FBI spokeswoman Rebecca Wu said the agency immediately gets involved when children of a "tender age" go missing for no apparent reason.

"The first hours are very critical," Wu said.

Breeann's father, Edgar Rodriguez, told the TV station he is trying to stay positive, but he's fearful for his daughter.

"I don't want to think about the worst," he said.

Rodriguez said the girl is very friendly. "She'd go with anybody," he said. But he said the girl would never ride her bike away from the street where the family lives.

Senath is a town of about 1,600 residents in Dunklin County.