Amber Alert Issued After Texas Girl Vanishes From Prayer Service

An Amber Alert has been issued for a 10-year-old East Texas girl who authorities say vanished after a prayer service on Tuesday evening.

Kayla Gomez-Orozco was last seen inside the Bullard First Assembly church in Bullard, about 100 miles southeast of Dallas, around 7:30 p.m., authorities said in a release.

Her family, speaking to local station KLTV, said her mother turned away from her daughter to speak with people in the lobby for five to 10 minutes. When she turned back, Kayla was gone. Initially, the woman thought her daughter went to play or use a restroom. When she couldn’t be found, the family called police.

She’s described as a 4-foot-tall, 90-pound Hispanic female with black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a peach-colored skirt and a black T-shirt reading “Racquet & Jog.”

Cherokee County Sheriff James Campbell, whose office turned the case over to the FBI on Wednesday, said they haven’t ruled out the possibility the girl was abducted.

“The family seems to be a very good, hard-working religious family with no problems. The little girl (is) a sweet little girl,” he told KHOU. “She seems to be just a very normal young lady. We have no reason as to why she would have been abducted, if she was.”

According to KHOU, search dogs have scanned the perimeter of Kayla’s church but have not found any trace of the child. A red Cadillac that had been eyed as being potentially connected to the case has also been cleared by authorities.

A $13,000 reward is being offered by Cherokee County Crimestoppers for information leading toward Kayla’s recovery. Tips can be submitted by calling: 903-586-7867.

The FBI’s Dallas bureau, which is handling the case, could not immediately be reached for comment.