Toddler may have been stolen to order

Missing two-year-old Aisling Symes. Photo by NZPA.
Missing two-year-old Aisling Symes. Photo by NZPA.
Police hunting for missing toddler west Auckland toddler Aisling Symes have not ruled out she could have been stolen to order.

Nothing has been seen of the bright and bubbly two-year-old since Monday night when she was last seen with an Asian woman who was holding a dog on a lead.

Aisling's disappearance from her deceased grandparents' Longburn Rd home in Henderson has sparked one of the biggest police hunts for years.

But after three days of searching police have found no sign of the toddler and investigation head Inspector Gary Davey said today it was looking increasingly likely she had been kidnapped.

He could not rule out that she may have been stolen to order.

"That is a possibility. What I am trying to do is to convince the public to keep an open mind."

He said if she was taken to order it would be a very, very rare occurrence.

"We don't have any evidence to suggest any scenario. Some are more likely than others.

"For example abduction is more likely than her wandering off, given the thoroughness of our search."

It was also a possibility she had been a hit-and-run victim where the driver had panicked and taken her away.

Mr Davey said search and rescue experts believed after studying the creek near her family's house, the rainfall, and the water flows, it was "highly unlikely" she would have been swept down the creek before the police began their intense search of the area.

He said the mystery Asian woman seen with Aisling about 5.30pm on Monday had still to be identified and there was still a possibility she had no idea of the search or the grief of the parents, Alan and Angela Symes.

If she was the kidnapper, all she had to do was return Aisling, said her distraught parents, Alan and Angela Symes said yesterday.

Mr Symes said the days since Monday had been the most harrowing of their lives.

"We have had no sleep and feel like we are barely existing -- surviving every moment, not knowing where Aisling is." Mr Davey said it was critical police spoke to the Asian woman.

She has been described as about 165cm tall with a medium build and long straight black hair, wore a black crew neck top, with three-quarter length sleeves, three-quarter length blue jeans, black leather sandals and black socks, and had a black and grey medium sized dog on a lead.

Police are considering boosting the number of searchers looking for Aisling.

More than 100 searchers, including police searchers, divers and police boats, and volunteer searchers have scoured the area.

Aisling was thought to be wearing a green parka jacket or ski jacket, blue jeans embroidered with flowers, and white tennis shoes.

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