SAN ANTONIO – It has been almost four years since Lina Khil disappeared from a playground on the Northwest Side.
The then 3-year-old girl was near her apartment complex on Fredericksburg Road, just north of Wurzbach Road, when she vanished on Dec. 20, 2021.
In a Monday news conference, Pamela Allen, an advocate for the family, said that there were several details that police had not told them in the years following Lina’s disappearance.
One example was a social media comment made a year after Lina’s disappearance that pointed to more evidence that the family had not been told about, Allen said.
The person who commented claimed they had told San Antonio police they had seen Lina walk hand-in-hand with a man who was not her father the day she disappeared.
However, Allen said Lina’s family was never told about this potential lead.
The family reached out to the person and hired a forensic sketch artist to help with the investigation, but the trail went cold.
In February 2024, the family found out via a social media influencer that police were investigating another potential lead.
The tip would lead to SAPD digging behind the apartment complexes on I-10 and Wurzbach for two days. They ultimately said the tip was “not credible.”
According to Allen, the tip was from an inmate on the U.S. Marshall’s Most Wanted List in 2019, who also lived in the same apartment complex as Lina’s family at the time she disappeared.
“Yet, (during the investigation) he did not have his apartment searched,” Allen said.
Allen said the inmate’s wife noticed something “wasn’t right” about her husband the day Lina disappeared.
SAPD has not given Lina’s family updates on the investigation since last February, according to Allen.
Lina’s father, Riaz Sardar Khil, said the family would be using a private investigator in hopes of finding new leads on Lina’s disappearance.
“Some of the resources they have for their investigation to proceed with, they have not used to the full extent,” Riaz said. “We are starting a new project for the investigation privately, and hopefully, we will get more updates and more information that will lead us to bring Lina back home.”
Additionally, because of the lack of communication with investigators, Allen, Lina’s family, and the families of other missing children made a list of ways that missing person investigations could be improved.
“Together, we constructed this list...and called it Bill of Rights for Families of the Missing,” Allen said.
Allen said that the families hope the dream could become a reality in the next Texas Legislative session.
On Monday, SAPD provided KSAT with the following statement:
“For over three years, SAPD has continued investigating the disappearance of Lina Khil. The San Antonio Police Department remains committed to following-up on and investigating every lead that we receive. SAPD continues to use all tools available, including working with our partners at the FBI to investigate all leads. SAPD would like to take this opportunity to ask anyone with information on Lina’s disappearance and/or whereabouts to please call police.”
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