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On August 22, 11 days after a 2-and-a-half-year-old girl from Dongjiazhuang, Mayao Village, Ximo Town, Ruicheng County, Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province went missing, the girl's father was interviewed by a reporter from the Huashang Daily Dafeng News and recounted what happened.

At present, relatives have expanded the search area to Yongji, Pinglu and Tongguan, Shaanxi, hoping that the girl will return home safely as soon as possible.

>>> Less than a quarter of an hour

Grandma went back to the yard after picking peppercorns and found her 2-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter missing

On August 22, his daughter Dong Yirou had been missing at the doorstep of her home for more than 10 days. When Mr. Dong was interviewed by a reporter from the Huashang Daily Dafeng News, he was in great torment.

Missing girl Dong Yirou

Mr. Dong told reporters that the incident occurred in Dongjiazhuang, Mayao Village, his hometown. At noon on August 12, his mother went to the back of the yard to pick peppercorns, and when she came back her granddaughter was gone, all in less than 15 minutes.

"I only have one prickly ash tree at home, which is right behind the house and close to the road. This period of time is very short, and you can see from the prickly ash tree that not much has been cut at all."

Pepper tree behind the house

Mr. Dong said that his 2.5-year-old daughter was playing alone in the yard before she left her grandmother's sight. But when her mother returned to the yard about 15 minutes later, she found that the child was gone and the gate was open.

"She sat on the ground and played by herself. She liked to read books by herself and didn't even draw. She was wearing slippers that day and she walked very carefully. Basically, she couldn't walk far in those few minutes."

Mr. Dong said: "When my mother was at home that day, no one came to our house. We only met a few neighbors at the door of our house."

>>>Where is my daughter?

"I checked all the villagers' surveillance cameras, and they didn't capture my daughter."

When Mr. Dong and his wife learned that their daughter was missing, they rushed home from Guangdong overnight. "I returned home in the late night of the day when the incident happened."

The first thing they thought of was to use the surveillance cameras in Dongjiazhuang to find their daughter. "Because we rarely go home, we don't have any surveillance cameras installed at home. The public surveillance cameras in the village are broken, and the surveillance cameras installed in the private homes of villagers are almost all open to the public. We checked every home that has them, and didn't find any of them. We don't stay in the village often, and usually only come back once during the Chinese New Year. Because we don't go back to the village often, we don't have any conflicts with anyone during the holidays."

Mr. Dong explained that his parents bought a house in Ruicheng County. "When I was in school, I went to school in the county town and rarely came back to the village. My father went out to work, and my mother and my daughter usually lived together in the county town. Usually, my mother would take my daughter to visit other people's homes. My daughter has never been to anyone's home alone."

Mr. Dong ruled out the possibility that his daughter would go to a relative's house. "If she goes back to her hometown, she usually goes to my grandmother's house. She comes to our village in Dongjiazhuang even less often. Usually, my mother comes back occasionally when something happens at home, and she only stays for one or two days. My relatives, except those from the same village, are basically far away from each other, at least one village away."

>>>Police officers come to check

"All the houses of the residents in our village have been searched at least three times.

As of August 22, his daughter had been missing for 10 days. Mr. Dong said that he had searched everywhere in the village, but there was still no sign of his daughter.

"The police have searched all the homes of residents in our village at least three times. They have also checked the idle old houses and ancestral houses in the village, including the sheepfolds. The old cave dwellings in the mountains far away from our home are no longer inhabited. Some have been filled in, and some are empty. The police have also sent people to check them, and we have also looked for them ourselves."

"There are no dry toilets in the village now. They have all been renovated. All the toilets and canals in the village have been drained, but they still haven't found anything."

"It's dry here, and there's usually no water. There are very few wells in the village, and almost no one has one. I personally searched for caves and cellars, but still found nothing. The wells in the village are completely sealed, and we also checked them, but found nothing."

Mr. Dong felt that he had no idea where to start. "We are not sure why my daughter disappeared. We have no evidence and we cannot suspect anyone."

Mr. Dong was extremely anxious, but unwilling to give up, hoping for a miracle. "We drove to the edge of the village at night to see if anyone had left their children there."

Mr. Dong admitted that they suspected that someone took the child away and returned her secretly at night out of guilt. "We can't be sure because there was no surveillance camera to capture what happened at the time, which means there is no surveillance camera around to see my daughter. It seems that there is no way to investigate this matter, and we can only speculate, without any real evidence."

During the interview, the reporter heard a car horn. Did the child get on a passing vehicle? Mr. Dong responded: "The police are investigating now, and we are not sure. Our home is dozens of meters away from the main road. The village is quite remote, and there are usually few cars coming."

>>>Thousands of people are looking for

The police sent personnel to the village, and the reward notice for the family was sent to Tongguan, Shaanxi

Mr. Dong told reporters that the village has been turned upside down and now they can only expand the search scope.

"Today is the 11th day. There are now more than a thousand rescue workers in the villages and towns, not including us relatives. We have also gone to Mayao Village to look for my daughter. Many people have been helping to find my daughter these days."

"The police have offered a reward, but have not yet received any valuable clues. They have also used police dogs and infrared drones, flying them at night for several days and also during the day to investigate."

"We have posted missing person notices from the police throughout the city. We went out to look for him yesterday (August 21) and went to Yongji City, where we also posted notices. Our relatives have been to Yongji, Pinglu and Tongguan in Shaanxi. Since Tongguan is not far from us, we have sent our family's reward notice there."

The reporter saw that on August 14, the Ruicheng County Public Security Bureau issued a reward notice, offering a reward of 50,000 yuan for anyone who provided effective clues in finding a person, and a reward of 100,000 yuan for anyone who directly found the person.

On August 19, Mr. Dong issued a missing person notice: Anyone who has found or taken the wrong child should place the child safely on the roadside and the family will take the child back. The matter will not be pursued. The family is willing to pay a generous reward of 200,000 yuan to anyone who provides clues that lead to the child's return.

Mr. Dong and his family felt that the incident was very strange. "We never thought this would happen. It has not happened in our village for decades."

Mr. Dong believes that they still have to rely on the public security organs. "The police have sent special personnel to stay in our village committee every day. There are also police officers from the police station who are stationed in the village to help find the child during the day and keep someone on duty at night. We have no idea where our daughter could have gone. Now we can only rely on the police to see if there are any clues and evidence."

>>>The only daughter in the family

After weaning, I was sent back to my hometown to be taken care of by my grandmother and enrolled in preschool.

Mr. Dong said that he and his wife are the same age, both born in 1995. "We have been married for only a few years. She is the only daughter in the family."

The couple worked in Guangdong, and after the child was weaned, they sent him home to be taken care of by his mother. "My daughter stayed in Shanxi after the 2023 Spring Festival, and lived with her grandmother in the county town on weekdays. My mother enrolled her in a preschool education class, and she usually went to study on weekends. My wife would video call my daughter every day."

Now, their daughter is a concern for the whole family. The couple is anxious and angry, unable to eat or sleep well. "We have to deal with our daughter's affairs first, and then we can deal with the rest."

Mr. Dong’s 52-year-old mother was under even greater mental pressure because her granddaughter was lost from her hands. “My mother contacted people to look for her every day, and she also went there herself.”

>>>Finding the General

Town and village officials and other forces searched in many directions, and the police opened a case for investigation

Near the evening of August 22, a reporter from the Huashang Daily Dafeng News contacted the government of Ximo Town, Ruicheng County. The staff said that the town government had organized many people to look for the girl, and all the forces that could be mobilized had been mobilized. There should be similar meetings every day to summarize valuable clues, and all parties are still actively searching.

The staff member said, "We have no news yet. If you want to know more details, please ask the county public security bureau or the county party committee propaganda department."

It is understood that at present, a special working group has been set up locally to organize the public security, fire, town and village cadres, professional rescue teams, surrounding villagers and other forces to conduct a full-scale search through visits, retrieval of public videos, and use of thermal imaging drones. The public security organs have filed a case and launched an investigation.

When asked whether there had been any cases of children being lost or abducted in the town or Mayao Village, staff responded, "This has never happened before."

Huashang Daily News reporter Li Hua, editor Li Zhi