Citywide Search Continues for 6-Year-Old Girl

It has been three weeks, but Jane Newman believes her daughter is still trying to come home.

“I feel in my heart that she’s probably looking for me and is going in the wrong direction,” Newman said.

Newman’s daughter, Crystal Tymich, has been missing since June 30. Police and the FBI are scouring the city to find the 6-year-old. There has been one large-scale sweep of the South-Central Los Angeles neighborhood where Crystal disappeared, and police may search that area again or bring in a psychic to try to find Crystal.

The City Council is posting a $10,000 reward for her return.

Crystal grew up in South-Central but now splits time between her mother’s home in Santa Monica and her father’s in the Hyde Park district near Inglewood. The day she disappeared, she was near her father’s home, playing with her three brothers, ages 12, 10 and 8, in the 6000 block of Bryhurst Avenue. The brothers were riding on bicycles ahead of her, and when they turned around to look back about 2 p.m., Crystal was gone.

Newman said neighbors had seen Crystal wandering off other times that day and had brought her back to her brothers. She said Crystal had been talking about running away.

Police say they have no solid leads. However, after a television report on Crystal’s disappearance, police received calls from people who said they thought they had seen her in Downey, Santa Fe Springs and Bell Gardens. The girl was last seen wearing a pink T-shirt, flowered shorts and white tennis shoes with a Little Mermaid design. She is about 4 feet tall with brown hair and brown eyes.

“One minute she was playing with her brothers four or five houses away, and the next minute she vanished in broad daylight,” said Officer Tim McRath, who is investigating the case. “We haven’t ruled anything out.”

Police are considering using a psychic to help find Crystal, a technique sometimes employed in missing person cases. “We’re trying for anything now,” said Officer Robert Castaneda, McRath’s partner.

Newman said Crystal enjoys arcades and might be seen around video games or stores. Anyone who sees Crystal is asked to call police at (213) 485-4164, (213) 485-4175 or 911.

“I’m just praying every day for my daughter,” Newman said. “She’s a very high-spirited girl. She’s a fighter.”