Man Held in 1 Case Sought in Girl’s Disappearance

A Joshua Tree, Calif., man who was arrested here Thursday on suspicion of failing to report to serve a prison term is wanted for questioning in the disappearance of a Huntington Beach girl, a San Diego County Sheriff’s Department spokesman said.

Alan Michael Stevens, 42, was arrested without incident at 8 a.m. at a construction site at South Bent Avenue and San Marcos Boulevard by sheriff’s SWAT officers acting on information from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, Deputy Jim Mika said. Stevens said he had been working there as a part-time security guard, Mika said.

Authorities want to question Stevens about the October disappearance of 3-year-old Laura Bradbury from Joshua Tree National Monument, but Stevens is not a prime suspect, Mika said.

Laura was on a camping trip with her parents and her older brother at Indian Cove campground when she disappeared. A search of a 10-mile area around the campground by helicopter failed to turn up any trace of the child.

“San Bernardino officials told our detectives that he is one of 700 people they want to question,” because Stevens matches the description of the person they are looking for, Mika said.

Stevens was arrested on a warrant from San Bernadino County for failing to report to serve a prison term on felony possession of a sawed-off shotgun, Mika said. Stevens was booked into the Vista Jail after his arrest. San Bernadino County sheriff’s deputies were expected to arrive to take him to San Bernardino late Thursday.

“He’s no more a prime suspect than hundreds of others have been,” said San Bernadino County Sheriff’s Lt. Dean Knadler. “He was from the area, met the general description of the subject we’ve been looking for, and we needed to talk to to him. We have nothing more than that to go on.”

Mika said that SWAT officers were called out because Stevens had been violent. A shotgun was found in the trailer where Stevens was apprehended, but Mika said he did not know if it belonged to Stevens.

Stevens had been living in a mobile home near the construction site with a man, his wife and six children, Mika said. Deputies said the mobile home had no toilet and no refrigerator and was filthy.

The couple, Richard Mason Williams, 31, and his wife, Alma Ruth, 35, were booked on suspicion of child neglect, and the children, ranging in age from 1 to 13, were taken into protective custody at the Casa de Amparo in Oceanside, Mika said.