The Region : Disappearance of Girl, 7, Still a Mystery

The disappearance of 7-year-old April Ann Cooper from a Temecula area campground this month has baffled investigators. “Right now we have absolutely no idea which way to go,” Riverside County sheriff’s Detective Chris Taylor said. April Ann was last seen Dec. 13, playing at the Woodchuck Campground, where she had lived with her mother, Debbie Hamilton. “We have not ruled out anything; we have not ruled out anyone (as a suspect),” Taylor said. “It is a total mystery.” Extensive ground and air searches turned up no trace of the blonde, blue-eyed girl. Hamilton moved out of the park last week, Taylor said. He declined to reveal her whereabouts. Campground resident Denise Stewart said the girl sometimes was left alone all night and “would go door to door . . . asking to come in because she was scared of the dark.” A savings account for the April Cooper reward fund has been opened at Great American Savings in Temecula. It now totals more than $2,000, officials said.