FBI Studies Possible Link in Hunt for 2 Missing Girls

Federal investigators are looking for a possible link between the disappearances of two young girls in Northern California, and cite the apparent kidnaping of a Pinole child as particularly baffling.

The FBI joined police on Monday in investigating the cases of 7-year-old Amber Swartz-Garcia of Pinole and 4-year-old Candi Elizabeth Talarico of Sacramento. Agents fear the older girl was abducted and may have been taken out of the state.

“We are now in it for the long haul,” said agency spokesman Chuck Latting. “There is almost no evidence, period.

“She just vanished, and it appears this is going to be a very difficult case that will consume a lot of agents’ time,” he said.

Amber, nearly deaf and with a slight speech impediment, was last seen by her parents while skipping rope in the front yard of their family home about 15 miles northeast of San Francisco Friday evening.

Searches of the neighborhood and an eight-square-mile area east of San Pablo Bay were unsuccessful.

The disappearance was followed on Saturday by Candi’s abduction from an alley near her home about 75 miles northeast of Pinole.

Witnesses said she was playing with friends when a man in a late-model metallic blue car dragged her away as she kicked and screamed for her mother.

A yellow, diamond-shaped sign reading “I like children” was displayed in the car’s rear window, said police Sgt. Ron Meadors.

The Talarico family has not heard anything from anyone claiming to be the kidnaper or know where Candi is, Griffin said.

The suspect in Candi’s abduction is described as white, 25 to 35 years old, between 5-feet-9 and 5-feet-11 and about 165 pounds, with dark brown, collar-length hair and a dark brown mustache. He wore jeans and a short-sleeved blue shirt.

Meanwhile, in Pinole, police continued their search and passed out flyers with a picture of the blond-haired, blue-eyed Amber. They also briefed local FBI agents about the case.

Her natural father, Pinole police officer Floyd “Bernie” Swartz was shot to death in 1980 after he and other police officers surrounded murder suspect James Odle. Swartz’ wife, Kimberly, was four months pregnant at the time.

Convicted of Swartz’ slaying as well as the beating death of 18-year-old Rena Aguilar, Odle was sentenced to death. His conviction was upheld recently by the state Supreme Court.

Latting declined to comment about whether authorities think there is a connection between the Odle case and Amber’s disappearance.

Mendocino County sheriff’s deputies said a tattooed man tried to abduct a 9-year-old girl from her home near Calpella on Sunday. And Sacramento police said they also were investigating a report that a man matching the description of Candi’s kidnapper tried to pick up a 5-year-old girl in the Roseville area last Tuesday.