Local News in Brief : Deputies Check Tips on Missing 7-Year-Old

A 7-year-old Santa Clarita girl who disappeared from her front yard remained missing Saturday as detectives investigated more than 75 tips phoned in to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Sara Nan Hodges, a blonde, blue-eyed first-grader, was last seen playing with neighborhood youngsters in front of her Alderbrook Drive home Thursday.

An extensive search of a two-square-mile area around the home by some 80 deputies using bloodhounds, a mounted posse and helicopters was called off late Friday when no trace of the child was found, authorities said.

Detectives were being assigned to chase down leads as tips continued to be called in to deputies Saturday afternoon, Sgt. Ernie Roop said. Several Explorer Scouts handed out flyers appealing for help from anyone who might have seen the girl, he said.

When last seen, the 4-foot, 80-pound girl was wearing a pink-and-blue top, blue pants and a white jacket, investigators said.