Driver Says Missing Girl, Man Boarded His Bus

A bus driver told sheriff’s detectives that he saw a 6-year-old Norwalk girl, missing since Friday, riding on his bus that afternoon with a man, authorities said Wednesday.

Detectives are handling the case as an abduction, but they are not ruling out the possibility that the girl may be with a relative or a family friend, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. John McBride.

“The driver said the girl seemed relaxed,” McBride said. “She was not being pulled by the man or anything and there was no physical contact between the two.”

Jaqueline “Jay” Saavedra was last seen at about 3 p.m. Friday, playing with dolls in a parking lot at Pacific Pointe Apartments in the 13800 block of Shoemaker Avenue in Norwalk.

The bus driver said the girl boarded the Metropolitan Transit District bus with a man at Rosecrans Boulevard and Shoemaker Avenue, just south of the apartment complex.

The driver said the man paid the girl’s bus fare and bought two transfers.

Authorities did not reveal what prompted the bus driver to come forward Tuesday.

Bloodhounds were used to check the bus and confirmed that Jaqueline had been aboard, McBride said.

“The bloodhounds detected her scent from some clothing at her apartment and then ‘hit’ on the same scent pattern on the bus,” he said.

Detectives hope that others who may have seen the girl with the man will contact them.

Jaqueline is about 4 feet tall and weighs 60 pounds. She was wearing blue shorts and a white T-shirt depicting the cartoon character Tweety Bird.

Anyone with information is asked to contact deputies at (562) 863-8711.