Renewed search for missing San Carlos Park girl unsuccessful

YEEHAW JUNCTION, Fla. A second search of a key area in the case of a missing 9-year-old San Carlos Park girl came up empty Wednesday.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office returned to a site near Yeehaw Junction that they searched in June, shortly after her disappearance on May 29, 2016, said Tom Busatta, the attorney for the family of Diana Alvarez.

Deputies on Wednesday were able to access places within the stretch of Osceola County farmland off Florida’s Turnpike that they couldn’t during the initial search, which took place during rainy season.

Records show a cellphone belonging to Jorge Guerrero, a person of interest in the case, was stationary in that area for several hours.

Photos of Alvarez in her underwear were found on that phone. Guerrero was arrested on child pornography charges but was never arrested in connection to Alvarez’s disappearance, despite the existence of probable cause and his inclusion in an AMBER alert issued for the girl.

Guerrero pleaded not guilty in the child porn case. An attorney representing him is arguing those photos shouldn’t be used as evidence on the grounds that the phone was password-protected.