My Wife's Niece is Missing!

ESCONDIDO ---- The family of missing teen Amber Dubois and the police who have investigated her case for two months say they're not giving up hope, even as the flood of tips about Amber's disappearance has slowed to a steady drip.

The 14-year-old Escondido High School freshman vanished Feb. 13 on her way to school. Her parents and friends have described Amber as a bookish girl who loved horses, was a model student and never spoke of running away.

Her family believes Amber was abducted by a stranger. Police say they have no evidence to support either a runaway or abduction theory, and are looking at all possible scenarios.

There have been no significant developments in the case for weeks, causing added despair for the family and frustrating police.

"This has been a very frustrating and perplexing case for our investigators," Escondido police Lt. Bob Benton said. "To have a 14-year-old girl missing is a huge concern for all of us involved ... (Through the investigation) we all know Amber, obviously not as well as the family. She is very dear to us. We'll do anything to find her."

Benton said the department receives at least a half-dozen tips daily. Many are possible sightings and each one is checked out through phone calls, interviews or viewing surveillance video when possible, Benton said.

Police continue to receive bits of Amber's e-mail and online chat history through search warrant requests. Several family members and friends voluntarily turned over computers that Amber used, though none of the history so far has shown anything "out of the ordinary," Benton said.

Accessing Amber's computer history, on both her Yahoo! e-mail account and from several social networking sites, has been slow because much of the data is stored on servers overseas, the lieutenant said.

Benton added that police would like to speak with a young man who appeared to be walking with Amber on the west side of Broadway the morning she disappeared. Amber occasionally walked with classmates on the way to school, though the boy with a dark complexion doesn't match any of those classmates, Benton said.

"That is one of the unsolved questions in the case," he said, noting two neighbors independently said they saw Amber at 7:10 a.m. walking on Broadway near the school's football stadium ---- the last time anyone has reported seeing the girl. One of the neighbors said they saw her with the boy, Benton said.

Maurice Dubois, Amber's father, said the family will continue to organize weekend searches and events to raise awareness about their daughter.

Family and friends have held numerous candlelight vigils, press conferences and fundraisers to keep Amber's story in the news.

"We're not going to lose hope," said Dubois, noting that each passing day becomes more difficult.

Mark Klaas, whose daughter Polly was kidnapped and murdered in 1994 in Northern California, said he knows well what the Dubois family is going through. His daughter was found 65 days after she was abducted.

"(Two months) is closing in on despair," said Klaas, who now heads the KlaasKids Foundation, which works to stop crimes against children. "You start these (searches) with boundless hope that it will be a weekend project."

After weeks go by, your hope "hangs by a thread," he said.

Bill Garcia, a San Diego private investigator who worked for the Dubois family early in the search, said keeping Amber's name prominent is likely the best hope for the family.

The veteran investigator said he remains puzzled by the case, noting some kind of development typically surfaces by now.

To find new clues in a stalled case, he said, police typically go back to the beginning to find "any tidbit" they might have missed ---- something Benton said police are doing.

Volunteers are still needed for weekend searches, Dubois said. He urged off-duty military personnel with search experience to contact the family. Information about getting involved is available at the family's Web site, www.bringamberhome.com.

Amber is described as 5 feet 5 inches tall, 130 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes.

Anyone with information about her disappearance is asked to call Escondido police at (760) 743-8477.

Contact staff writer Chris Nichols at (760) 740-5426 or [email protected].