SAN ANTONIO – For the second day, members of an FBI dive team have been searching a creek in the Medical Center looking for any sign of Lina Khil.

She’s been missing for 16 days.

Lina’s father Riaz Khil was briefed by FBI agents as divers searched the murky water of this creek near Babcock and Huebner.

We were able to speak with him briefly. Due to his English being limited, he wasn’t comfortable speaking for himself on camera but had Pamela Allen speak on his behalf.

“Riaz and his family and the Afghani community they are just saying thank you so much to everyone who has been lifting this case in prayer and who has been thinking about Lina and who has adopted this baby girl as their own,” said Allen.

Allen is an advocate for missing children and their families. She has been working closely with the family since Lina disappeared more than two weeks ago from a playground at an apartment on the Northwest Side.

About two miles from creek, the divers are searching.

As the investigation continues, rumors and speculation about the family’s involvement in Lina‘s disappearance have been posted regularly on social media.

“When they hear some of these things about ‘oh they sold her’ and all of these negative remarks it just hurts them because they love their daughter so much and they want her back and it’s hurtful to them,” said Allen.

Divers who are part of a special team with the FBI spent hours in the water on Wednesday, looking for any sign of Lina based on the tip given to the San Antonio Police Department.

Chief William McManus would not share much information about this tip, but he says his detectives are working on this lead and several others.

“There’s still a lot of analytical work that’s being done and there’s a lot of comparison to different sources of information that we are doing and that’s how we’re coming up with leads,” said McManus.

The San Antonio Police Department also released the following update after Wednesday’s search:

The SAPD, with the support of the FBI, continue to search for Lina Sardar Khil. The footprint of the search operations has been expanded to locations near Lina’s home. Yesterday, a search of a creek bed located in the 5700 block of Babcock Road was conducted with the collaboration of an 11-person FBI Underwater Search and Evidence Response Team. This initiative broadened the grid of our search for Lina from where she was last seen on Monday, December 20, 2021, between 4:30 – 5: 10 pm at 9400 Fredericksburg Road at the Villas Del Cabo Apartments. Today’s dive effort concluded without any conclusive findings.

Our follow up units continue to tirelessly investigate the disappearance of Lina. No resource, both from the Department and the FBI, has been spared in this investigation. Countless hours have been devoted to evidence analysis, aggressively chasing down leads, re-interviewing people, and ensuring that every piece of information is thoroughly scrutinized.

We will continue to search for Lina. The Department appreciates the extensive coverage of Lina’s case. Your news teams have been integral in communicating accurate, timely information to the public and this service has not gone unnoticed. Our next steps include widening the scope of the search for Lina. Collecting actionable leads is critical and we urge you to continue to communicate to the public that the best way to help bring Lina home is to share any piece of information they may have by contacting the Missing Person’s Unit 210-207-7660. We appreciate the support from our Federal partners and will exhaust every lead in an effort to find little Lina.

There is a $150,000 reward for any information that leads to Lina’s location.

If you have any information, you are urged to contact the San Antonio Police Department at 210-207-7660.

Written by Joe Galli