Missing New York 3-Year-Old Girl in 'Extreme Danger'

A toddler is thought to be "in extreme danger" by police who have launched a hunt to find the child—along with a woman who is believed to be driving her states away from her home.

Kadence France, who is aged just 3, was last seen at her father's home in Staten Island, New York, on Saturday afternoon. But detectives now believe the child is in Virginia with a 26-year-old woman called Randalae Rhodes; they did not reveal whether Rhodes has any connection to the child. Newsweek has contacted New York Police Department by email seeking further clarification and comment.

Officers in Virginia have appealed for the general public to help them find the girl and described their search as an "at-risk missing person" case.

They shared photos of both the missing child and the suspect on social media site X (formerly Twitter) on Monday.

It is thought that the pair may be traveling in a blue Honda Accord with an unknown license plate, police said.

The flyer can be viewed below:

"The Virginia State Police and the Virginia Missing Children Clearinghouse have issued a Missing/Endangered Alert on behalf of the New York City Police Department for an incident that occurred on December 16^th, 2023 at 1230 hours," the missing person flyer states.

"The child is believed to be in extreme danger and was last seen at her father's house located in Staten Island, New York.

"Missing/Endangered is Kadence France, 3 years old, Black female, brown hair, brown eyes, 3'0" height, 35 pounds. She was last seen wearing a pink jacket, black pants, black Ugg boots, and a black winter hat with pom poms.

"The child is believed to be with Randalae Rhodes, Black female, age 26. She is 5'6" height, 240 pounds, unknown color hair, brown eyes. Unknown clothing description."

Anyone who sees the pair, or who has any information about the case, should call 911, the missing persons flyer said.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, there were 359,094 reports of missing children last year—although it should be noted that some of those numbers are repeat entries for children who ran away multiple times.

Whereas hundreds of thousands of children and juveniles are reported missing each year, analysis by Reuters suggests that the vast majority (more than 95 percent) are runaways who are found relatively quickly.

Abduction by a non-custodial parent or relative accounts for most of the remaining cases, and just 0.1 percent are reported as being abducted by a stranger making kidnappings by unknown suspects extremely rare.