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In 2020, in a small California mountain town, five women disappeared. I found out what happened to all of them, except one. A woman known as Dia, whose estate is worth millions of dollars. I'm Lucy Sheriff. Over the past four years, I've spoken with Dia's family and friends, and I've discovered that everyone has a different version of events.
Hear the story on Where's Dear? Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Voices for Justice is a podcast that uses adult language and discusses sensitive and potentially triggering topics, including violence, abuse, and murder.
This podcast may not be appropriate for younger audiences. All parties are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Some names have been changed or omitted per their request or for safety purposes. Listener discretion is advised. My name is Sarah Turney and this is Voices for Justice. Today I'm discussing the disappearance of three-year-old Lena Sardar-Keel.
After working with US troops in Afghanistan for over five years, Lena's father Riaz was granted a special visa for him and his family to move to the US. The hope was to create a better and mainly safer life for them.
In 2019, when Lena was just a baby, they settled in San Antonio, Texas. They returned to Afghanistan in 2021 to visit family and barely escaped with their lives. During their visit, they found themselves just feet away from a suicide bombing. Lena immediately fainted, and the family rushed to the airport to get back home to the U.S. But just months later, Lena disappeared from their apartment complex playground.
Lena's father later told the media, quote, We came from Afghanistan to have a happy and safe life here, but it didn't happen. My whole life was ruined. This is the case of Lena Sadar-Keel. Lena was born on February 20, 2018, to her parents Sarmina and Riaz in Afghanistan. Lena is the couple's first and only daughter.
From 2013 to 2019, Riaz was a soldier with the Afghan army. He worked assisting U.S. troops in the ghost province of southeastern Afghanistan on the border of Pakistan. In 2019, Riaz was given a special visa to take his family to start a new life in the U.S. He was excited to get out of Afghanistan in hopes of creating a better, safer life for his family.
So they packed their bags and moved to a one-bedroom apartment in one of the largest cities in the U.S., San Antonio, Texas. Soon after, Riaz began working as a commercial truck driver, while Zarmina stayed home and began making friends in the community. It was a huge leap for the family. They're in a new country, learning a new language, and Riaz has a brand new line of work. Basically, everything was different. But things were going well, and soon, Lina had a little brother.
In the summer of 2021, the family made a trip back to Afghanistan to visit friends and family. But then, Lina and her parents found themselves just feet away from a suicide bombing that would kill hundreds of Afghans and 13 U.S. soldiers. Lina immediately fainted after the blast. Sarmina found her laying on the ground, motionless, fearing the worst. But ultimately, she and her family were okay and safely made it back to San Antonio.
After the fall of Kabul, thousands of refugees settled in San Antonio. Lena's apartment complex, VSD Cabo, housed several of these families, creating a very tight-knit community. They were all kind of navigating their new lives in the U.S. together, often leaning on each other for support. But Lena's family was thriving. By December 2021, her parents were expecting their third child.
On Monday, December 20th, 2021, after a very long, cold, and rainy week being cooped up in their apartment, Lena asked to go play on the playground in the apartment complex. According to reports, it was so close you could see this play area from the family's front door. Zarmina eventually gives in. The playground was filled with familiar adults and kids. There
There were at least a dozen children playing along with a few parents watching nearby. Now, there are a lot of conflicting timelines and stories about this day, but I think it's safe to assume that Lena started playing on the playground sometime after 4 p.m.,
Meanwhile, Riaz is at a relative's house. It was his first family dinner since his brother arrived in the US, so Zarmina watches Lina from the area of her front door where the playground is in view. But then, around 5pm, she doesn't see Lina anymore. Zarmina tries not to panic immediately. There were a ton of people around, and the kids were always running in and out of each other's apartments, so she assumes Lina had to be around there somewhere. Zarmina
Zarmina asks around and begins knocking on doors around the complex, but no one has seen Lina.
She calls Riaz by 6pm to let him know that she can't find her. He calls their contact, a man who basically helps refugees navigate the US. He says if Lena's been missing for an hour, they need to call the police, which they do at approximately 7.15pm, after the family goes door-to-door looking for Lena a little bit longer. When the San Antonio police arrive around 8pm, they shut down the complex.
They post an officer at every entrance and exit, and record everyone coming and going. If they were in a vehicle, it was searched, and their license plate was written down. They have officers searching in dumpsters and trash cans around the complex, and every crevice a small child like Lena could hide in. But it was clear that Lena was either in one of those apartments, or she was gone. At 10.30pm, an Amber Alert is issued for Lena.
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Let's talk about the search for Lena. The SAPD set up two command posts, one at the USAA building across the street from the apartments, and another at SAPD headquarters. The complex itself is two stories tall, and filled with a ton of narrow pathways and walls, so it's pretty easy for a child to get out of their parents' sight.
To the south is a public storage facility, a sign shop, a medical clinic, and a bank. Directly across the apartment complex to the west is a handful of restaurants, including a Sonic. There's a mechanic, a daycare. There are some patches of nature, basically trees, but it's mostly apartment complexes and businesses.
Pretty much immediately, the FBI was called in, and they poured a ton of resources into the search. They used the Child Abduction Rapid Deployment Team, the Behavioral Analysis Unit, intelligence response teams, and forensic examiners. Between the FBI and the SAPD, there were hundreds of officers searching for Lena.
SAPD Chief William McManus reported that in the first two days Lena was missing, they searched over 300 apartments, some more than once. One tenant of the apartment complex that did not want to be identified told KSAT News, "...FBI showed up and they searched my apartment. They looked under the bed, under the couch outside. They had this questionnaire, going through questions. Would you be willing to give a DNA sample if needed?"
The manager of Belden's Automotive across the street also reported getting a visit from authorities. They were looking for footage from his security cameras. His shop can actually see the entire front entrance to the apartment complex. The public storage to the south of the complex also has security cameras, and many of the other surrounding businesses do as well. But Lena's apartment complex did not have security cameras at that time.
They used search dogs, collected a ton of video footage, and had officers in hazmat suits searching dumpsters. They also leaned on Afghan community leaders to help them connect with the community, and they spoke about Lina at the Islamic Center of San Antonio, urging anyone with information to come forward. Chief McManus said anyone with information about Lina could stay completely anonymous. They wouldn't pressure them for any more information, they just need help.
Information about Lena was shared in English, Spanish, and Pashto, her native language. Chief McManus estimated that about 15 organizations in total helped with the search efforts for Lena. People donated food, transportation, reward funds, but they were coming up empty-handed. On
On Wednesday, December 22nd, the Islamic Center of San Antonio announced that they raised a cash reward of $10,000. By Thursday, it was up to $100,000. The same day, Crime Stoppers of San Antonio offered an additional $50,000 for anyone with information that led to an arrest. They have a $150,000 reward.
15 organizations assisting the search. The FBI basically at their disposal. But by December 25th, KSAT News reports that they are no closer to finding Lena. Chief McManus told them, quote, there's nothing that we haven't done to try to find her. It's frustrating and disheartening. Disappointing that we haven't come up with something yet.
Early on, the organization Eagles Flight Advocacy and Outreach, and specifically its founder, Pamela Allen, helped Lena's family. Pamela now essentially acts as a public spokesperson for Lena's parents, and helps them communicate with authorities. She and the organization also help with everything from planning awareness events and searches.
On January 4th, 2022, the SAPD utilized FBI divers to search a nearby creek. The family was not told this was happening beforehand. It was actually Pamela that found out first. She says she grabs the family's interpreter and heads to their apartment to tell them what's going on. And according to Pamela, Reyes falls to his knees sobbing over the news. He realizes they aren't looking for Alina alive, but they are now diving to recover her body.
In an interview following the search, Pamela expressed her frustration with a lack of communication between the SAPD and Lena's family. Ultimately, Lena and nothing related to Lena was found in the creek. As the case progresses, the SAPD is hesitant to call it an abduction. About a week after Lena went missing, the SAPD and FBI held a joint press conference to update the public.
They reiterate that right now, Lena's case is just classified as a missing persons case, not an abduction. When they are asked if they are looking at any suspects, they confirm that they are. But when asked if they suspected foul play, Chief McManus says, "...if we suspected foul play, the investigation would turn. But right now, we don't have enough to lead us in that direction."
When asked what's making it so hard to find anything about Lena, Justin Garris, the acting special agent in charge of the FBI San Antonio field office takes the mic and explains that they have a gap in their timeline for that day. So we have a gap right now and I mentioned it last week, but from 4:49 PM last Monday, the 20th till 5:07, there's an 18 minute window where we had visibility of, where we did not have visibility of Lena.
A lot of the tips we've required are outside of that 18-minute window. So I would ask the public, if they have any information or leads or anything they can provide us during that 18-minute window, that would be of huge value to the San Antonio Police Department and FBI.
Now, I'm not going to lie to you guys. I'm confused about what's happening at this point. It's not an abduction, they don't suspect foul play, but they are looking at potential suspects, presumably not involving foul play. I also don't really know what Garris means by visibility of Lena. Does he mean a visual as in security footage of some kind?
I have to believe that someone in that complex had a camera doorbell. Is it just witness statements? Also, if this is a gap, does that mean that they have some idea of where Lena is after 5.07pm? I'm really not sure if I'm just interpreting what they're saying wrong, or if they're being so vague it's not making sense. Then, on January 7th, 2022, the Amber Alert for Lena is discontinued, without really giving a reason why.
The statement from the SAPD says, quote, Recently a decision was made to suspend an Amber Alert for Lena. Amber Alerts are a tool used in investigations. While the Amber Alert for Lena has suspended, it's critical to communicate that Lena is still a missing person. And, once again, we continue to follow up on leads and actively search for Lena. The missing persons case involving Lena Sadar-Keel is an active investigation.
The rest of the statement really just talks about how they're doing everything they can and bringing in outside agencies to assist. But that's really it. In February 2022, Lena's family moved forward with planning her fourth birthday party, assuming she would be back. Instead, it turned into an observance. There were pink decorations, balloons, cupcakes, and a banner displaying Lena's missing person poster.
They also released four doves. Prane and her father spoke to the media. When asked by KSAT News what a normal birthday celebration looks like for Lina, Riaz told them to check back next year, when Lina is home celebrating her fifth birthday. On the same day, an anonymous donor donated a large sum to Lina's reward fund, jumping the combined total to now a quarter of a million dollars.
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and have been the subject of some vicious rumors. Some seem to be deeply rooted in prejudice. Others, I personally think, were perpetrated by conflicting stories of Lena's disappearance by the media. Let's start with the insane amount of misinformation in this case. I'm going to be honest again here and say this is one of the most confusing cases I've ever covered. And I think that's because a lot of things are being misinterpreted. Literally.
See, Riaz speaks Pashto, and therefore speaks to the media through an interpreter. And there are so many different stories out there about the timeline of when Lena went missing. Now, I do want to say up front that the SAPD say these parents have been fully cooperative, and I'm not trying to cast any suspicion on them.
The reality of this case is there's no real definitive story of how Lena went missing, while at least a dozen children and a handful of adults were in the immediate area, and apparently saw nothing. None of the kids, none of the adults, no one saw this three-year-old child walk away, get grabbed, go into another apartment, nothing. The FBI poster for Lena just says that she went missing from the playground at the apartment complex.
NamUs has no circumstances listed, and neither does the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. So here are the stories I found about how exactly Lena went missing that day. The New York Times reports that Zarmina turned her head for no more than five minutes and Lena was gone. Fox 7 Austin reported that Zarmina was watching the kids, saw Lena walk down a path away from the playground, and she was just gone.
Maya San Antonio and the chief of the San Antonio police reports that Zarmina left for a short period of time, and when she came back, Lena was gone. There are even some reports that Zarmina might have gone to the store.
Now, Zarmina does not give on-camera interviews to the media. Their family advocate, Pamela, has told the media that this is due to the family's religion and culture. Riaz's concerns are darker. He has stressed that due to the Taliban, he's very concerned for his family in the U.S. and Afghanistan should she appear on camera or in photos. So Pamela and Riaz have been the public faces of Lina's case.
In a situation like this, I would normally just take what the police say as the most accurate story. But I think it's important to consider Riaz's version of events also. Yes, when I arrived at home, I asked my wife that,
Tell me the story, what happened? My wife told me that the little girl, she exited the park, the small park, and just toward the pathway, and from there, she missed her. What do you mean she missed her? It means like she didn't see her anymore. Okay. So she saw Lena go which way? Yeah, she exited like the facing area towards the concrete path.
When she was out of the house, did she go back to her home? No, she went back to her home to get water. She went out and went back to her mother.
Before she got disappeared, she first went to the apartment just to grab a bottle of water. And later on she came back to the fencing and she just delivered the water to the other kids. And once she exited the fencing area, then she got disappeared.
Did your mother see Lena? Yes, she thought she was at home. She was at home, but she didn't see Lena.
The mom thought that Lena might have gone back to the apartment. But when she went to the apartment and she realized that Lena is not in the apartment, she came out from the apartment and just searched the surrounding area. But she couldn't find her whereabouts.
And no one has seen or heard from her since then, right? No. So basically, what I heard was that Ria says Lena went inside their apartment to grab waters for the other kids, handed them the waters, wandered away down a concrete path, and disappeared while her mother watched. Now, I will say that I don't think this story is incredibly different from the one SAPD tells us.
But it seems that Zarmina does have an idea at least of what direction Lina was headed in, and I don't know why that isn't a part of the SAPD's retelling of the events of the day she went missing.
Either way, all of these conflicting stories combined with the fact that Zarmina is not doing on-camera interviews has caused a ton of people to attack the family. Some have also pointed to Lena's height and weight as a sign that the family is being deceptive. It seems that at 3 years old, Lena was already 4 feet tall and weighed 55 pounds. This does put her far above the average height and weight for a 3-year-old.
But Lena was just months away from her fourth birthday, and we all know all kids grow at different rates.
Now this is just pure speculation, but I also think it's possible that if Lena's parents were estimating her height and weight, those numbers could have been lost in translation. Afghanistan uses the metric system, as does most of the world outside the US. Many have attacked the family because they are from Afghanistan. Rumors swirled that Lena was unwanted due to her gender and sold off as a child bride, that her parents killed her to make room for the new baby boy.
When her parents released another photo of Lena from the day she went missing, the speculation only got worse. Her parents were accused of hindering the investigation by not providing it before. It was further proof for some that they were hiding something or sold her. I think it's worth noting that this photo doesn't really show Lena's face very well. It's basically kind of covered by what looks like some type of treat. The photo was released to show the jewelry she was wearing that day due to a large influx of questions about it.
So it shows Lena wearing her red dress, gold earrings, gold-colored bracelets, blue plastic bracelets, and a tall wheeze around her neck, which holds scripture from the Quran. So aesthetically, it looks like a long, dark-colored necklace. But again, this just made people go wild on social media. One top fan of the News 4 San Antonio Facebook page wrote, "'So why would Uncle take this pic the day she disappeared?'
Did he send it to someone and sold her? No matter what, this picture should have surfaced the day she disappeared. Sounds like time to get her out of the country for the delay. I would check all his cell communications since her disappearance.
This comment got 31 likes and 2 comments, one of which says, quote, The photos look staged, like from a catalog. I bet she was sold. Another comment said, quote, The parents sold that poor baby. Point blank. They really need to look into the shady parents. The comments only get worse. I also think it's worth noting that according to the family's advocate, the family's phones have been investigated.
Now, I don't know what happened to Lina. I can't say whether her parents or a relative was involved in her disappearance. But I can say that I don't think that photo or the timing of it is proof of anything other than what she was wearing. I also think it's worth noting that Lina's family is not hiding from the media by any means. Zarmina and Riaz have participated in searches for Lina. We've
We've discussed why her mother hasn't appeared in the media, and you can find Riaz doing countless interviews and participating in all of Lena's events. He's also been seen breaking down and crying about Lena in several interviews. According to Pamela Allen, Riaz even participated in a documentary feature about Lena that should be premiering on Paramount Plus in the future.
Again, we don't know what happened, but I do think Riaz is doing all the things people look for in these parents to determine guilt. Are they cooperating? Are they showing emotion? Are they a part of the searches, doing interviews, etc.? And Riaz checks off all those things.
I think the worst part is that, unfortunately, this hate for Lena's family has ultimately affected the search for her. Pamela and her organization completed a 27-mile search of a greenbelt a few miles away from the apartment complex in 2022. This area has been described as a place someone might dump a body. But in May, they announced that they were stopping similar searches due to the family being stalked, harassed, and bombarded with conspiracy theories. She told Ken's 5 News, quote,
We have people that are stalking us that go on these searches, that film us, take pictures of us, and come up with different stories. We just don't want to do these types of searches anymore. Things directed at them because they're Afghani and because they're Muslim. That's harsh. Riaz assisted our military forces when we were in Afghanistan. We brought him over here to make sure his family is safe. Then this happens.
I think no matter where you land on what you think happened to Lena, we can all agree that any disruption of searches for her is ultimately not in Lena's best interest.
So what happened to Lena? Chief McManus remains adamant that they don't have any evidence to make them believe Lena was abducted, but they are still kind of treating the case as an abduction. He told KSAT News, quote, it's kind of a hybrid missing person and abduction. I have not talked to anyone about this case, family or law enforcement, that's just not baffled. Nobody vanishes into thin air, and I don't believe that Lena did either.
Aside from theories about the family being involved, some have speculated that it could have been a member of their community, or even a member of the Taliban taking revenge on the family, due to Riaz's long history of assisting U.S. troops. Many of the refugees in the community have expressed fear for their own children following Lina's disappearance. Family spokesperson Pamela Allen says that they now believe Lina is likely no longer in the San Antonio area. As
And Lina's father still holds out hope that she's alive. He says from day one, it's been 11 months, he still thinks the same that he thought day one, which is that she's coming back. Sooner or later, she's coming back, either today or tomorrow. He has that feeling that she's there. She's out there. She's going to return.
So he still feels within himself that she is A, alive and coming back. Yes. This is Jessica Knoll, host of the new series, Back in Crime.
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Now, you guys know, I usually don't try to insert what I think about these cases in terms of theories. I am fully in the boat of who am I to tell you what to think about these cases. I really do just try to lay out the facts, the popular theories, and let you guys think critically without my opinion clouding things up. But I have to say, there being no video evidence of Lena leaving the apartment complex has me extremely worried.
I can't imagine a scenario where Lena just walked away without being seen. People in the area knew Lena and her family. I found reviews for the apartment complex talking about lots of kids of all ages running around causing trouble.
People knew these kids. People knew Lena. I think it's very possible that she either never left the complex, or was grabbed so quickly and taken away from the complex, possibly hidden in a vehicle, that no one saw her. But it had to have happened so fast. If Lena really did walk away from the playground down a concrete path out of her mother's sight, I could see a scenario where Lena turns a corner and is grabbed and taken into an apartment very quickly.
Maybe she's lured in, maybe she asked to use the restroom. Given how large that complex is, the reviews the tenants have left about large groups of children of all ages roaming the complex, I don't think Lena was alone for very long. That or someone who did see something isn't saying anything, despite the huge reward.
Lena's mother told ABC News, quote, We all have the same pain. It doesn't matter that I'm from Afghanistan. I have a different culture, different religion. What we have in common is the pain of motherhood as a human. The same for all people. That brings me right to our call to action.
Let's keep the pressure on Lena's case. This is another one that got really big in the media and then just kind of fizzled out. Lena did recently get a tiny feature on a TV show, but it was a 30 second blurb. So please share Lena's case. As a reminder...
Lena Siddharth Keel was last seen at the Villas de Cabo apartment complex, now known as the Vive Apartments, on Fredericksburg Road in San Antonio, Texas, on the evening of December 20th, 2021. She was wearing a red dress, black jacket, black shoes, real gold earrings, gold-toned and blue plastic bracelets, and a tall wheeze around her neck. When she went missing, she was three years old. She would now be four, almost five.
She has brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information is urged to call the San Antonio Police Department at 210-207-7660. But as always, thank you, I love you, and I'll talk to you next time. Voices for Justice is hosted and produced by me, Sarah Turney, and is a Voices for Justice media original. If you love what we do here, please don't forget to follow, rate, and review the show in your podcast player.
It's an easy and free way to help us and help more people find these cases in need of justice. You can also support what we do here over on Patreon at patreon.com slash voices for justice. And for even more content, check out my other podcast, Disappearances, only on Spotify. Welcome. It's been a while since we've been in this moment.
I have to say, this was a very difficult episode for me to cover. Not only because I will admit that I am absolutely ignorant to a lot of what life looks like in Afghanistan. I had to do a lot of research and try to understand the best I could. But I'm sure that I absolutely still have a ton more to learn. It's just a really difficult case with all the different stories, with law enforcement, in my opinion, being pretty vague. Um,
It was just a harder one to cover, but ultimately I just wanted to get Lena's story and her face out there. I don't really care if Lena's parents lied about her age or it was misinterpreted. The thing is, Lena needs to be looked for. It's about Lena. And when I saw that the backlash had stopped searches for her...
I think that's what made me cover the case. I was like, absolutely not. Like, I get it. Everybody has their right to their own opinion. You guys know me. I try not to tell you what to think. I try not to tell you what I think. I know that being an influencer of any type, and you guys know I hate that word, whatever, having a podcast, being in the social media and public eye, being
I don't want to cloud your judgment with my opinion, because who am I? I cover these cases and I try to raise awareness, but I'm not an expert in this. I will also say that the weirdest stuff happens in true crime. Just when you think you can predict a case, it'll go this insane way. Not all the time, right? There's obviously some pretty clear-cut stories, and a lot of them do follow a certain pattern, if you will.
But I think oftentimes we get these stories and we just don't know where they're headed. So I'm always really hesitant to say this is what I think and you guys should think this too, because again, who am I? What I love about bringing you guys stories is this collective kind of think tank that we create. We can ask, you know, questions that are relevant and we don't have to really go attack people because as we've seen in this episode here, that can negatively affect the victim.
So again, no matter what you think about Lena's case, who you think did it or didn't do it or what happened to her, please share her story. She's just a little kid and she needs help.
I do also just want to take a moment and acknowledge like all these really unsung heroes in this case. You have USAA letting them use the building. You have this amazing advocacy group that has been fighting for them tooth and nail. You have the community leaders that are helping communicate with the community and with the police. And I mean, those incredibly generous donations, it's up to a quarter million dollars for the reward fund.
It's just, it's so weird to me. When I went to, you know, see what type of media coverage Lena's case got, because that is something I look for and I like to discuss, I was shocked when I saw that there weren't a lot of podcasts that covered her case. So again, I know I'm like forever rambling in this after show, you guys, but...
just share her case, please. It seems like Lena's not getting a whole lot of love right now. And again, at the end of the day, we have a small child who is missing and that's really all I care about. But as always, thank you for tolerating me. I love you and I'll talk to you next time.