Sex offenders’ homes searched in abduction probe

Philadelphia police on Tuesday searched the homes of several registered sex offenders who live in the Cobbs Creek neighborhood where a 5-year-old girl was abducted from school last week, but made no arrests.

Investigators have so far received few tips in the case. They are focusing on a four-block radius around Bryant School in West Philadelphia, the place where the child was kidnapped Jan. 14 by a woman who posed as her mother.

The girl told police that she was held at a house several blocks from the school, and that a man was present. She was blindfolded and hidden under a bed, then discovered in an Upper Darby playground early Jan. 15, hiding under a slide.

The woman who took the child is in her late 20s, 5-foot-5 to 5-foot-8, and possibly pregnant. She had a thin build and dark skin, and was wearing a black Muslim-style niqab, which includes a veil that covers all of the face except the eyes. The woman identified herself to the child as Rashida. The male was described as in his mid-30s, with light brown or white skin and short brown hair. Anyone with information is asked to call police.   - Allison Steele