Bridgeton’s Missing 5-year-old Dulce Makes John Walsh’s New TV Series

BRIDGETON — The missing-child case that has kept a Cumberland County community in turmoil for months is being featured on the latest TV series with victim rights advocate and former "America's Most Wanted" host John Walsh.

The show "In Pursuit with John Walsh” will include a brief 33-second segment on Dulce Maria Alavez on the show's Wednesday episode. It airs at 10 p.m. on the Investigation Discovery cable channel.

The 5-year-old girl vanished from a playground in Bridgeton Park on Sept. 16. As the Cumberland County Prosecutor's Office has said, at the time of her disappearance, Dulce was 3 feet, 5 inches tall and weighed 40 pounds. She was wearing a yellow shirt with an elephant on the front.

Bridgeton Police Chief Michael Gaimari Sr. said the investigation into Dulce's disappearance remains a “daily top priority” with the local department, the prosecutor’s office, State Police and the FBI.

In a post on the city police department's Facebook page, Gaimari said they have followed up on several “tips” being provided by psychics through personal contact or social media “only” when the information “may” have some “slight possible connection.”

Gaimari said "following up on 'random' information being provided by such individuals would take investigators away from legitimate avenues of investigation," according to the same post.

“Law enforcement understands that the lack of information on the whereabouts of Dulce or the definite circumstances surrounding her disappearance causes apprehension in the community and among those close to her and the family,” Gaimari said. “But we have to remain focused on the task at hand and rely on a factual-based investigation to attain an eventual conclusion.”

Investigators urge anyone with information that they may feel could be important to the Dulce case to contact local police.

“I still believe there is legitimate information out there that could help,” Gaimari said, “and I’m urging those that have that information to contact us by calling or through TIP411 anonymous text line, subtext Bridgeton.”

In every episode of "In Pursuit with John Walsh," the TV host is joined by his adult son, Callahan Walsh, who is a child advocate for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

John and and Revé Walsh lost their 6-year-old son, Adam, in an apparent abduction in Florida in 1981.

Three years later, the Walshes and other child advocates founded the NCMEC as a nonprofit organization.

The series features two missing children each hour, providing age-progression photos and descriptions in the hopes of gaining new information from viewers, according to a description by Investigation Discovery.