Latest / Murder Files Unsealed / Afghan Refugee - Disappearance of Lina Sardar Khil

Transcript

Afghan Refugee - Disappearance of Lina Sardar Khil · Murder Files Unsealed

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Lena Sardak Hill. Yeah, her name. It really sticks with you.
• 0:03
  This story, it kind of gets under your skin, you know,
• 0:06
  even if you haven't like followed every single detail. But
• 0:09
  it's a story about well, like a three year old girl,
• 0:12
  she vanished, and it's about her family. They came here
• 0:16
  to America looking for a better life, only to be
• 0:19
  hit with well, this this unimaginable heartbreak. And now years
• 0:25
  later there's this new search. It has everyone wondering, good
• 0:28
  this be it.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: It's definitely a case that grabs you, it.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Really is, and we're diving deep into it today right here,
• 0:34
  right now. We've got these recent news articles and they're well,
• 0:37
  they're hopeful for sure, but they're also kind of baffling, honestly.
• 0:40
  You see, it's not every day you see like a
• 0:42
  whole new search effort, not after nearly two years effort,
• 0:44
  child disappears. But here we are more questions than answers.
• 0:48
  But maybe, just maybe there's a little bit of hope
• 0:51
  on the horizon.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's what's so interesting about this whole thing.
• 0:54
  I mean, Lena disappearing from that playground, a totally normal
• 0:57
  playground in San Antonio back into December twenty twenty one,
• 1:01
  just awful. And these kinds of disappearances, they're statistically super rare, right,
• 1:06
  which means you wondered what even happened in those few
• 1:08
  minutes when she vanished?
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Curiously, it's every parent's worst nightmare, you know. Yeah, that
• 1:13
  ordinary December afternoon, sometime between like four point three and
• 1:17
  five point seven, Leena was last seen playing. It was
• 1:20
  just a normal day at the playground, a place that
• 1:22
  should be safe for kids, and then it just became
• 1:26
  this place of well, you know, unimaginable fear, uncertainty. The
• 1:30
  articles they really paint this picture of what the family
• 1:32
  went through, the frantic search, the language barrier, trying to
• 1:35
  explain everything to the authorities. I mean, can you imagine
• 1:38
  trying to deal with all of that on top of
• 1:39
  everything else. Oh? Absolutely, And you're right, that language barrier,
• 1:43
  it's a huge factor when every second counts. Just think
• 1:48
  about it, trying to describe your child, what they were wearing,
• 1:51
  everything that happened, all while you're struggling with the language
• 1:55
  that isn't your own. It's heartbreaking. Really shows you how
• 1:59
  important your communication is in these situations.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: It really does, and it's important to remember the articles
• 2:04
  mentioned that Lena's family. They were newly arrived from Afghanistan,
• 2:08
  they were still trying to adjust to a whole new country,
• 2:11
  and they were looking for a better life for themselves
• 2:13
  than their kids. And then this just awful. The details
• 2:17
  from those first reports, things like the description of what
• 2:20
  Lena was wearing, and even later on that photo they
• 2:23
  were released showing her jewelry. It just shows you how
• 2:25
  desperate they were for any little clue, anything that might
• 2:29
  lead them back to their daughter.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: It's those little details, those human touches, that make this
• 2:34
  story hit so hard. And now it's like fast forward
• 2:38
  to this week, almost two years later, and suddenly, bam,
• 2:41
  we've got this new development, a whole new search. Wow.
• 2:43
  And it's not just like a routine thing, you know,
• 2:46
  it's because of a tip they got.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: That's huge. Yeah, especially in the case this old, and
• 2:51
  it makes you think something about this tip. It must
• 2:54
  have really gotten to the investigators enough for them to
• 2:57
  get back out there, put resources into it, you know,
• 3:00
  really try to find Lena. What could have changed after
• 3:02
  all this time?
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Right, It's crazy. And the articles, well, they don't really
• 3:06
  say much about the tip itself, Like they don't say
• 3:08
  who gave it what exactly it said or why it
• 3:11
  led them to this new spot. Yeah yeah, I mean
• 3:13
  they've got to protect the investigation. I get it, but
• 3:16
  it's definitely frustrating, right, you're sure. So here's what we
• 3:19
  do now. This new search area. It's behind a totally
• 3:23
  different apartment complex, not where Lena was last seen at all.
• 3:26
  So mass you wonder, what's the connection. Why are they
• 3:29
  searching there? Could there be something that they missed two
• 3:31
  years ago?
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: It really is like a puzzle, isn't it Like you're
• 3:35
  missing some of the pieces, but you're trying to figure
• 3:37
  out the picture anyway exactly. And that's where all the
• 3:40
  experience and scale of the investigators really comes in. They're
• 3:44
  going to be looking for anything, any little thing, even
• 3:47
  if it seems small, that might help them figure this out.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: And while all that's going on, you've got the community,
• 3:53
  and they are incredible, the Islamic Center of San Antonio.
• 3:57
  They actually raised the reward to two hundred and fifty
• 4:00
  thousand dollars for any information that helps bring Lena home.
• 4:03
  I mean, it really shows you how committed they are
• 4:06
  to finding her. It's powerful. It shows what a community
• 4:09
  can do, you know, especially when something like this happens.
• 4:13
  This isn't just a news story for them. This is
• 4:15
  their neighborhood, their city, and they're coming together to help
• 4:19
  Lena's family to keep that hope alive.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: I agree, And you still have local groups out there
• 4:23
  organizing searches, putting up flyers. They refuse to let Lena
• 4:27
  be forgotten. Even with all the heartbreak, even after all
• 4:30
  this time, people still care. They're still doing something about it.
• 4:34
  But through it all, you've got Lena's family and they
• 4:38
  are dealing with something no one should ever have to,
• 4:41
  their little girl still gone. And the articles they share
• 4:44
  these little glimpses into what they're going through, their hope,
• 4:47
  but also they're frustration. They've said they're not happy with
• 4:49
  how the police have communicated with them, and it's well, sadly,
• 4:53
  it's not uncommon in these cases, sadly not. You're right,
• 4:56
  it's tragic, but it's true. Families often feel like no
• 5:00
  listening to them, that their concerns don't matter, and when
• 5:03
  you add in cultural and language differences, it just makes
• 5:06
  it harder. Building trust is so important, especially in these cases.
• 5:10
  Every little detail could be the key to finding their
• 5:13
  loved one.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: It's so true. And there's another thing. The articles mentioned
• 5:16
  that Lina's family they actually met with both the San
• 5:19
  Antonio police and the FBI right before this new search started.
• 5:23
  Oh wow, it's not something you see all the time.
• 5:25
  So why now, Why is the FBI involved?
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: That's a good question. It's definitely not the usual way
• 5:31
  of doing things. Could be there's more to this case
• 5:34
  than we realize, something that needs the FBI's expertise and resources,
• 5:38
  you know. Or it could just mean they're trying everything
• 5:41
  they can, exploring every angle, no matter how small the
• 5:43
  chance of finding something new.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: I hope. So it's a little bit of hope, you know.
• 5:47
  But it's also a reminder of how much Lina's family
• 5:50
  is going through. They've asked to be there during the search,
• 5:52
  to see what happens firsthand, to be as close to
• 5:54
  Lina as they can. It's just heartbreaking, you know. For
• 5:58
  Lina's family, this isn't like some news story. It's their
• 6:01
  life every single day. And looking at these articles, it's
• 6:04
  like we're stuck with these same questions, the same ones
• 6:08
  that have been there for years. What happened to Lena?
• 6:11
  What does this new tip really mean? Will the search
• 6:14
  will actually help bring her home.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: It's the not knowing that's got to be the hardest part,
• 6:19
  the waiting, the wondering, holding onto that hope, but also
• 6:23
  knowing it might not end the way you want.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: It to, right. It takes so much strength to keep going,
• 6:27
  to keep believing it really does. And that's what Lena's family,
• 6:30
  that's what they're doing every single day. And you think
• 6:32
  about Lena too. The articles mentioned her birthday is coming up.
• 6:35
  She'd be turning six. Can you imagine trying to celebrate
• 6:39
  your kid's birthday when they're Yeah, when they're not even there.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: It's just there are no words.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: It really shows you the depth of a parent's love,
• 6:48
  that never ending belief that their child is out there somewhere,
• 6:51
  holding onto memories, little details, anything, just refusing to give up.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: That's all they can do.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: It really is. So here we are at the end
• 6:58
  of another deep dive, and I don't know about you,
• 7:01
  but I'm feeling well, a lot of empathy for Lina's
• 7:03
  family for sure, and also just kind of amazed by
• 7:06
  the strength of their community even with this awful tragedy.
• 7:10
  Even after all this time, when the answer seems so
• 7:13
  far away, people can still come together. You know the
• 7:16
  human spirit.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: It's a powerful thing, it really is, and sometimes I
• 7:20
  think that's the most important thing to remember. We may
• 7:22
  never have all the answers, but we can choose to
• 7:26
  have hope. We can support each other, especially those who
• 7:29
  are hurting, and we can't ever stop searching for the truth.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Well said, this deep dive into Lena Stardarkill's story. It's
• 7:38
  been a tough one, no doubt, but it's also been
• 7:40
  a reminder, a reminder about resilience, about community, about the
• 7:45
  kind of love that never gives up. And if there's
• 7:48
  one thing I want you to take away from this,
• 7:49
  it's this, never underestimate the power of just knowing about
• 7:52
  something like this, of remembering Lena's story. It's not over yet.
• 7:56
  And even though we're just you know, listening to this
• 7:58
  miles away, our empathy are aware. It all adds up.
• 8:01
  It all contributes to this hope that she'll be found.
• 8:03
  So keep her name out there, talk about her story.
• 8:05
  You never know. It could be something small, a memory,
• 8:07
  a conversation that makes all the difference