Dulce Maria Alvarez loved fairytales.
She enjoyed dressing up as Elsa from her favorite Disney film, “Frozen,” and running around the family’s house in Bridgeton singing the theme song, her mother, Noema Alavez Perez, previously recalled.
Dulce’s family still clings to those memories 4 1/2 years after the little girl disappeared from a park in Cumberland County during a family outing on Sept. 16, 2019. She was only 5 years old and her disappearance sparked a massive search that has yielded no answers about what happened to her.
This month marks another milestone in the mystery. Dulce’s 10th birthday is April 25.
MORE: Where is Dulce Alavez? Family frozen in time 3 years into one of N.J.’s biggest mysteries
As they have in year’s past, family, friends and supporters will return to Bridgeton City Park and gather around Dulce’s Tree, a spot dedicated to keeping the child’s story alive. They will mark her birthday and pray for her return.
This year’s event will be held Sunday, April 21, at 2 p.m. Details about the event are on the group’s Facebook page.
“Our purpose is to keep her name out in the public eye,” said family advocate Brenda Trinidad.
Family advocate Brenda Trinidad speaks as Noema Alavez Perez stands with her children during a Christmas gathering in honor of her missing daughter Dulce Maria Alavez in Bridgeton City Park in Bridgeton on Saturday, December 16, 2023. Jim Lowney | For NJ Advance Media
For Dulce’s family, the missing child’s birthday is always a difficult time, Trinidad said.
“The emptiness they feel when her birthday comes around is unreal,” she said. “That day was filled with love and joy. Unfortunately, they have not celebrated her birthday for 5 years. That’s 5 years they have not seen her grow into the princess she always stated she was.”
Dulce was a big fan of Disney princesses and the theme for this year’s birthday event is Disney’s “Tangled,” which tells the classic tale of Rapunzel, a princess abducted as a baby and locked away in a tower. Rapunzel is ultimately reunited with her parents in the story, and they all live happily ever after.
Dulce’s family hopes for a similar conclusion to her story.
“Noema was the one that picked out the “Tangled” theme birthday,” Trinidad said. “Although this is a fairy tale, we all hope and pray that Dulce would return to her family with the help of others so she can have her fairytale ending.”
Early on, police released witness descriptions and a sketch of a person of interest in Dulce’s disappearance, but no suspects have been publicly identified. An unclaimed reward stands at $75,000.
Detectives continue to pursue leads, according to authorities, and a Florida-based non-profit investigation group called the Anti-Predator Project joined the search last year at the request of supporters helping Dulce’s family.
As the years passed, officials released age-progression images of how Dulce may appear today.
Noema Alavez Perez kisses her daughter during a vigil marking the 4th anniversary of the disappearance of her older daughter, Dulce Maria Alavez, held in Bridgeton City Park last year. Alavez was 5 years old when she vanished fin 2019.Joe Warner | For NJ Advance Media
Anyone with information about Dulce’s disappearance is asked to contact authorities via one of these options:
- Bridgeton Police: 856-451-0033
- Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office: 856-453-0486
- New Jersey State Police: 609-882-2000, ext. 2554
- Anonymous tips may be sent to Bridgeton Police at bpdops.com/tips or to the prosecutor’s office at njccpo.gov/tips.
- Information may also be submitted to the Anti-Predator Project, by calling 305-796-4859 or emailing info@antipredatorproject.org.
The family of Dulce Maria Alavez paid for hundreds of yard signs distributed around South Jersey.
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Matt Gray may be reached at mailto:mgray@njadvancemedia.com.