Spanish police yesterday continued their two-week investigation into the disappearance of Irish girl Amy Fitzpatrick (15), who has been missing since she left a friend's house on the night of January 1st.
The interior ministry's senior official on the Costa del Sol, Hilario López, defended the decision to scale down the level of the hunt after last week's massive search of the Mijas area over two days and assured the family today that the inquiries "would continue until Amy is found". He insisted that the search for the Dublin-born girl "remained a priority for the police".
Mr López reiterated that efforts were still focusing on two directions, either that the teenager was taken against her will as she walked to her home in Riviera del Sol or that her disappearance "may be voluntary".
In a further bid to build a detailed picture of the girl's activities and movements in recent weeks, Amy's brother Dean (17) was interviewed yesterday by officers leading the search. Amy's mother, Audrey, and stepfather, Costa del Sol estate agent Dave Mahon, were interviewed for more than four hours by the officers last Friday.
DNA samples from personal effects belonging to Amy have been provided by the family to enable police to carry out detailed tests on any items found during the investigation.
A police source said yesterday that, despite reports in newspapers over the weekend, it was "highly unlikely" that the teenager could have made her way to Ireland undetected and without her passport.
Amy's father Christopher Fitzpatrick has returned home to Ireland to await developments. Meanwhile, the Spanish media continues to draw parallels with four previous disappearances of teenage girls in the Mijas area, which is now being dubbed "The Abduction Triangle" in local and national newspapers.