{"id":231841,"date":"2026-03-23T00:51:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T00:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/231841\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T00:51:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T00:51:18","slug":"oakland-police-dig-up-backyard-in-latest-effort-to-find-missing-girl-daphne-webb-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/231841\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakland police dig up backyard in latest effort to find missing girl Daphne Webb"},"content":{"rendered":"

OAKLAND \u2014 In the latest attempt to solve the disappearance 13 years ago of Daphne Webb, police here dug up a backyard that was once owned by Daphne\u2019s father, who died of suicide within a year<\/a> of reporting the then-1-year-old had been mysteriously abducted.<\/p>\n

Police found nothing of value during the late January dig, as they continue to investigate leads in Daphne\u2019s July 10, 2013 disappearance. Daphne\u2019s father, John Webb, reported that he left her in a vehicle with his then-87-year-old mother \u2014 who suffered from dementia \u2014 while going into a convenience store near on 79th Avenue and International Boulevard, then returned to find the little girl was gone.<\/p>\n

Authorities questioned Webb\u2019s story and arrested him on suspicion of child endangerment, but he was released a day later. Family members, including Daphne\u2019s grandfather, publicly doubted he was telling the truth. Investigators attempted to interview the 87-year-old woman, but confirmed her dementia diagnosis and said that she couldn\u2019t offer them any useful information.<\/p>\n

Webb died of suicide in May 2014, with his version of events still under investigation, according to police. Authorities pressed on nonetheless, determined that they\u2019d find the answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to solve this case; it\u2019s just a matter of time,\u201d an Oakland police spokeswoman said in August 2013, according to media reports. Since then, police have tried one investigative lead after another, but produced no answers.<\/p>\n

Investigators have looked for her in numerous locations around the East Bay, including the Oakland airport, the Webb family home and in a water search operation along the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline.<\/p>\n

This latest search focused on a home on the 2700 block of 75th Avenue, where Webb had lived. It was prompted by the current resident, who learned about Daphne\u2019s disappearance and became convinced that a pile of rocks and bricks in the backyard was suspicious and a possible indication of a secret grave, authorities said.<\/p>\n

Homicide investigators dug up the pile but, like with the other searches, found nothing that could lead to a resolution of the mystery.<\/p>\n

Daphne was 22 months old when she was reported missing; if she\u2019s still alive, she will turn 15 in October.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of her disappearance, police offered a reward of up to $20,000, which generated no definitive leads. A website, findbabydaphne.com, was used to generate tips but has since lapsed. Daphne\u2019s name appears with those of hundreds of other missing people on the California Attorney General\u2019s website, but her description, photograph, height and weight are all consistent with how she appeared at the time of her disappearance, along with the tip that she was wearing orange two piece pajamas with pink hearts, pink socks at the time.<\/p>\n

Anyone with information about the case can call the Oakland Police Department missing persons unit at 510-238-3641.<\/p>\n

If you or someone you know is struggling with feelings of depression or suicidal thoughts, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline offers free, round-the-clock support, information and resources for help. Call or text the lifeline at 988, or see the 988lifeline.org<\/a> website, where chat is available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OAKLAND \u2014 In the latest attempt to solve the disappearance 13 years ago of Daphne Webb, police here…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[861,862,143,863,145,144],"class_list":["post-231841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-bay-area-crime","tag-california-crime","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-crime","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}