Darby said police interviewed Na'illa and learned that she had been held captive in a house near Bryant that she walked to with the woman who took her. A man was inside, and Darby said the suspects blindfolded the girl and forced her to hide under a bed.
Na'illa was found about 4:40 a.m. Tuesday by Nelson Mandela Myers, who came across the girl huddled under a slide at a playground near 69th Street and Patterson Avenue in Upper Darby while he was on his way to work. She told him she had been stolen, police said, and her kidnappers apparently dropped her there.
Based on Na'illa's account, Darby said, police chose a grid extending about four blocks from the school in every direction - from Spruce to Christian Streets and from 56th Street to Cobbs Creek Parkway. Bryant is at 6001 Cedar Ave.
Darby said police were counting on residents and business owners for leads. The woman who took Na'illa is in her late 20s, 5-foot-5 to 5-feet-8, and possibly pregnant. She had a thin build, greenish eyes, and dark skin, and was wearing a full black Muslim-style niqab, which includes a veil that covers all of the face except the eyes. The woman identified herself to the child as Rashida, Darby said.
The male was described as in his mid-30s, with light brown or white skin, and short brown hair. He wore sweatpants and a blue, long-sleeve T-shirt, according to Darby.
"This was an egregious crime, obviously. The community should be outraged," said Darby, who also noted that $10,000 in reward money was being offered, half from the Fraternal Order of Police and half from the Citizens' Crime Commission. "We're asking them to channel that toward a focus on these two persons that we've described."
Darby said that given that Na'illa had been publicly identified, he would not comment on her physical condition when she was found.
"Suffice it to say that this little girl suffered conditions that no child should endure," Darby said. Na'illa and her relatives, he said, have been "extremely cooperative" with the investigation.
On Wednesday morning, Na'illa's aunt Salima Rashid said the family had been uplifted by "an outpouring of family support, support from friends, support from the Islamic community and the community at large."
"We're just concerned with getting Na'illa back to her normal self," Rashid said, "and she's doing well."
Police and family members said Na'illa did not know the woman who abducted her, and "we don't think it's anybody that we know."
Rashid said the family believed Na'illa was targeted "because this person knew that her mother dressed similar to the way that she dressed."
When the woman went to the classroom, Rashid noted, she told the teacher, "I'm the parent."
Police Academy recruits and police investigators went door-to-door Wednesday afternoon in the focus area, handing out a crime bulletin that gave information on the abduction.
Mayor Nutter said Myers, who found Na'illa, would receive a $10,000 reward. Rashid said Na'illa's mother "wants to personally thank him."
Contact Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman at sabdur-rahman@
phillynews.com, or follow
on Twitter @sabdurr.
