Amber Alert search for 3-year-old Mariah Woods reaches day 4

Officers are shifting their focus onto a creek off of U.S. Highway 17

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. – As Onslow County officials and investigators move into the fourth day of their search for 3-year-old Mariah Kay Woods, they are shifting their focus onto a creek off of U.S. Highway 17, just a few miles away from where she was last seen, according to WRAL.

The Onslow County Sheriff's Office reports that Mariah's mother said she last saw her daughter at their family home on Sunday night, after she put her to bed.

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The NBC affiliate reports that the Sheriff's Office received a call around 6 a.m. Monday that Mariah was missing.

Agents with the FBI joined in on the search Thursday afternoon. 

Authorities are holding a volunteer search Friday morning for those who want to join in the efforts to find Mariah.

Mariah is described as white, with light brown hair and blue eyes, standing just under 3 feet tall and weighing 30 pounds.

Though authorities have not shared much about the investigation, they do not believe there is a threat to the general public.

"Any particulars about what we find, what we did not find, that is going to be close hold. We are not releasing it to the public at this point," Onslow County Sheriff Hans Miller said to WRAL. "We believe this is a focused incident at this point."

Mariah's father, Alex Woods, said to WRAL that his daughter has been living with her mother. Nonetheless, the last few days have been extremely hard on him.

"It is extraordinarily rare for a stranger abduction, someone to come into a residence simply for the sole motivation of taking an infant child," retired FBI Agent Greg Baker, who is not involved in the investigation, told WRAL.

If you have any information about this investigation, the Onslow County Sheriff's Office urges you to call them at 910-455-3113.