A family friend was charged Saturday with killing a 5-year-old girl who vanished Monday from her home in Machynllet, Wales.

April Jones was still missing five days after her disappearance, The Daily Telegraph reported. But Dyfed and Powys police are treating the investigation as a murder case.

Mark Bridger, 46, was formally charged with murder, child abduction and perverting the course of justice. He was scheduled to appear in court Monday in Aberystwyth.

Coral Jones, April's mother, in a Facebook message posted by her niece, Mel Moon, said her daughter might still be alive: "I am not giving up hope and have not been told my daughter is dead yet. Please stay hopeful!"

A massive search in Machynllet, a market town in central Wales, included cadaver-sniffing dogs, a small boat equipped with sonar on the River Dyfi, 60 police officers, members of mountain rescue units, Coast Guard members and hundreds of volunteers. The search was focused on the town, where April lived with her family, and Bridger's farmhouse in Ceinws, 5 miles away, The Independent said.

April was last seen Monday getting into a car near her home.

A magistrate in Aberystwyth ruled Friday police can hold Bridger until Saturday afternoon before charging or releasing him.

Bridger, 46, a former construction and slaughterhouse worker, had a former girlfriend who lived near the Jones family. He took April on a crabbing expedition with two of his children in August.

"Nobody in the family thought anything of it at the time -- the kids love going crabbing in the summer," a relative said. "But it means the police will definitely find forensic evidence of April in his Land Rover."

Bridger was arrested Tuesday near the Dyfi about 90 minutes after witnesses reported seeing a man carrying a black bag. (UPI)

<관련 한글 기사>

엄마의 절규 “내 딸은 아직 안 죽었어요!”

자신의 집에서 실종된 5살 소녀가 일주일째 돌아오지 않고 있어 주위를 안타깝게 하고 있다.

현지 언론 보도에 따르면 지난 1일 (현지시간) 웨일즈에 있는 집 근처에서 실종된 에이프릴 존스의 행방이 아직도 묘연하다고 한다.

현지경찰은 소녀의 생존확률이 희박하다고 보고 살인 수사로 전환한 상태이며, 존스 가족의 지인인 마크 브리저 (46)가 아이에 대한 살인 혐의를 받고 있다. 브리저는 에이프릴이 사라진 지 하루가 지난 2일, 검은 가방을 들고 이동하는 모습이 목격되었다고 한다.

그러나 소녀의 어미니인 코랄 존스는 아직 딸의 생존에 대한 기대를 접지 않았다고 한다. 그녀는 페이스북에 “희망을 버리진 않을 거예요. 제 딸이 죽었다고 제가 말한 사람은 없으니까요”라고 글을 적었다.

당국은 에이프릴을 찾아내기 위해 에이프릴 가족이 사는 집과 용의자 브리저의 집 주변을 중심으로 하여 탐색견, 수중 음파 탐지기가 부착된 배, 경찰관 60명, 해양구조대, 산악구조대까지 동원하여 대규모 탐색작전을 펼쳤으나 별 소득이 없었다.