Family of missing San Francisco girl believes she's still alive

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- It has been seven months since a woman's body was found in a shallow grave at a San Francisco park and her 3-year-old daughter is still missing.

A family believes their niece Arianna Fitts, 3, is alive and possibly still in the Bay Area.

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They are hoping someone will recognize pictures of Arianna and anonymously call police with information that could help bring her back home.

It's been more than seven months since a Nicole Fitts' body was found at San Francisco's McLaren Park. Her body was found covered with a piece of plywood.

In an unusual move, San Francisco police officers previously shared evidence hoping it might generate tips about who was responsible for Fitts' death and where her missing daughter Arianna could be. "She's still out there, we're still looking," Nikki's sister Kathryn Foxx said.

"Someone wanted Arianna as their own," Nikki's sister Contessa Fitts said.

Thanksgiving was the first big holiday the Fitts family came together for since Nikki's death and Arianna's disappearance. "All of our hearts are broken and we just want her back home," Contessa said.

San Francisco police originally focused their attention on Arianna's babysitter, Helena Martin. By phone Friday, the babysitter's attorney said he advised her to stop speaking with investigators because police couldn't guarantee they would not charge her with a crime.

"I believe that she was not being interviewed as a potential witness, but more as a suspect," attorney Darryl Stallworth said.

"We're desperate," Contessa said.

It's that desperation that has this family pleading for help hopeful someone will recognize Arianna's pictures and anonymously call police.

Contessa's partner tearfully described the call she hopes to get.

"Just Tess on the phone telling me to come home because Arianna's home," Contessa's partner Claire Bonnar said.