MISSING Gabriel Cruz Ramírez's parents have urged everyone to 'flood the internet with little fish' so that if their eight-year-old son is out there, he will know everyone is thinking of him.
Little Gabriel is 'passionate about fish', says his mother, Patricia Ramírez, and wants as many people as possible to draw them and post them on social media, along with the hashtag #TodosSomosGabriel ('we are all Gabriel').
Ever since he was very tiny, Gabriel has been fascinated by fish and knew the names of 'hundreds of species of them' – practically since he was able to talk, Patricia explains.
“Please can everyone draw a fish and put a sentence next to it that they want to say to Gabriel and stick it in their road-facing window,” she pleaded on live TV.
“We'd love it if Spain were to be flooded with little fishies and for him to know we're waiting for him and looking forward to his being able to come home, with his parents, which is where he needs to be.
“I dream of seeing his little face when he turns up and sees so many fish drawn for him.”
Patricia has asked social media users to post fish drawings on the Twitter account @TodosSomos Gabri and the Facebook site Todos Somos Gabriel, or even email them to ayudagabriel@yahoo.com.
The attached photo is one of numerous fish drawings tweeted, this one by Twitter user Mila, whose message reads: “A sea full of fishes are waiting for you.”
Patricia Ramírez and the child's father Ángel Cruz – from whom she is separated – have been supporting each other in the tireless search for their son, who vanished on February 27 just metres from his grandmother's house in the Las Hortichuelas area of Níjar (Almería).
He spent weekends and holidays with his grandmother and had walked to a neighbour's house at around 15.30, after lunch, to play with friends, but never arrived.
Gabriel knows the area very well and would not have got lost, and is an obedient, home-loving child who would never have run away of his own accord.
Also, the area is described as 'very safe', despite its remote rural location, and children are always seen playing in the open air.
A vest belonging to Gabriel, which he had worn under his clothing – a red jacket and black Adidas jogging-suit bottoms – was found near the Las Negras sewage plant, but an extensive search of this area did not show up any further clues.
Initially, Patricia ruled out that the arrest of her stalker had anything to do with her son's having vanished.
Diego has long been obsessed with Patricia, even though they have never had a relationship, and hassled her for two years, leaving her terrified and practically housebound.
He has broken the injunction preventing him from approaching her several times, and was electronically-tagged, as was Patricia, so her wristband would 'beep' if he was nearby.
Diego's arrest just days after Gabriel's disappearance was because he had tampered with his wristband so it did not warn Patricia he was in the area.
Although police did not believe his was behind Gabriel's having vanished – especially as he had never tried to 'use' the child as leverage in the past – a plot of land belonging to an undisclosed family member not far from where the boy was last seen has been searched in the last two days.
Reports, as yet unconfirmed, have claimed Diego has been seen before at Gabriel's school gates, but Patricia has urged the public not to believe rumours and to let the police 'do their job'.
“We're very aware that the whole of Spain is behind us and Gabriel,” Patricia told the media.
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