April Jones: town unites as mood turns from hope to desperation April's parents, Paul and Coral Jones, had been at a parents" evening at her primary school and were expecting her home shortly after 7pm. Their daughter was born with mild cerebral palsy and irritable bowel syndrome, and was due to take her regular dose of painkillers for her bowel condition. But after several other children playing with the two girls had gone home, a man in a light-coloured vehicle - said to be either a Land Rover or a van - pulled up at the garages and said something to April, who climbed willingly into the driver's door. When April failed to return home as expected, her parents are understood to have gone looking for her, and Milly told them what had happened. Mr Jones, 43, and his 40-year-old wife, who married two months ago after many years together, dialled 999 to report their daughter missing, and told police they had their suspicions about who the kidnapper might be. By 10.40pm Dyfed-Powys Police had put out a statement saying they were "increasingly concerned" for April, and as news spread around Machynlleth, pubs in the town emptied as the local population put together search parties and combed the area late into the night. Among them were April's 16-year-old sister, Jasmine, and nine-year-old brother Harley, while their parents waited at home for news. The local petrol station reopened its pumps so that searchers could fill up their cars and 4x4s, and the garage's owner, Nerys Zjalic, said she would "stay open all night if we have to." Many of the 200 volunteers caught only a couple of hours sleep before they were back out again, gathering at the leisure centre, impatient to rejoin the hunt. Anwen Morris, who was among those eager to get started, looked to the skies and said: "The amount of support we have had overnight has been unbelievable, but the thing is we need this light now, we need these people here now to help us search in daylight and hopefully find her." Police officers organised search parties, sending an expert in search techniques out with each group, while local printers ran off thousands of leaflets and "missing" posters with pictures of April in the purple coat she had been wearing when she was abducted. Refuse collections were suspended so binmen could join in the search. April's brother went to school as normal, where his head teacher, Gwenfair Glyn, struggled to contain her emotions as she said he "coped very well" and "had his friends to look after him all day." Mrs Glyn added: "Most of the children know about April and what has happened, but it is hard with the little ones who don't understand. It's a difficult balance in telling them the truth and preserving their innocence. At 11.30am the first direct news came from the man leading the investigation, as Det Supt Reg Bevan held a press conference in Aberystwyth to announce that April had been seen getting into the driver's side of a van described by Milly as "small at the front and big at the back." Mr Bevan said the scenario was "any parent's worst nightmare." Back in Machynlleth, residents were getting frustrated at the lack of urgency from the police in organising more searches, and were puzzled by the lack of door-to-door inquiries. What they did not know was that the police were investigating Mr Bridger, a father of six whose three former wives and girlfriends all lived within walking distance of April's home. His daughter was reportedly among the children who had been playing with April, and he was known to have a van similar to the description given by Milly. The police announced that April's parents would be speaking at a press conference at 4.30pm, but when the time came, it was only Mr Bevan and one of his colleagues who appeared. Mr Bevan announced that "within the last hour" a 46-year-old man had been arrested, on foot, just north of Machynlleth, and that a vehicle matching the one they were looking for had been found. Ominously, there was no sign of April. He said the search for the five year-old would continue, with the presumption that she was alive, and urged the residents of Machynlleth to search outbuildings for her. He expressed hope that the man under arrest would help them locate April. Within two hours, word had begun to spread around Machynlleth that Mr Bridger was the man being held. As darkness approached, police divers, coastguards and search teams on foot were searching the water and banks of the Dyfi, near where Mr Bridger's car had been found.