text: A 3-year-old North Carolina girl has been missing since her mom put her to bed Sunday night in their Jacksonville home, officials confirm to PEOPLE. 
   
   The following morning at about 6:45 a.m., the girl’s mother, Kristy Woods, called officials to report her daughter Mariah was missing, officials said. 
   
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   “My last memory of her was feeding her and putting her to bed,” Woods told local station Channel 12. “I told her I loved her and she loved me.” 
   
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   Officials began ground and air searches for the girl, who is 2 feet 9 inches and has brown hair and blue eyes. 
   
   As of Tuesday, the Onslow County Sheriff’s Department, and multiple agencies including the FBI, were still searching, says department spokesperson Maj. Chris Thomas. 
   
   “We’re conducting an investigation,” Thomas tells PEOPLE, who declined to elaborate about details of the case. “We’re still following tips and leads from the AMBER Alert and other sources.” 
   
   Woods told reporters her daughter wears braces on her legs to help her walk, and added she doesn’t believe she would’ve walked away from their house on her own. 
   
   “It’s not making sense to me about where she could be at,” said Woods, “or who she could be with.” 
   
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   Woods pleaded to be reunited with her child. 
   
   “I love her and I’ll never let her go again,” she said. “I just want to hold her tight and see her smile.” 
   
   If you have any information about Mariah, call the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office at 910-989-4070. ||||| Authorities in North Carolina are asking for the public's assistance for information to aid in the search of a 3-year-old girl who disappeared from her home Sunday night. 
   
   Mariah Woods was last seen at her Jacksonville, North Carolina home Sunday night by her mother, who put her to bed, North Carolina ABC affiliate WCTI reported. Officials would not confirm those details to reporters during a press conference Tuesday afternoon in order to protect the integrity of the investigation. 
   
   "We know what the answer is, but we won’t reveal it at this point," said Onslow County Sheriff Hans Miller. 
   
   The Onslow County Sheriff's Office and the FBI overnight Wednesday released surveillance pictures taken Monday morning of a woman and child at a North Carolina Walmart. They are attempting to determine whether the child is Mariah Woods and are asking for the public's help in identifying both the woman and child. 
   
   FBI/ONSLOW COUNTY SHERIFF 
   
   FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Stanley Meador said investigators are especially interested to speak to "anyone who has had contact with the family" since Sunday, while Miller said that any clue, such as children's clothes, can be helpful. 
   
   "We will explore every investigative lead that comes to our attention," Miller said. 
   
   .@FBICharlotte is asking for the public's assistance to locate 3-year-old Mariah Woods, missing since November 27, 2017: https://t.co/MuJOfZH2rR #FBI pic.twitter.com/UVcz2P6gQj — FBI Most Wanted (@FBIMostWanted) November 28, 2017 
   
   Miller assured the public that authorities were using "every available resource" to search for Mariah, including drones as well as helicopters provided by the Marine Corps, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol and a neighboring sheriff's department. 
   
   The first priority is to find Mariah, bring her back and then find out what happened to her, Miller said. 
   
   After Mariah's disappearance, her mother, Kristy Woods, reached out to the public with an emotion-filled plea. 
   
   “Please, bring her back ... my baby. She’s my everything,” said Woods. “Just to be able to touch her and hold her and not let her go again, I’d give anything." 
   
   An amber alert was issued for Mariah soon after she was reported missing at approximately 6 a.m., according to Jacksonville Sheriff Hans Miller. 
   
   #AMBERAlert Update! 
   
   Mariah was last seen on November 26, 2017 at 11:00 p.m. at 2404 Dawson Cabin Road in Jacksonville, #NorthCarolina.https://t.co/D2vblnGoy9 — NCMEC (@MissingKids) November 28, 2017 
   
   Mariah is described as a white female with brown hair and blue eyes, about 2 feet, 9 inches tall and weighing 30 pounds. 
   
   "[Officials are] working everything that can be worked to find this little girl,” Miller said Monday. 
   
   Four volunteer fire departments, the Onslow County Sherriff’s Department and K9 units conducted a search in the wooded area behind the girl’s home as well as surrounding wooded areas, WCTI reported. 
   
   "We don’t know what happened," Miller said Monday. "It’s entirely premature to try to determine what happened." 
   
   Miller said they will continue to search in "expanding circles" as the investigation continues. 
   
   Officials have interviewed both Woods’ mother and her live-in boyfriend and conducted a search of their home and vehicle, WCTI reported. The Onslow County Sheriff’s Department is also asking neighbors in the area to check their yards, sheds and other areas for any evidence of a little girl. 
   
   Mariah's biological father, Alex Woods, expressed skepticism about his daughter's disappearance when speaking to WCTI. 
   
   "For someone to just walk right up in there, grab the 3-year-old out of bed, she didn't cry, she didn't scream, nobody heard nothing?" Alex Woods said. "Four people in the house, two adults and two kids. Somebody just comes up and snatches baby and walks out?"
target: – Law enforcement officers and volunteers have flooded the area around a North Carolina home in the search for a 3-year-old girl whose mother says she vanished after she was put to bed Sunday night. Mariah Kay Woods was reported missing around 6:45am Monday after her mother discovered she was gone from their home in Jacksonville, Onslow County, People reports. "My last memory of her was feeding her and putting her to bed," mother Kristy Woods told reporters. "I told her I loved her and she loved me." Woods said her daughter wears leg braces to help her walk, meaning she would have been unlikely to wander off alone. An Amber Alert was issued early Monday and the FBI has now joined the search, ABC reports. Wooded areas around the home have been searched and neighbors have been asked to thoroughly check their yards and sheds for any sign of a little girl. Mariah is described as white, 2 feet, 9 inches tall and 30 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. WRAL reports that the FBI has released surveillance images of a woman and a little girl taken Monday morning in a Walmart in Morehead City, NC, around 40 miles away from Jacksonville. Authorities are trying to determine whether the girl, whose face is seen in profile, is Mariah.