DORAL, Fla. – The father of a 9-year-old girl who was reported missing, along with her mother, earlier this week was taken to a hospital Thursday night after injuring himself with a knife, police said.
Gustavo Castano was taken to Kendall Regional Medical Center with self-inflicted wounds, Miami-Dade police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta said Friday.
Castano is the father of Daniela Moreno, 9, who was reported missing Tuesday and hasn't been at school since last Thursday. Her mother, Liliana Moreno, 43, was also reported missing.
The mother and daughter haven't been seen or heard from since Moreno's sister spoke with her on the telephone about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Zabaleta said investigators received information that Castano was planning to hurt himself, so they issued a countywide alert for him.
Detectives near Northwest 138th Street and Okeechobee Road found Castano sitting inside a pickup truck threatening to harm himself with a box cutter, Zabaleta said.
Police were able to intervene and remove the knife, but not before he stabbed himself, Zabaleta said.
"Yeah, I'm worried. Everybody is worried about that," Moreno's brother, Eduardo Moreno-Ramirez, said. "It's really really weird."
Castano was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
The truck was impounded for further investigation, Zabaleta said.
Police continue to search for the missing mother and girl, whose family traveled from Colombia to help hand out fliers in their neighborhood.
Investigators have turned their attention to a lake in Hialeah Gardens. Authorities have already searched Castano's home and car, as well as a warehouse connected to him.
"We need information about him," Moreno-Ramirez said. "What he did, I don't know."
Anyone with information as to the whereabouts of the mother and daughter is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
