Police were today searching the home of a builder from Latvia whose disappearance is an “urgent” line of inquiry in the hunt for missing schoolgirl Alice Gross.
Arnis Zalkalns, 41, vanished after leaving the flat he shares with his partner and their one-year-old daughter in Ealing two weeks ago.
He regularly cycled to work along the isolated Grand Union Canal towpath in nearby Hanwell, where Alice, 14, was last seen alive seven days before he went missing on September 3.
Mr Zalkalns’ partner Katerina Laiblova today described him as “a loving family man" who dotes on his daughter.
Speaking to the Standard she said: “He loves his family and we just want him back. He is a very loving man. There does not seem to be much progress on finding him yet but the police are trying."
Ms Laiblova told friends she had “no idea” where her partner had gone after setting off on his bike for work on September 3.
He had been due to meet a friend at around 8am to cycle together to a building site in Isleworth but failed to turn up. He was reported missing the following day.
She said she had conducted her own inquiries to find hind and discovered he had not accessed his bank account since going missing.
Forensic teams were today searching the basement and garden of the four-storey house, divided into several flats, where he and partner Katerina Laiblova have lived for the past six months as a “matter of routine.”
Detective Superintendent Carl Mehta, of the Met’s Homicide and Serious Crime squad, said: “We can find no reason why he has gone missing and it is a mystery to his family, it is completely out of character.
“We know that he regularly cycles along the route that Alice often took and it is highly likely that he may have come across her. He may have cycled past her or may have seen her and he may have valuable information.”
He added: “I would stress that based on what we know now there is no evidence to suggest that Arnis and Alice knew each other. This may be a complete co-incidence we just do not know but Arnis has the answer to that.”
Mr Mehta said they were also appealing to anyone who used the Grand Union Canal or were in the area at the time Alice disappeared on August 28 to come forward, even if they thought they had not seen anything.
Ms Laiblova, originally from Prague, said police took nine days to visit her in connection with his disappearance as the search for Alice intensified.
Asked by worried friends what had happened, she wrote on Facebook : “He has gone to work on Thursday and didn’t get there. I don’t know more.”
Today police were still searching the couple’s home which Mr Mehta said was routine in a case of a missing person.
Mr Zalkalns, who rides a red Trek mountain bike, is white, 5ft 10in, of stocky build and with dark brown hair that he normally wears tied in a pony tail.
Alice’s last known movements were captured on CCTV between 1pm when she left her Hanwell home and 4.26pm when she walked along Trumpers Way, towards Hanwell.
Her Vans rucksack was found by the River Brent a week and a half ago, with her shoes inside. There was no money or purse and her white iPhone 4S with a distinctive cracked case is still missing.
Police have previously said Alice had been going through a “difficult time” and had been undergoing medical treatment for her anorexia but that there had been no family argument before she disappeared.
Alice’s phone was last actively used to send a text message to her father shortly after 3pm on the day she disappeared.
Police believe this text shows that at this stage she was planning to go home, but may have extended her walk to kill time waiting for him to return home at 6pm as she did not have a key.
Anyone with information can contact the investigation team on 020 8358 0100, or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
