SALISBURY, Md. — Police in Maryland were searching Christmas Eve for a missing 11-year-old girl last seen wearing fuzzy Christmas pajamas, and they charged a registered child sex offender in her disappearance.

Thomas J. Leggs Jr. of Salisbury, 30, is charged with burglary and with kidnapping Sarah H. Foxwell, according to court documents.

Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis said Sarah was last seen Tuesday night at her home on Maryland's Eastern Shore. A relative discovered she was missing early Wednesday while checking on Sarah and her 6-year-old sister.

He said there was no evidence of forced entry to the home where the girls live with their aunt, who is their legal guardian.

Dive teams searched a pond Wednesday night, and scores of police officers from across the region scoured several square miles of dense woods on Christmas Eve.

"I will tell you this: We have not given up hope and we will continue to search all day today and throughout the night," Lewis said. "We won't go home until we find this little girl."

Leggs, a former boyfriend of the aunt, is in the Wicomico County Detention Center without bail, Lewis said.