my guess...just a guess...
The little girl was taken by, or given to somene that is owed lots of money by mom. Mom has already told g’ma the details. The reason they won’t tell LEOs the whole story is because they have been threatened that the little girl will die. A brief kidnapping for debt went bad and after the girl wasn’t returned G’ma went to the cops, wanting the problem solved, but unable to give all the details, just like the mom. Further, I think G’ma knows what really happened, but doesn’t know WHO has the girl. Only mom knows all the details, & she’s thinking that the LEOs are gonna find the perps in their own investigation and she’ll be cleared of all wrong, saying; “I was afraid they’d kill her if I gave yout he details”.
It seems to be the only explanation as why they waited so long to call LEO, why they are so evasive, why it is obvious that mom is not telling anything other than “she is nearby”, why they insist on a manhunt, why G’ma is so inconsistant...
Just my guess though.
At that rate, she may have sold the kid outright and claimed that the kid was taken. There are a lot of weird folks out there.