Search teams, including boats, dogs and helicopters, scoured the area beneath the Garden State Parkway's Driscoll Bridge in Central New Jersey on Wednesday for any signs of 3-month-old Zara Malani-lin Abdur, who was abducted Tuesday.

Authorities suspended the search after dark and planned to resume at daybreak Thursday.

Acting New Jersey Attorney General Paula Dow called it “an example of a horrific case of domestic violence.” Authorities say the girl's father, 21-year-old Shamsiddi Abdur-Raheem, allegedly forced his way into the grandmother's apartment Tuesday afternoon, striking her in the face, choking her, and forcibly taking the baby, wrapped in a blanket.

The 60-year-old grandmother, who police declined to identify, chased after Abdur-Raheem and was struck when she tried to stop him by throwing herself in the path of his van. She was treated at a local hospital and released.

Abdur-Raheem was arrested four hours after the abduction and allegedly confessed to police that he had tossed the child from the bridge before driving to consult with his Imam, who then drove him to the home of a relative who called police.

Abdur-Raheem faces charges of kidnapping, attempted murder, aggravated assault and child endangerment when he is arraigned Thursday morning in Superior Court.

It was not immediately clear if he has retained a lawyer.

He was being held at the Essex County Jail on $700,000 bail.

The child's mother, Venetta Benjamin, who has sole custody of the infant, was in a Newark courtroom seeking a restraining order against Abdur-Raheem at the time of the alleged abduction.

Her lawyer, Mitchell Liebowitz, said the baby was snatched before the order was served.