Though there has been no substantial update in the case of missing 15-year-old Pearl Pinson — who was last seen in May 2016 getting dragged across a pedestrian bridge in Vallejo by a man who would be dead, days later, in a shootout with police in Southern California — authorities are now positing a theory that she's alive and being held against her will somewhere, possibly as a sex slave. As KRON 4 reports, via Sacramento's FOX 40, authorities now know that Pinson's kidnapper, 19-year-old Fernando Castro, was not Pinson's boyfriend and Pinson didn't even necessarily know him. Also, witnesses say they saw Castro force Pinson into the trunk of his car.

Deputy Christine Castillo, the public information officer for the Solano County Sheriff's Department, tells the station, "The trace of blood we found in the trunk of the car is consistent with whatever injury [Pearl] had when she was abducted, but it wasn't a significant enough amount of blood to indicate that it wasn't survivable."

As you may recall, following reports from witnesses who saw Pearl, bloodied, being dragged against her will over a pedestrian bridge over Interstate 780 on May 25, 2016 — 911 calls just released indicate that she was screaming for help — Castro's gold Saturn was spotted on surveillance footage heading south on 101 in San Rafael a day later, without Pinson visibly in the car. Castro made it as far as Solvang in Santa Barbara County where he exchanged fire with police, and items found in the car after Castro was killed led investigators to a campground in Jenner, in Sonoma County.

As FOX 40 reports, in the nine months since the abduction, investigators were able to get confirmation that Castro did drive to the vicinity of Jenner around that time — his car was spotted on surveillance footage from a gas station in Bodega Bay.

So far they have no other leads as to Pinson's whereabouts, or Castro's motives, or where he actually went in Sonoma County, but they are not operating under the assumption that he killed her.

"We still very much hold onto hope that we are going to bring Pearl home," Castillo says. "That she's being held somewhere against her will, or she's being passed from person to person, but that she is alive."

The Solano County Sheriff's Office has a tip line dedicated specifically to the Pearl Pinson case, and you can submit those tips anonymously at (707) 784-1963.

There's also an email address set up by the family for anyone who does not want to reach out to law enforcement: [email protected]

Previously: Search For Missing Vallejo Teen Called Off; Sister Insists She Is Still Alive