On Friday we heard the upsetting story of a 15-year-old girl last seen looking badly beaten and being dragged by a 19-year-old man she was acquainted with across a pedestrian footbridge in Vallejo. Following an Amber Alert for the 19-year-old's car, the man, Fernando Castro, was spotted in Santa Barbara County where he gave chase and engaged in a fire fight with sheriff's deputies. He was subsequently shot and killed, and his alleged kidnapping victim, Pearl Pinson, remains missing. As Bay City News reports, the search for Pinson was called off on Saturday after authorities followed an undisclosed lead to Jenner, a coastal town in Sonoma County. No evidence of Pinson's whereabouts was found there, or elsewhere, and no search activity went on on Sunday.
The search as of Friday extended to Santa Barbara and Marin Counties, and it's unclear why the effort was cut so short.
According to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, a police spokesperson said that they had evidence that Castro's vehicle went "as far north as Marin County" following the disappearance, however that may have only been the surveillance video of his car, without Pearl in it, caught on 101 in San Rafael. The Jenner connection has not been revealed.
Per the LA Times, friends and family of Pinson held a prayer vigil on Sunday.
Rose Pinson, Pearl's sister, told NBC Bay Area, "She’s alive, and I know it. I believe she is going to be found."
The Solano County Sheriff's Department is asking anyone with information about Pearl's possible whereabouts, or the whereabouts of Castro on Thursday and Friday, to call 707-784-1963.
Previously: Vallejo Teen Missing As Her Presumed Kidnapper Is Killed By Police Near Santa Barbara