In this photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, California Highway Patrol units converge on a street in Solvang, Calif., after pursuing a vehicle being sought in a statewide Amber Alert in the disappearance of a Northern California 15-year-old girl, in Southern California Thursday, May 26, 2016.
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On Thursday, local California police investigating the Amber Alert and Pearl Pinson’s suspected abduction caught a break.
While the search for Pearl was suspended on Friday evening, California officials are planning to resume their efforts to find the missing teen on Saturday morning.
Hours after the alert, Castro was spotted at 3:10 p.m. near Los Alamos heading south alone on the 101 Freeway, according to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Kelly Hoover.
POLICE hunting for a missing U.S. teenager who was last seen screaming and bleeding being dragged across a highway by an armed man are now searching a remote area in California for her. They have also expanded their search area for the California Amber Alert abductee and are now focusing on Sonoma County.
The investigation is being led by Solano County sheriff’s officials.
“We do believe she may be here, or there may be evidence to lead us to believe she was here at one point”, Solano County sheriff’s representative Christine Castillo told KCRA. “We want to locate her and get her any medical attention she needs”.
The suspect in her disappearance, 19-year-old Fernando Castro, was killed about 300 miles away on Thursday after his vehicle was spotted on a freeway and he attempted to flee. When he tried to drive away, however, he began to exchange gunfire with California officers; during the shootout, the Amber Alert suspect was fatally shot.
Police have been searching for Pinson since a witness reported seeing her being dragged across a freeway last Wednesday morning in the town of Vallejo by a man police believe was Fernando Castro, 19.
Blood and Pinson’s mobile phone were found on the pedestrian overpass where she was taken. The gold Saturn sedan was spotted on a freeway near San Francisco Bay, prompting authorities to search the water’s edge. A family member said the two teens knew each other but authorities believe she was taken without consent.
Family members, including Pearl’s sister, Rose Pinson, have said Pearl and the suspect were acquaintances but that the family had never met Castro. A day later and hundreds of miles away, Southern California sheriff’s deputies spotted and pursued Castro’s auto.
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He stole a gray pickup from the house and opened fire at deputies again before they shot and killed him, authorities said. He briefly barricaded himself there, but a woman inside was able to escape safely.
