Reward offered as police, FBI seek new leads in search for 17-year-old California girl

Police seek new leads in search for Calif. teen

MORENO VALLEY, Calif. — Authorities offered a $35,000 reward Tuesday for new information in the search for Norma Lopez, a 17-year-old girl who authorities suspect was kidnapped while walking home from school.

The move came after efforts to find the girl stalled. Family members pleaded for her safe return.

“If the person that took her is out there, please let her go,” sister Elizabeth Lopez said at a news conference. “She hasn’t done anything to anyone to deserve this, at all.”

Norma Lopez vanished Thursday after attending a summer class at Valley View High School in Moreno Valley in Southern California.

Personal items and signs of a struggle were discovered in a field the girl often used as a shortcut home. Police went door-to-door, and searchers using dogs covered nearby areas for days.

Authorities have not identified any suspects or persons of interest.

“We have pretty much exhausted every means possible but are continuing to look for her,” said Sgt. Joe Borja of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

FBI investigators have talked to school friends and other acquaintances and continued to work with county investigators, said Don Roberts, the FBI’s supervisory special agent in Riverside.

“We have our own children, and it does not take much motivation for FBI agents and police officers to work day and night, as we are, to look for Norma and find clues that will lead to her recovery,” Roberts said.

Borja said investigators were acting on the presumption the girl was kidnapped.

“We contacted every friend, relative, everybody available that we can and there’s no information that would leave us to believe that she’s a runaway,” he said.

Borja urged the public to report suspicious strangers.

“We’re following up all leads, especially when it pertains to, you know, deviant behavior or behavior that’s not normal toward young females,” he said.