In 2016, This 15-Year-Old Was Thrown In The Trunk Of A Car And Abducted While Walking To Her School Bus Stop
In 2016, fifteen-year-old Pearl Pinson was a freshman attending Jesse Bethel High School in Vallejo, California. She had two siblings: a younger brother named William and an older sister named Rose.
Pearl and Rose were only three years apart, though, which allowed the sisters to foster a very close relationship.
Rose described Pearl as a kind-hearted young woman who enjoyed spending time outside, participating in activities like skateboarding, playing fetch, and simply hanging out at the park.
And like many young women her age, Pearl was also a “typical teenage girl,” according to Rose. Pearl cherished her tight-knit group of friends and performed well in school, even though her attention was sometimes pulled elsewhere.
“She was always looking out for her friends,” Rose said of Pearl in an interview with Dateline, “[And] I heard from her teachers she was good. She didn’t always pay attention, but she turned in her work.”
Then, on the Tuesday evening of May 24, 2016, the sisters were speaking on the phone when Pearl revealed that she had been having trouble with girls at school. According to Rose, the fifteen-year-old also claimed she did not want to go to school the next day.
Like a lot of high school drama, though, the issue was short-lived, and by the time Pearl went to bed later that night, she had made up with the other girls.
So, once the morning of Wednesday, May 25, rolled around, Pearl got ready for school and walked to the bus stop just around the corner from her home.
“She ended up getting kidnapped. She was thrown in the trunk,” Rose recalled.
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According to Solano County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Sean Mattson, the lead detective on Pearl’s case, the fifteen-year-old was abducted at about 6:42 a.m. on Benicia Road near Home Acres Avenue.
Several witnesses reportedly watched as Pearl struggled against the suspect and attempted to intervene near “a pedestrian bridge over the cross of I-780.”
The witnesses claimed that Pearl had blood on her face, and when they attempted to intervene, the suspect pointed a gun toward them. So, unfortunately, their attempts were unsuccessful.
The Vallejo community was immediately alerted of Pearl’s abduction via an Amber Alert, and both blood and Pearl’s cell phone were found at the scene.
“We were all in shock and confused. We went looking for her. We went out making posters,” Rose said. Community members also joined the Pinson family in their search.
Then, the following day on May 26, investigators got a lead. The same four-door Saturn sedan that witnesses had watched Pearl get thrown into was seen driving around the Los Alamos, California, area.
So, police were dispatched to the scene and confronted the suspect in an attempt to detain him. However, the suspect ultimately shot at police, and they were forced to return fire, killing him.
The deceased suspect was later identified as Fernando Castro, who had a “minor criminal history” and no known connection with Pearl, according to Sergeant Mattson.
But Castro is still the only known suspect in Pearl’s case at this time. And with Castro dead and Pearl nowhere to be found, her case has remained open and unsolved.
Earlier this year, Detective Charles Olmstead became the new lead detective on the case, and the investigation into her abduction is still ongoing.
Despite the Pinson family having to cope with very few leads in the search for Pearl, Rose said that she and her family refuse to give up on finding her sister.
“Everywhere we go, we still look out for her. We continue to put her picture and story out there,” Rose detailed.
She puts up flyers whenever she can and still conducts searches for her sister. Finally, to raise more widespread awareness about Pearl’s case, Rose updates the “Pearl Team” Facebook group, which has amassed over one thousand and eight hundred members.
There, other members of the Pinson family, as well as community members, share case details and their memories with Pearl and spread hope that she will be found.
At the time of Pearl’s abduction, she was five foot three, weighed one hundred and thirty pounds, and had blue/green eyes. Pearl’s hair was naturally blonde but had been dyed green, and she also had a lower right lip piercing.
Pearl was last seen wearing a white and dark blue jacket, black leggings, and an Oakland Raiders beanie.If you have any information regarding Pearl’s abduction, you are urged to contact the Solano County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 421-7090.
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