This undated photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office shows Pearl Pinson. Authorities are hoping to find the missing teenage girl alive as they frantically search a wide swath of California for her Friday, May 27, 2016, a day after the man suspected of abducting her died in a shootout with police. (Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office via AP)
The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Authorities called off a search along a Northern California creek for a teenager who was last seen being abducted by an armed acquaintance after investigators found no signs of the girl.
Authorities have no further plans to look for 15-year-old Pearl Pinson in the Willow Creek area of Sonoma Coast State Park, the Solano County Sherriff's Office said in a statement.
"Investigators are continuing to follow up on leads in this case and continue to have hope we will find and bring Pearl home," the statement said Saturday.
Pinson was abducted Wednesday morning as she walked to school. A witness reported seeing a girl with a bleeding face screaming for help as a man armed with a handgun dragged her across a freeway overpass in Vallejo, about 25 miles east of San Francisco. Blood and Pinson's cellphone were found on the ground.
Authorities feared Pinson was in grave danger based on the witness' account and have been frantically looking for her. However, the search has been complicated by death of her suspected kidnapper.
Fernando Castro, 19, was killed in Southern California on Thursday after police spotted his car and exchanged gunfire with him as he attempted to flee.
Surveillance cameras captured images of Castro's car traveling Thursday morning in Marin County, about 25 miles from where Pinson was taken and 300 miles away from where he was shot and killed hours later, authorities said. The gold Saturn sedan was spotted on a freeway near San Francisco Bay, prompting authorities to search the water's edge.
They narrowed their search on Friday to the rugged Sonoma Coast, where divers, canine units and search-and-rescue teams scoured along the river and coast for Pinson. Sheriff's spokeswoman Christine Castillo did not elaborate on what led investigators to the rural area, saying only that the strongest leads were there.
Authorities said the two teens knew each other, but they emphasized that they believe Pinson was taken unwillingly. Rose Pinson, the missing girl's older sister, said she had heard Castro's name but had never met him and described him as an acquaintance, according to the Vallejo Times-Herald.
In this photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, California Highway Patrol units pursue a car being sought in a statewide Amber Alert in the disappearance of a Northern California 15-year-old girl, as it passes through Buellton on U.S. Highway 101 in Southern California Thursday, May 26, 2016. Fernando Castro was being sought and is believed to be the driver. (AP Photo Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP)
The Associated Press
This undated photo provided by the California Highway Patrol shows Pearl Pinson. Pinson is the subject of an Amber Alert as law enforcement agencies in Northern California were frantically searching Thursday, May 26, 2016 for the 15-year-old girl, whom a witness reportedly heard screaming for help as a young man dragged her across a freeway overpass. Fernando Castro, 19, is also being sought. (California Highway Patrol via AP)
The Associated Press
This undated photo provided by the California Highway Patrol shows Fernando Castro. Castro is the subject of an Amber Alert as law enforcement agencies in Northern California were frantically searching Thursday, May 26, 2016, for a 15-year-old girl, Pearl Pinson, whom a witness reportedly heard screaming for help as a young man dragged her across a freeway overpass. (California Highway Patrol via AP)
The Associated Press
In this photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, California Highway Patrol units pursue a car being sought in a statewide Amber Alert in the disappearance of a Northern California 15-year-old girl, as it passes through Buellton on U.S. Highway 101 in Southern California Thursday, May 26, 2016. Fernando Castro was being sought and is believed to be the driver. (AP Photo Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP)
The Associated Press
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 car 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. The driver, believed to be Fernando Castro, fled the car and ran into a nearby mobile home park. He was shot and killed in an exchange of gunfire with police. (AP Photo Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP)
The Associated Press