'Talking to everyone': Family of missing Carpentersville teen continues search
The family of a 17-year old Carpentersville girl missing for five days offered a $1,000 reward for any information leading to her safe return.
Carpentersville police Saturday said the search for clues in the disappearance of Brissa Romero continued and offered a new detail on her missing car, a gray 2008 Nissan Rogue.
An extensive search for the vehicle, Illinois plate CZ64618, is ongoing. Police said a sticker to the right of the rear license plate depicts a black coyote. A digital analysis of Romero's social media accounts showed no outgoing activity since Monday, police said.
Romero's parents reported her missing Tuesday after the teen did not return to her Carpentersville home from a holiday work party held Monday evening.
An electronic device belonging to Romero last pinged around 7:40 p.m. Monday in the vicinity of the Bowlero bowling alley in Vernon Hills, where co-workers from the Crystal Lake Raising Cane's restaurant had gathered for the party.
Police, however, have nothing to show Romero attended the party.
Romero, the youngest of five children, last spoke with her mother around 6:55 p.m. Monday, oldest sister Dulce Romero said.
The conversation lasted about a minute, and the 17-year-old told her mother she was on her way to the work gathering.
“We're just trying to figure out what happened,” said Dulce Romero, who spent Friday with about 18 other family members searching near the bowling area and in other suburban locations for any information about the missing teen. “We're talking to everyone we know.”
Dulce Romero says she spoke to her sister shortly after 3 p.m. Monday at the family's home. Her sister was excited about the holidays and the gift she had bought her mother, she said.
On Friday, the family distributed flyers with Romero's photo, hoping to spark a lead.
Carpentersville Police Chief Todd Shaver said Vernon Hills police were conducting drone searches in the area around the bowling alley.
Shaver said there has been no activity from Romero's electronic devices since Monday evening. Police are also looking for her car, which is missing.
“It's hard,” Dulce Romero said. “My body hurts by the end of the day because of so much stress.”
But, she said, she continues to search and hang on to hope.
“We're going to find her,” Romero said.
An employee at the Raising Cane's restaurant in Crystal Lake referred calls to their corporate office.
“Our hope is that she is safe and returns home soon,” Megan Sprague, head of public relations for Raising Cane's, said in an email. “We have and will continue to cooperate with the authorities as they look for Brissa Romero.”
Carpentersville police are working with Vernon Hills police and Homeland Security in the investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Sgt. Alan Webb at (847) 551-3481 or QuadCom Dispatch at (847) 428-8784. Tips also can be submitted on the village's website at cville.org.
Brissa Romero is 5 feet tall and 115 lbs., with brown hair and brown eyes, police said.