Selma, California, Police Chief Rudy Alcaraz said Monday that investigators are treating missing Jolissa Fuentes' disappearance as "a criminal matter."
Authorities have said the 22-year-old Selma woman was last seen on Aug. 7, driving alone in her silver 2011 Hyundai Accent, which has also disappeared, after stopping at an AM/PM gas station in Selma, California, at about 4 a.m. to purchase some items.
"There's nothing overtly that leads us to believe that a criminal act occurred. However, Ms. Fuentes has been gone for a long time … and this is not normal behavior for Ms. Fuentes, so we are treating this as a criminal matter," Alcaraz said during a Monday press conference.
The police chief explained that his department is making its best effort to "bring forward a prosecutorial case," should the information it receives over the course of its investigation come to that conclusion.
"We're going to find Ms. Fuentes. I don't know how long it's going to take, but we're going to find her," he said.
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Fuentes' family reported her missing on Aug. 7 at about 8 p.m. The night before, she had attended a family party at about 8 p.m., went to her grandmother's house to pick up some personal items at about 3 a.m., and then headed to the AM/PM station.
Authorities pinged her phone on the morning of Aug. 7, but the phone did not continue to ping that day, Alcaraz said. Investigators believe her phone traversed the city of Sanger and up through the Avocado Lake and Pine Flat Lake areas west of Selma, where they have searched and continue to search for any sign of the 22-year-old.
However, Alcaraz says Fuentes does not have any "digital footprint," or online activity, since her disappearance.
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"It's very rare that a 22-year-old girl has no digital footprint, i.e. cell phone, social media … things of that nature," the police chief said. "Additionally, from the onset of this, the Fuentes family was adamant that this is not normal behavior for Jolissa, which, again, brings us our concern."
The Selma Police Department is working in collaboration with the Fresno Police Department and Fresno Sheriff's Office to refine search areas and look for clues leading to Fuentes' whereabouts.
Authorities have sent search warrants out to social media and other online platforms to see if they can garner more information regarding Fuentes' location from her social media and online activity, but Alcaraz said that can be a "slow" process.
Adventures With Purpose, the volunteer search group that found deceased 16-year-old Kiely Rodni's vehicle in a lake in Tahoe National Forest after she went missing for weeks, has said it will also assist in the search for Fuentes, as FOX 26 News first reported.
There is a $10,000 reward for information leading to the 22-year-old's whereabouts. Norma Nunez, Fuentes' mother, and her husband have also started a GoFundMe titled "Bring Jolissa Home Safe" to raise money for their search and possibly a private investigator.
The Selma Police Department is asking anyone with information about Fuentes' whereabouts to contact Detective Richard Figueroa at 559-891-2243.
