Cops Search Sonoma County in Case of Abducted California Teen Pearl Pinson

Pearl Pinson, 15, was abducted in Vallejo, California, Wednesday.

ByABC News
May 27, 2016, 3:20 PM

— -- Authorities in California are "very concerned" a missing 15-year-old girl may be hurt after she was allegedly abducted by an older acquaintance this week, and are searching for her in Sonoma County today.

While the suspected abductor has since been killed in a shootout with police, the teen remains missing and the subject of an Amber Alert.

The Solano County Sheriff's Office said this afternoon it was working with the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office to search an area near the town of Jenner in connection with the abduction of 15-year-old Pearl Pinson.

Pinson was abducted in Vallejo, a city near San Francisco, on Wednesday, allegedly by 19-year-old Fernando Castro, the Solano County Sheriff's Office said. She may have been walking to the school bus stop at the time, according to ABC station KGO-TV in San Francisco.

Castro and Pinson were believed to be acquaintances but authorities don't believe she went with Castro willingly, the sheriff's office said.

Some blood was found at the scene, Deputy Christine Castillo of the Solano County Sheriff's Office told ABC News.

"We are very concerned she may be injured," Castillo told ABC News today.

The investigation took a turn Thursday when authorities spotted Castro driving without Pinson in Santa Barbara County, which is about 300 miles south of Vallejo. Castro allegedly engaged police in a shootout, fled into a mobile home and stole a truck, before engaging police in another shootout that left him dead, the sheriff's office said.

PHOTO: 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, May 26, 2016.
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.

"Detectives are currently going through tips and leads that have come in overnight and are working to refocus our search efforts for today," Castillo said in a statement today.

Deputies were on alert Thursday in Marin County -- near where Pinson was kidnapped -- after Castro's car was seen on surveillance there before the shootout further down the coast.

"This case spans from northern to southern California," Castillo's statement today said. "Our main focus continues to be finding Pearl and reuniting her with her family."