Police: Fate of Missing Hollister Teen Still Unknown
Police: Fate of Missing Hollister Teen Still Unknown
Hollister – Police continue to search for a missing Hollister teen this week, while trying to dispel rumors that the 15-year-old girl’s body was recently found.
While some Hollister residents have speculated that Selina Marie Lopez’s body had been found in a field off Ladd Lane, Officer Rosie Betanio, a spokeswoman for the Hollister Police Department, said Tuesday that the rumor is untrue.
Police Detective Sgt. James Weathers told the Free Lance that dozens of local residents – including the girl’s parents – had called police asking if the rumors were true. Weathers said he did not know where the rumors had started.
“She has not been found dead,” Betanio said. “She is still considered a voluntary missing person.”
Lopez was reported missing Dec. 28, one day after she was last seen at her Hollister home. It has been three weeks since her disappearance, but police still consider Lopez a runaway, Betanio said.
But her father, Ricardo Cobian, previously told the Free Lance that the girl had no history of running away. He said a family friend had attempted to call his daughter’s cell phone several times in early January. He also said they received a strange phone call that included the words “help me.”
Detectives are continuing to work on their leads, Betanio said.
“We have not received a call from any other agency or any other city stating that she has been found,” Betanio said.
Anyone with information about Lopez is urged to contact the Hollister Police Department at 831-636-4330 or the Polly Klaas Foundation toll-free at 1-800-587-4357.
Nothing Stolen in Burglary of San Juan Restaurant
San Juan Bautista – Timing played a crucial role in the Friday night arrest of two Hollister men suspected of burglarizing Doña Esther’s Restaurant.
Todd William Allen, 20, and Travis Darrell Naumann, 20, were arrested by the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office and jailed on charges of felony burglary and conspiracy to commit a crime after a neighbor of the restaurant reported the burglary shortly before midnight Friday, authorities said.
The neighbor, who saw a man climbing out of the window in the restaurant’s door on Franklin Street, called 9-1-1.
Deputies responded in time to see the suspects driving away from the restaurant, southbound on Third Street in a Mercury Sable sedan.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Rodrigues initiated a traffic stop and with the assistance of another deputy arrested Allen and Naumann at gunpoint.
Investigators say the intruders broke into the restaurant through the main entry door on Franklin Street.
Nothing was actually stolen during the burglary, but the intruders did about $3,400 in damage to the restaurant’s door and to a cash register inside.
The restaurant’s owner told deputies that the business had closed at 9pm and said there was no cash in the register.
Allen and Naumann are being held at the San Benito County Jail in lieu of bail of $60,000 each, according to jail personnel.
Sheriff’s Lt. Roy Iler said in-progress burglary arrests are rare. Seven arrests were made in the 140 burglaries investigated by the Sheriff’s Office in 2006, Iler said.
Monterey Bay Aquarium Releases Great White Shark
Monterey – The Monterey Bay Aquarium released a great white shark back into the wild shortly after sunrise Tuesday after four months of captivity.
The aquarium released the male shark after 137 days of captivity. It was the second longest period of captivity for a great white, behind only a female shark kept at the aquarium for 198 days, said Karen Jeffries, a spokeswoman for the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
The male shark was released from a boat on the Monterey Bay and tagged with a tracking device.
“It’s a satellite pop-off tag and it’s programmed to pop off after 90 days,” Jeffries said.
The tracking device will allow researchers to study the shark’s habits while in the wild, Jeffries said. Once the tag pops, the tracking information will be available for the public to view on the Web site www.toppcensus.org.
The shark grew eight inches and gained 42 pounds during its stay. It was six feet five inches long and 171 pounds when released.
The shark had grown too large for the aquarium and had developed an abrasion on its snout, Jeffries said.
Christina Slager, an aquarium curator, said the shark was healthy when released.
“This shark was very feisty,” Slager said. “It actually bit a hole through the shark stretcher. We were happy he was feisty. We wanted to release a shark that was healthy and vigorous and he was very vigorous (Tuesday) morning.”
The female great white was released after it had killed two soupfin sharks at the aquarium, Jeffries said.
But the young male shark was well behaved while in captivity. And its presence at the aquarium raised attendance and the public’s awareness of the need to protect great white sharks, officials said.
The ability to study the shark’s habits and growth in captivity will contribute to the overall knowledge of the great white, an animal scientists know little about, Slager said.
