The disappearance of a California woman, last seen on video at a convenience store more than three weeks ago, is now being treated as a criminal matter, police said.
Jolissa Fuentes, 22, was reported missing by her family on Aug. 7, the Selma Police Department said.
She was last seen about 4 a.m. that day on video at an AM/PM convenience store in Selma, about 15 miles southeast of Fresno. Police said Fuentes then got into her silver, 2011 Hyundai Accent and drove westbound.
Since then, a forensic trail for her — information that could lead to her whereabouts from her cellphone, her social media activity or her bank records — has been almost nonexistent, police said.“It’s very rare that a 22-year-old girl has no digital footprint,” Police Chief Rudy Alcaraz said at a news conference last week.
“Ms. Fuentes has been gone for a long time. … And this is not normal behavior for Ms. Fuentes," Alcaraz said. "So we are treating this as a criminal matter."
When Fuentes was reported missing, she was immediately entered into a national missing person’s database, Alcaraz told NBC News on Monday.
Alcaraz said that if police were to come into contact with her and she did not want her family to know her whereabouts, officers would comply but still tell her family she is physically OK.
“That has not happened,” Alcaraz said.
He also said that while most of the physical search for Fuentes has been in Fresno County, authorities have received tips “all the way from New Mexico.”
“We’ve been out of the county on several occasions,” Alcaraz said.
Investigators were initially able to trace her cell hone data to nearby Sanger, Alcaraz said, and searched areas northeast of Selma in the Avocado Lake and Pine Flat Lake areas.
Alcaraz said last week that the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office had spent 15 hours searching by helicopter and 20 more hours searching main roadways. The sheriff’s office spent dozens more hours searching in waterways, Alcaraz said.
Fuentes' mother, Norma Nunez, said Monday that her family has not given up hope they will find her alive.
"We are still going out there and searching. We are looking into hiring a private investigator. We are not going to stop until she is home with us," said Nunez, 44, of Fresno.
She said her daughter used to often visit the Avocado Lake and Pine Flat Lake areas to get "peace of mind."
Volunteers with the dive team Adventurers with Purpose were also searching for Fuentes, NBC affiliate KSEE of Fresno reported. The group is credited with finding the submerged vehicle of missing Kiely Rodni, 16, containing the teen’s body, in a Northern California lake.
Doug Bishop, a member of Adventurers with Purpose, told KSEE last week that the divers have been able to rule out Avocado Lake but will continue the search at Pine Flat Lake and other areas.