The Abduction of Pearl Pinson

Episode 021

Pearl Pinson who was abducted in May of 2016

Pearl Pinson who was abducted in May of 2016

Fifteen year old Pearl Pinson was a sweet, funny girl who loved skateboarding with her brother. On the morning of May 25th, 2016, she packed her black and turquoise backpack and headed off for her routine walk to school. Shortly after she left her home, around 7am, Police received multiple 911 calls reporting an incident involving an armed man and a young woman taking place on the pedestrian overpass at Interstate 780.

Witnesses reported seeing a Latino man in a black hoodie and brandishing a firearm. The woman had dyed green hair, was bleeding from her mouth and was seen being shoved into the trunk of a gold, four door 1997 Saturn. When police arrived on the scene they found blood on the concrete and a cell phone which they were able to match to Pearl Pinson. Due to conflicts in eyewitness statements, an Amber Alert couldn’t be issued for nearly 32 hours, by which time Pearl had completely vanished into thin air.

When authorities caught up to her abductor, nineteen year old Fernando Castro, there was no trace of Pearl and before they could question Castro, he was fatally injured in a shootout with police. Castro died, and with him any information about why he abducted Pearl or where she could possibly be. Over the past year, multiple land and air searches have been conducted, but no sign of Pearl has been discovered. Multiple theories have arisen in that time, and the further investigators probe into her disappearance, the more complex and frustrating it becomes.

Was Pearl abducted due to issues between she and Castro or were they total strangers? Was Castro a violent gang member with a drug problem or a typically kind man who suffered from a mental illness which overtook him? Or, did Castro abduct Pearl with the intention of selling her as a sex slave from which she is still trying to escape today? Join host Steven Pacheco as he examined the confusing details and chaotic accounts of what happened to Pearl Pinson that fateful Wednesday morning and asks the unanswerable question: Where is Pearl Pinson?

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Sources:

https://www.noozhawk.com/article/pearl_pinson_whereabouts_solvang_shootout_with_alleged_kidnapper_20170521

https://abc7news.com/news/parents-of-missing-vallejo-teen-return-to-abduction-site-one-year-later/2037464/

https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2017/05/25/year-later-vallejo-pearl-pinson-missing/

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-pearl-pinson-missing-20160529-snap-story.html

https://www.kron4.com/news/family-still-holds-out-hope-for-missing-vallejo-teen-pearl-pinson/944937970

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-pearl-pinson-20160604-snap-story.html

https://heavy.com/news/2016/05/pearl-pinson-fernando-castro-vallejo-solano-county-california-amber-alert-update-missing-dead-photos-pictures-facebook/

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/6841077-181/video-evidence-points-to-bodega?artslide=0

https://abc7news.com/news/police-kill-only-person-who-may-know-whereabouts-of-missing-vallejo-teen/1356486/