UPDATE, MARCH 30, 8:01 A.M.: Esli Samaria Vasquez was found safe, and she is back with her family, according to the Santa Ana Police Department.
ORIGINAL POST, MARCH 29, 9:47 A.M.: Esli Samaria Vasquez ran away from her Santa Ana group home on March 14, was last seen at an Anaheim liquor store Tuesday afternoon and called her father around the same time to say someone was threatening her, according to police.
Have you seen the 16-year-old?
She has run away several times and is currently the subject of a child protective custody warrant, reports a Santa Ana Police Department advisory.
She is described by police as Hispanic, 5-foot-4, 135 pounds with black hair, brown eyes and wearing unknown clothing.
Last seen around 1:25 p.m. Tuesday at Sami’s Liquor, 1845 W. Katella Ave., Anaheim, “Vasquez has been in communication with her father via telephone, only advising that she is safe,” the advisory states.
Calling from Anaheim, “She told her father that she could not go home because someone was threatening her,” police add. “Vasquez hung up before her father could get further information.”
A Sami’s Liquor employee confirmed that the teen was seen arguing with a male outside the store and the last time they were seen was walking south from the store, according to police, who released no further details.
Anyone who has seen Vasquez or knows where she is should contact the Santa Ana Police Department Watch Commander at 714.245.8701, SAPD Dispatch at 714.834.4211 or Detective G. Moroyoqui at 714.245.8731.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.