By ANDY SEVILLA
UPDATE:
A 15-year-old San Marcos girl reported missing since early Monday morning has been found “safe and sound,” according to city spokesperson Melissa Millecam.
San Marcos investigators found Cassidy Jae Castro with an 18-year-old male, who is being interviewed by police, Millecam said.
Authorities are crediting media reports for assisting in locating the girl.
No further details were immediately available. We’ll keep you up to date with the latest information once it becomes available.
EARLIER:
Police are concerned with the possibility of foul play in the disappearance of a 15-year-old San Marcos girl.
Cassidy Jae Castro was last seen in the 100 block of Autumn Cove in San Marcos at about 3:45 a.m. Monday, the San Marcos Police Department (SMPD) said in a statement. Authorities now are asking for the public’s help in locating the girl.
Castro is described as 5 feet, 3 inches tall, with brown hair and brown eyes, and weighing 115 pounds.
Her parents last spoke with Castro around 3 a.m. Monday, July 21, SMPD Criminal Investigations Commander Kelly Earnest said. The teen had been using the apps Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter before her disappearance, according to police.
Snapchat is a photo messaging application, where a user can send pictures or videos, add text and determine how long the message can be viewed by a restricted number of contacts before it self destructs.
Instagram is an application that allows users to post pictures and videos, and choose a filter to revamp the look. That picture or video can then be shared on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and other sites.
A cousin of Castro told police the girl had asked to be picked up in a Snapchat message that was received after 2:30 a.m. Monday. Castro is said to have told her cousin someone was headed to pick her up.
Castro’s last contact with friends occurred at about 4:30 a.m. Monday. Since then, family and friends have not received any information, messaging or contact from the girl. Police say interviews with Castro’s friends did not yielded any leads or additional information thus far.
“It is uncharacteristic of Castro to have left under these circumstances and for her not to contact family or friends,” Earnest said. “She did not have a cell phone with her and her family and friends have been on social media searching for her.”
It was unclear at press time how the girl was using social media without her cell phone.
Anyone with information on Castro’s whereabouts is asked to call 911 or the SMPD non-emergency number at (512) 753-2108.
This is the second report of a missing girl in Hays County in the past five days.
Last Thursday, the Kyle Police Department (KPD) asked for the public’s help in locating a Lehman High School student who had been missing for over two weeks.
Norma Hillary Preciosa Vazquez Esquivel, also 15-years-old, is believed to have runaway, but returned home about 24 hours after her disappearance went public.
Esquivel was last seen by her mother July 2, just before heading to summer school classes at Lehman High School, police said. Esquivel failed to return home at her scheduled time later that day.
Aiding police in their search for the girl, the community mobilized and in a span of just over 24 hours, more than 40,000 persons had seen the Hays Free Press’ report on the missing child on the newspaper’s Facebook page, according to the social networking site’s statistics. The story was shared on social media more than 430 times and garnered more than 50 “likes.”
A family member of Esquivel and the KPD confirmed the girl had returned home Friday.
