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VERNON HILLS, Ill. (WLS) — Crews will return to north suburban Vernon Hills Tuesday morning to resume their search for missing teenager Brissa Romero.
Monday, they pulled her car from a retention pond close to the place where she was last seen.
The Carpentersville teenager was not in the vehicle after it was pulled from the water. Her family is trying to stay positive as crews resume their search.
Brissa Romero, 17, has been missing for a week now. Her family last heard from her Monday night, as she was headed to a holiday party about a mile away at a Vernon Hills bowling alley.
Vernon Hills police said cell phone data analysis led investigators to the retention pond at that intersection Monday morning. When they arrived, a resident who had been walking around the pond and pointed out a backpack that had floated to the edge of the water. Police said the backpack appears to belong to Romero.
Vernon Hills police then reached out to the Countryside Fire Protection District who brought in special teams to search the pond. In the water, they found Romero’s Nissan Rogue.
“Based on the condition of the vehicle and all the evidence we have at this point, it appears that Brissa was in that vehicle when it drove into the lake,” said Vernon Hills Police Chief Patrick Kreis.
WATCH: Full update from Vernon Hills police
Vernon Hills police gave an update on the search for Brissa Romero after her car was recovered from a retention pond Monday afternoon.
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Police said they found video footage from a fast food restaurant one to one and a half miles away from the pond that shows Romero parking, walking into the restaurant, walking out and then driving out of the parking lot. She is by herself in the footage, police said.
The video was taken about 15 minutes before her last cell phone ping registered in the area of the retention pond, police said. Police said the car traveled as far as 60 feet into the pond, and they believe she may have been unfamiliar with the area – which is a T-shaped intersection where the driver must turn right or left to remain on the road – and thus driven through the intersection, down an embankment and into the pond.
Brissa’s sister, Dulce, said there is still hope for her family. Hope, their little sister, the youngest of five siblings, will be home for the holidays.
“The vehicle has no body inside. They will be searching the pond and to see if Brissa’s body is in there. Until now, in my heart, I still believe she’s out there,” Dulce said.
New surveillance video shared by the family of Brissa Romero, missing Carpentersville girl, shows the last known footage of her in Schaumburg, IL.
Crews are expected to resume their search at 8 a.m.
Brissa’s family is offering a $14,000 reward for any information that could help them find her.
Brissa is 5 feet tall and weighs 115 pounds. Authorities asked anyone with information to contact Sgt. Webb with the Carpentersville Police Department at 847-551-3481 or QuadCom Dispatch at 847-428-8784.
