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Missing California Woman Jolissa Fuentes’ Disappearance Now A 'Criminal Matter,' Police Say
Jolissa Nicole Fuentes of Selma, California was last seen around 4:00 a.m. on Aug. 7 at a local gas station convenience store. She hasn't been seen or been on social media since.
Authorities are considering the possibility of foul play in the case of a missing 22-year-old California woman who vanished earlier this month.
Jolissa Nicole Fuentes was reported missing from Selma, California — 15 miles southeast of Fresno — on Aug. 7 when family members were unable to reach her after she attended a party the night before. Fuentes was last seen buying some items at an AM/PM gas station at around 4:00 a.m., according to police.
At the time of her disappearance, authorities suspect she’d been driving alone in her silver 2011 Hyundai Accent, which hasn’t been recovered.
Investigators have released few details regarding Fuentes’ disappearance. However, at a Monday press conference, Selma Police Chief Rudy Alcaraz said the case is being investigated as a “criminal matter.”
"There's nothing overtly that leads us to believe that a criminal act occurred,” Alcaraz said. “However, Ms. Fuentes has been gone for a long time … and this is not normal behavior for Ms. Fuentes, so we are treating this as a criminal matter.”
Alcatraz vowed to "bring forward a prosecutorial case," should the evidence definitively point to foul play.
"We're going to find Ms. Fuentes,” he added. “I don't know how long it's going to take, but we're going to find her.”
Authorities, who tracked Fuentes’ phone the morning of Aug. 7, said the phone pinged in the city Sanger as well as Avocado Lake and Pine Flat Lake areas — all well northeast of Selma — before going dark. The 22-year-old, who is typically active on social media, also hasn’t posted online since vanishing, police said.
"It's very rare that a 22-year-old girl has no digital footprint, i.e. cell phone, social media … things of that nature," Alcatraz said. "Additionally, from the onset of this, the Fuentes family was adamant that this is not normal behavior for Jolissa, which, again, brings us our concern."
A $10,000 reward has been issued for information leading to Fuentes’ whereabouts. The Fresno Police Department is also assisting local authorities in their search for the 22-year-old.
Meanwhile, Fuentes’ family say they’ve been left frustrated and “heartbroken” with the lack of updates in the case from law enforcement.
“What I don’t understand is, if you’ve got all these resources and other agencies involved — police say the FBI is getting involved — we should have something,” her father, Joey Fuentes, told Fox News Digital. “These are some of our top, trained agencies in the United States, supposedly. We’re doing all we can do. We don’t know what to do.”
The FBI declined to confirm or deny their involvement in the open case when contacted by Oxygen.com on Thursday morning.
The YouTube diving team, Adventures With Purpose —who recently helped authorities in Truckee, California locate the remains of teen Kiely Rodni — said they will also now join the search for Fuentes.
“We will be taking the next two days to properly debrief, decompress and prepare for our next case, which is 22-year-old Jolissa Fuentes in Selma, California,” Doug Bishop, the organization’s lead investigator, said, the New York Post reported.
Fuentes, who is described as having brown hair and brown eyes, stands at 5'3" inches tall and weighs 220 pounds. Her silver Hyundai, which has tinted back windows, has California plates 8MPU766.
Anyone with information pertaining to Fuentes’ whereabouts is urged to contact Selma Police Department Detective Richard Figueroa at 559-891-2243 or 559-896-2525.
