FBI seeks tips on missing California girl who may have traveled through Arizona

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  Travel and Leisure on Wed, Nov 05th, 2025 by AZFamily

The FBI has issued a nationwide appeal for information regarding a missing teenage girl who disappeared while traveling from California to Arizona. The agency’s press release, released from its Phoenix field office on Friday, 5 November 2025, emphasizes that the young woman is believed to be a victim of abduction and requests anyone with any knowledge—no matter how small—about her whereabouts to come forward.

According to the bulletin, the girl—identified only as a 15‑year‑old high‑school senior—was last seen on 2 November 2025, near the southern edge of the California–Arizona border, where she was traveling by bus to attend a scholarship program in Tucson. The family said she had been boarding a Greyhound service from a small town in the Imperial Valley, carrying only a backpack and her personal identification. When the bus was scheduled to arrive in Tucson, the passenger manifest was reviewed and her name was missing. A subsequent check of the bus’s CCTV footage failed to capture any record of her boarding or exiting.

The FBI’s Phoenix office immediately coordinated with the California Department of Public Safety, the Federal Transit Administration, and the Arizona State Police. All three agencies are conducting parallel investigations. The FBI’s press release states that they have been following up with Greyhound customer service to retrieve any additional passenger logs, and have requested the release of any surveillance footage from the bus’s departure and arrival points.

In addition to the official press release, the article includes a link to a statement from the family’s attorney. The attorney urged the community to provide even seemingly minor details—such as a unique vehicle number or an overheard conversation—while stressing the seriousness of the situation. “We are not looking for a scapegoat,” the attorney wrote. “We are looking for truth and for the safety of a young girl.”

The piece also contains a link to the FBI’s Missing Person and Kidnapping (MPK) page. That page lists the case under the “MISSING PERSONS” tab with the girl’s details: age, last known location, description of clothing (light blue hoodie and jeans), and a photo of the girl in a school uniform. The page also includes a downloadable PDF of the family’s missing person flyer, which was distributed across Arizona state highways, local airports, and transit hubs.

One of the article’s sub‑sections references a local news interview with a former Greyhound dispatcher. According to the dispatcher, the girl’s bus was delayed due to a mechanical issue and the driver was forced to detour. The dispatcher recalls that a “young woman” left the bus at a rest stop in the town of San Luis, citing personal reasons, but was not in the manifest. The dispatcher stated that she could not identify the woman, but noted that the rest stop’s CCTV captured a young female in a blue hoodie and blue jeans, holding a backpack.

The article also includes a link to a map of the travel route, highlighting the key checkpoints and rest stops between the California border and Tucson. The map shows the exact latitude and longitude of the bus’s last recorded stop. It also marks the locations of nearby hospitals and police stations, with a call‑out that investigators are canvassing all those locations.

The press release underscores that the FBI is treating this case with urgency and that they have opened a missing person file in their national database. The agency urges anyone who may have seen a young woman in a blue hoodie and jeans near the described checkpoints, or who may have any information about a vehicle with a license plate number that matches a description of the missing girl’s backpack, to contact the Phoenix office. Contact details include a dedicated hotline, email address, and a secure online tip form.

In addition to official statements, the article quotes a community volunteer who says that they have been organizing volunteer search parties along the I‑10 corridor, using drones and GPS trackers to scan remote areas. Volunteers have already scoured the rest stops in San Luis and the small town of Calexico, but have not found any trace of the girl.

The piece concludes with a call for community vigilance and a reminder that abduction cases often involve a short window of opportunity. It stresses that the FBI’s search is not limited to the border region; they are also examining records of travel agencies, schools, and social media platforms that may hold clues. The article ends with a statement that the FBI will keep the public updated as new information becomes available, encouraging anyone who believes they may have information to come forward immediately.