Missing 19-year-old’s family raises reward money
$8,000 gathered; she disappeared over a week ago
Friends, family members and supporters have raised an $8,000 reward in an attempt to find a19-year-old Tempe woman who has been missing for more than a week.
Friends were planning to pass out new fliers to publicize the reward Monday night as Tempe police continue to search for Adrienne Salinas, a college student who vanished early on June 15.
Rick Salinas, Adrienne’s father, said the family raised the reward through a car wash, the Silent Witness program and contributions on an Internet site, gofundme .com.
He said he is relying on his faith in God, support from his son Nate and support from well-wishers to get through a living nightmare.
“My heart is broken. I feel like I’m dying,” Rick said. “I believe that God has angels around her, protecting her. We’re praying for a miracle.”
Tempe police said that there hasn’t been a trace of Adrienne since about 5 a.m. that morning and that she was last seen by her roommates at 3 a.m.
“The longer we’re into this investigation, we become increasingly worried about her,” said Sgt. Mike Pooley, a police spokesman.
“We’re putting a lot of resources into finding her,” he said.
He said police are attempting to interview everyone who attended a party the night of June 14 in Tempe where Adrienne had been drinking and got into an argument with her boyfriend.
Adrienne, a student at Gateway Community College who plans to attend Northern Arizona University, is close to her father, Rick said.
Rick said that he had been expecting Adrienne to spend Father’s Day with him and that it is unusual for her not to contact him.
He said his daughter spent a month in a hospital in February, when doctors removed an infection caused by valley fever.
“I spent many nights in the hospital at her side (sleeping in a chair),” he said. “She doesn’t deserve this. She has endured pain.”
He has described Adrienne as “a typical college student” and as a petite, happy-go-lucky young woman who had an onagain, off-again relationship with her boyfriend, whom she has known since fifth grade.
Rick said he found Adrienne’s car at about 2 p.m. on June 15 with two flat tires only two blocks from her Tempe apartment. He reported her missing that afternoon.
Police described the case as follows:
Adrienne’s boyfriend drove her to his home in Scottsdale, where they continued to argue. He said that he drove her home to Tempe but that they continued to argue and that she jumped out of his car a couple of blocks away from her apartment.
Adrienne told her roommates at 3 a.m. that she was going to drive back to her boy- friend’s apartment and packed a change of clothes in a large purse.
Awitness saw Adrienne’s car hit a median at Ash and Rio Salado Parkway and called police at 3:44 a.m.
Police later found her car key and her wallet in her bedroom.
Adrienne left her apartment, near Brown Street and Hardy Drive, and called her boyfriend 11 times between 4:10 and 4:17 a.m. When he didn’t answer, she sent him a text message saying she was on her way.
She called a cab company at 5:05 a.m., but the cabbie said he never found her at a convenience store.
Her cell phone either was turned off or went dead at 5:07 a.m.
Anyone with information about Adrienne’s possible location is asked to call police at 480350-8311.