More than 10 years have passed since Pearl Pinson disappeared. On Monday evening, it took all of about 10 seconds for her sister Rose to tear up thinking about her.
On May 25, 2016, Pearl Pinson was kidnapped by an armed man who dragged her to a waiting car while she walked to school. The kidnapper, later identified as 19-year-old Fernando Castro, had no known connection to Pearl or her family.
The family’s heart was broken. It broke a little more when Castro died in a shootout with police in Southern California the next day — leaving the family with plenty of unanswered questions, and no sign of Pearl.
Like all mornings, Rose woke up on Monday hoping maybe this nightmare would end.
“I woke up, and I didn’t know what to think,” Rose said through tears. “I know it’s 10 years, and I keep hoping she comes home. I have talked to the detective assigned to the case (Detective Charles Olmstead of the Solano County Sheriff’s Office) and asked him, in his professional opinion, what he thinks happened. He said that it’s possible she didn’t survive, but without any remains or any of her stuff, we can’t say whether she died or not.”
Rose pauses to catch her breath, then continues.
“In my opinion, throughout the 10 years, with all the evidence I’ve been shown, seen, and heard about it — the amount of blood that was here and the amount of blood in the trunk, I don’t think my sister survived,” Rose said, still fighting back tears.
On Monday evening, friends, family, members of the Solano Sheriff Department, Vallejo Mayor Andrea Sorce, and more came to the base of the bridge located at 1000 Lewis Avenue in Vallejo, where Pearl was kidnapped. They shared tears, mourned, and reflected on her life.
“The 10-year anniversary is hard as hell,” Pearl’s father, James Pinson, said. “I’ve accepted the fact that she may not be with us.”
How does the mourning father get through that?
“I don’t,” James said without hesitation. “I just deal with it.”
James also spoke about what he misses the most about Pearl.
“Her laugh, sense of humor, a little attitude,” James said. “She was always doing something goofy. I’ll hear a song by Justin Bieber. I don’t really like him, but the song reminds me of her. I want to keep her name out there. I’d love to have the bridge named after her, but that’s up to the city.”
Friends Melina Caprio and Ashley Zahner shared a personal moment, hugging Rose Pinson tight while a song played for Pearl.
“There is not much that can be said in that moment,” Caprio said. “You just have to be there for each other, hold each other, you know, and try to remind each other that tomorrow is a new day and we might have an answer.”
What does Caprio miss most about her fellow ninth-grade student?
“Her smart mouth,” Caprio said, with a laugh.
“Her personality,” Zahner said. “She was loud and obnoxious. Didn’t care what others had to say about her. At the end of the day, they weren’t going to pay your bills, you know what I mean? You can tell if someone is going to be in your corner, and she was someone who was going to be in my corner, be my cheerleader.”
What did Zahner think of the large crowd that showed up at the site for Pearl?
“It makes me happy that people are here to honor her and willing to honor her after 10 years,” Zahner said. “People aren’t forgetting who she is. Her name deserves to be out there. She deserves to be found, and in any way, shape, or form, she deserves to be here, and she deserves to live. Her life shouldn’t have gone that way.”
Pinson’s kidnapping is sadly nothing new. According to the Child Crime and Prevention Center website, a child goes missing or is abducted in the United States every 40 seconds.
According to that same report, approximately 840,000 people are reported missing each year — between 85 and 90 percent of these are children, according to the FBI. While most reports of missing or abducted children are resolved within hours, others involve situations where a child goes missing permanently or for an extended period of time.
With Pearl gone for so long, another focus has been aimed at having the bridge where she was kidnapped named after Pearl.
Public outcry over renaming the bridge began as early as 2019, but it seems that, often with good intentions, the wrong steps were taken. According to Rose, the community where the Pinsons live was quickly able to get approximately 120 signatures on a petition for the name change.
Sadly, that wasn’t what the first step should have been. Rose was simply getting faulty advice.
From the beginning, the family should have been looking to Caltrans and local and state politicians, where the clout is larger and more impactful.
The Times-Herald contacted Caltrans and the offices of U.S. Reps. Mike Thompson and John Garamendi’s office last month. Thompson’s office has yet to respond, but both Caltrans and Garamendi’s office stated they have not been contacted by anyone in the Pinson family. However, Cameron Niven of Garamendi’s office replied, saying, “We have not yet been contacted about the proposal, though we would be supportive.”
The Times-Herald contacted Caltrans last month to ask what exactly the process of getting a bridge renamed is, and whether Pinson even qualifies. Caltrans and Sabrina Martinez replied.
“To have a memorial signage requires State Legislative action,” Martinez wrote to the Times-Herald. “A request is sent to the local Senator or Assemblymember, and then they will introduce a Concurrent Resolution (ACR or SCR). Once the State Legislature informs Caltrans and funding is confirmed to be in place, then Caltrans proceeds to issue the sign installation order per the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.
“Some of the requirements are that the person being honored is typically deceased,” Martinez continued. “The honoree provided extraordinary public service or an exemplary contribution to the public good. The honoree must have a connection to the community where the highway structure is located.”
Martinez also noted that “the sponsor is responsible for covering the cost of fabricating the sign panels and installation.”
With Pinson only being 15 at the time of the kidnapping, she hadn’t yet had the time to provide an exemplary contribution to the public good. Pearl’s case is also unusual, with her whereabouts being unknown and her life status being unknown.
“Pearl’s status being unknown may be a factor since one of the requirements is that the honoree is typically deceased, but there have been exceptions in the past,” Martinez also told the Times-Herald.
In the last few weeks, after the Times-Herald gave Rose the correct avenues of people to call and after the family showed up at a city council meeting to explain its heartache, but also its desires, things have picked up.
“I’ve been in contact with the city, and I know we are working together as a team,” Rose said. “The city has connected me with people at Caltrans and at the state level. I’ve been helped with the form for the proposal. I haven’t talked with Caltrans. I have reached out, and I know it takes time. I know they have gotten my emails, so lately it’s been a lot easier because now I have been given the correct contacts this time.”
Mayor Sorce was also at the event and said she is constantly reminded of Pearl Pinson each time she drives under the bridge on Highway 780. She also said that since the Pinson family showed up at a city council meeting last month, things are now moving more quickly concerning some kind of way to honor Pearl.
“We’ve been in touch with them with the options,” Sorce said. “We’re going to support whatever makes the most sense. Whatever is meaningful and is doable, whether it’s on city property or working with Caltrans for something here. We’re supporting the family to make sure there is some kind of memorial here.”
Sorce said that a few memorials on each end of the bridge might be a more doable option.
“I think that’s what we’re looking into,” Sorce said. “What are the options because of Caltrans and the multiple agencies involved, what is doable in these types of circumstances?”
Along with the memorial or renaming of the bridge, the family also wants Amber Alerts changed because of Pearl’s kidnapping.
“I want the amber alert to be changed within a few hours,” James Pinson said. “It was 32 hours before they (authorities) put it out. I’d like to get that down to two hours, especially for a child under the age of 18. I mean, Pearl was taken at 6:45 on the 25th of May. They didn’t put the amber alert out until 2:55 on the 26th.”
Rose agreed.
“He (Castro) was gone with her for 32 hours. Where did he put her?” Rose said. “Where did he put her? If there is a missing person, whether it’s a runaway or abduction, I want law enforcement to have the amber alert to be put out immediately. They shouldn’t wait 32 f—ing hours later.”
Rose said there is plenty she misses about her sister, but more than anything, it’s her attitude.
“My son has a habit now, when he wants something, he asks and can’t get it, he replies, ‘But why, mom? Why?’ And Pearl did that all the time,” Rose said, with a laugh. “And I was always like, ‘Shut the…’”
Rose also had another message to send to her sister.
“Pearl, if you can somehow hear us, I want you to know we have never stopped loving you and never will,” Rose said. “We will never stop searching for you. You are part of this family every single day. We carry you with everything we do. What happened to you wasn’t fair. Your disappearance not only traumatized our family, but also the city of Vallejo. You have an entire community that wants you to be found. Until we meet again, my pain-in-the-ass sister.”