A missing Carpentersville teen’s car was found in a Vernon Hills detention pond Monday but officials have not yet located Brissa Romero one week after she disappeared while in the area.
“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,” Vernon Hills Police Chief Patrick Kreis said at a Monday news conference held with Carpentersville Police Chief Todd Shaver.
Police speculate 17-year-old Romero, headed to a holiday party Dec. 4 at a Vernon Hills Bowlero and unfamiliar with the area, may have accidentally driven into into the two-acre, 20-foot-deep pond after failing to stop at a T-intersection near Executive and Lakeview parkways, Kreis said.
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Search and recovery efforts to determine if Romero’s body is in the water were called off Monday night but resumed Tuesday.
Police said Romero’s cell phone data was last detected in the area, prompting officers to take a closer look at the detention pond. A woman walking near the pond spotted a backpack in the water that was later determined to belong to Romero, Kreis said.
Firefighters located Romero’s 2008 Nissan Rogue about 60 feet from the pond’s bank.
Based on surveillance video from a fast-food restaurant captured about 15 minutes before her cell phone signal was lost, it’s believed she was traveling alone, Kreis said.
Romero’s family, who offered a $14,000 reward for help in finding the teen, said they were grateful to the Vernon Hills and Carpentersville police departments for all their efforts.
They continue to hold out hope that she might be found alive, her sister Dulce Romero said.
“In my heart, I still believe she’s out there, but we’ll keep investigating,” she said. “Our hope is that she is still alive.”
At the news conference, Shaver offered the family his thoughts and prayers as the search continued.
Romero’s family reported the college student missing after they did not hear from her the day after the party at the Bowlero. Her electronic devices placed her in the vicinity of Center Drive near the Hawthorn Mall.
Carpentersville police are working in conjunction with the Vernon Hills Police Department, which did drone and foot searches of dozens of ponds around the village as part of the search.
License plate readers and I-PASS transponder information did not turn up any sign of her car leaving the area, officials said.
Romero, the youngest of five in her family, is a 2023 graduate of Barrington High School. She graduated a year early, and is studying to be an ultrasound technician at Harper College in Palatine, her family said.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.