Police Go Door-To-Door In Search For Missing Valley Teen

SAN FERNANDO, CA - The search for a 14-year-old boy who went missing during last week's rainstorms has intensified with a door-to-door search Saturday as the FBI joined the Los Angeles and San Fernando police departments in their hunt to find the teen.

Elias Rodriguez of Pacoima was last seen about 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 17 leaving Cesar Chavez Learning Academies at 1001 Arroyo Ave. in San Fernando, the Los Angeles Police Department reported. Elias had borrowed someone's cellphone to call his mother at work to ask if she could pick him up, but she missed the call, police said.

Authorities will revisit the neighborhood where Elias last was seen and interview people in hope of generating clues to find him, LAPD Capt. Robert Marino said at a Friday news conference in front of the boy's school.

Marino noted that a reward of up to $50,000 has been offered by the Los Angeles City Council for information that helps find Elias, who was last seen near Arroyo and Glenoaks Boulevard.

Since his disappearance, a helicopter search of the Los Angeles River turned up nothing. The teen's distraught parents pleaded for information about their son at an earlier news conference at the LAPD's Mission Station.

Elias' mother, Pahola Mascorro, said friends and family members have conducted their own searches for the boy and remain desperate to know where he is.

"We just need him to come home and (to) know he's OK," she said.

Elias has never run away and his disappearance is out of character, police said.

The teen is Latino, 5-feet-4, about 100 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information on the case is urged to call the LAPD's Mission Station at (818) 838-9800.

City News Service