FBI Joins Search For Missing Redondo Beach Girl

REDONDO BEACH, CA — The FBI joined the search for the missing Redondo Beach teen who authorities believe is with her mother and her mother’s ex-husband, both homicide suspects and are considered armed and dangerous, the bureau said Wednesday. The announcement comes nearly a month after an Amber Alert was issued on behalf of 15-year-old Alora Danielle Benitez.

Alora Benitez, 15, was last seen at 9 a.m. Wednesday, April 17 in Torrance leaving with Maricela Mercado, 40, and Roman Cerratos, 39, in a white, 2013 4-door BMW sedan, with Nevada license plate "MARIMAR," according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Mercado and Cerratos are both suspects in the killing of a man whose body was found in the front seat of a car in Carson.

The teen and her mother lived in a Redondo Beach apartment. Alora Benitez is Hispanic, 5 feet 2 and weighs 100 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

Mercado is 5 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs 130 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes. Cerratos is 6-foot-1 and weighs 210 pounds, bald with brown eyes.

About a week after the Amber Alert, San Diego police found the BMW unoccupied in San Ysidro, authorities told KTLA.

A $20,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the suspects’ arrests. The teen's family held a vigil in Windsor Hills in April to pray she returns home safely.

The missing girl's father, Julian Benitez Jr., told KTLA "I just need her back. I need her back in my arms."

"Alora, if you're listening, if you see any of this: Make a run for it. Call 911. Get to a phone. Ask for help. Go where there's a lot of people," her father said

Anyone with information should call the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office at 310-477-6565 or the LASD Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500. To provide information anonymously, call L.A. Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477), or visit the website.