Police Continue Search for Missing Teen

Rubi Cruz Mendoza, the 15-year-old girl reported missing last week has been seen in the Central Valley community of Madera, near Fresno, her family has said.

“We got a call from someone who said they saw her there,” Rubi’s father, Justino Cruz Zarate, told Patch Monday. “That’s all we know.”

Rubi, a freshman at Casa Grande was last seen Wednesday when she went to meet her godfather.

The man, identified as Hilario Matus Carmona, is 29 years old and is a seasonal farm worker who is believed to have ties to the Central Valley.

Petaluma Police Department spokesman Lt. Tim Lyons said the agency has received numerous calls from people who claim to have seen the pair.

“We are following up all leads, but we don’t have anything conclusive at this time,” he said.

Rubi’s mother, Reina Mendoza Reyes, said Matus-Carmona lived in the same apartment as the family for about a year and a half before moving out. Rubi’s family is from the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico and has lived in Petaluma for five years.

“She is a good girl and a good student and we are asking anyone who may have seen her or heard from her to call the police,” said Joyce Galindo, a family friend, on Monday.