One week after a Carpentersville teen went missing, authorities pulled her SUV out of a large retention pond in Vernon Hills on Monday but continue to search the area for the 17-year-old in what police described as a “recovery operation.”
Based on the condition of the gray Nissan Rogue, police believe that Brissa Romero was in the vehicle when it drove into the pond. The SUV traveled as much as 60 feet into the pond near a T-shaped intersection.
“From the preliminary review of what happened, it really appears like this is a case where a driver unfamiliar with the area failed to navigate a turn and went through the intersection, down an embankment into the pond,” Vernon Hills Police Chief Patrick Kreis said at a joint news conference with Carpentersville police.
According to family, Romero last spoke with her mother at 6:55 p.m. on Dec. 4 and told her she was en route to a work holiday party in Vernon Hills. The pond where her SUV was recovered is about a four-minute drive, or one mile, from the bowling alley.
“At this point, we have not recovered Brissa, but we’re going to continue every effort to do that,” Kreis said late Monday afternoon.
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