BY BRANDY TUZON BOYD
THE NATOMAS BUZZ | @natomasbuzz
The Natomas community will join in the search for a missing teen tomorrow morning.
Sergio Jimenez, 17, was last seen at about 3 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2 at the Natomas Pacific Pathways Prep campus at 3700 Del Paso Road.
A walking search is planned from the campus along the route Jimenez could have taken if he decided to walk home from school. He usually rides the school bus.
Sergio is described as 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighing 145 pounds. He was last seen wearing black jeans, a light gray Polo shirt, and black-and-gray classic style Vans. He also had on a charcoal gray Vans zip-up hooded sweatshirt with small back stripes. He had with him a large, black Jansport backpack. Sergio always wears two necklaces – a choker made of black twine with a cross and and a brown scapular with two religious pictures. He wears black, Ray Ban glasses.
A volunteer search party will meet 9 a.m. in the NP3 gymnasium. Groups of volunteers will walk the roads and fields between the school and the neighborhood where Jimenez lives, west of Interstate 5 and off San Juan Road, searching for any sign of the young man.
Volunteers are advised to wear long pants, old shoes, be prepared for tall vegetation, mud and uneven ground; a walking stick is recommended.
“Everybody’s help would be greatly appreciated,” NP3 principal Tom Rutten said.
Students on campus are worried and several plan to help with the search. Concern about Jimenez’s whereabouts continues to mount with each passing hour, said Rutten.
“It’s like he’s vanished into thin air,” said Teresa Valdivia, the aunt with whom Jimenez lives. “Nobody knows anything, nobody has seen anything, nobody has seen him. We’re all stumped.”
Valdivia describes her nephew as routine-oriented, the student who was always first to board the school bus, who was never absent or tardy for class.
“We are concerned because this is uncharacteristic behavior for this young man,” north area police Capt. James Maccoun said via e-mail to Natomas-area residents. “However, we have no indications at this time of foul play. A variety of investigative measures are underway.”
Last night, the Sacramento Police Department helicopter unit conducted an air search of the Westlake neighborhood near the school campus at 7:46 p.m. looking for Jimenez. Police are also said to be checking for surveillance video from area traffic cameras.
Valdivia said she hopes tomorrow’s ground search will shed light on whether her nephew tried to walk home from school – or rule it out as a possibility.
She said, “We’re looking for some shred of evidence Sergio was walking through there.”
Call the Sacramento Police Dept. at (916) 264-5471 with any information.
Natomas Buzz NP3 Intern Emily Mibach contributed to this report.
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