Family seeks public's help in search for Carson teen missing since Jan. 1

CARSON, Calif. (KABC) -- On Jan. 1, 16-year-old Alinka Angeline Castaneda disappeared, and her family has been searching for her ever since.

On the morning Castaneda disappeared, she can be seen on her neighbor's front door camera outside her home around 5 a.m., when an unidentified man can be seen walking toward her house.

Castaneda's mom said her daughter left without her cell phone and wallet, wearing an all black outfit and gold necklace.

She was last seen getting into an unknown vehicle, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

"Whoever has her, please, please let her come home," said Avelina Medina, a family friend.

Three times over the course of the few months since her disappearance Castaneda has called her family. Each time she sounded in distress.

The first call was tracked back to a phone in Venice about 15 days after Castaneda disappeared. Castaneda's younger sister answered the phone.

"The sister said that Alinka sounded scared in her voice and that she didn't know where she was, but that they don't let her go," said Moses Castillo, a family advocate. "She gave the impression that she was being held against her will and that they're not letting her go. But she didn't know where she was and then she said, 'I gotta go.'"

The second call came a few hours after the first, and all her family could hear was Castaneda's voice in distress. The third call came just 20 days ago, when Castaneda called her mom and told her she was ready to come home and to meet her at Union Station. But Castaneda never showed up.

"It's hard, every day you wake up and you go to work and you do what you need to to continue to do your life, but always in the back of my head I'm thinking about my younger sister," said Alan Toruno, Castaneda's brother.

Anyone with information on Castaneda's case is encouraged to contact the Carson Sheriff's Station at 310-847-8362.