Moreno Valley remains hopeful missing teen will be found safe as days since disappearance mount

MORENO VALLEY, Calif. (KABC) -- The family of a missing 16-year-old Moreno Valley teen said they're not giving up in the search for her as the days since she was last seen continue to mount.

Matthew Horstkotte, the uncle or Aranda Briones, said the family still holds up hope she'll be found safe.

He talked about searching in more areas, such as the nearby mountains by the park, for his niece.

Carl Horstkotte is Briones' grandfather.

"I'm really grateful to all the people that have come out. You really don't know how good people are until something like this happens," he said. "Somebody knows something but they're either afraid to tell or, you know, somebody knows something."

But despite their hope, there's the unshakeable realization that 10 days after Briones went missing, detectives still can't confirm whether the last person who saw her is telling the truth.

That friend said he dropped Briones off at Moreno Valley Community Park around 6 p.m. on Jan. 13.

"The cops are doing everything they can - they're going on all their investigations, cameras, surveillance, everything. I'm just praying to God that she's safe," Matthew said.

What worries the family more is that they stress it's not a runaway situation, eventhough they admit that she would sometimes hang out with the wrong crowd, she would always text her brother to tell her where she was.

But her cellphone has been dead for 10 days, with the last ping coming the day she went missing.