At 3,287 days since James Pinson last saw his daughter, each one is a little more difficult than the last.
“It gets a little harder every single day,” says Pearl Pinson’s father, walking down the pedestrian walkway over Interstate 780 in Vallejo on Sunday afternoon. “I think about her as I much as I can. I miss her smile, her laugh and even her tone from her mouth at times.
“But there’s been no new leads to her whereabouts and I’m disgusted with it,” he continues, trying to contain his emotions.
On May 25, 2016 Pearl Pinson was kidnapped on the bridge by an armed man who dragged her to a waiting car while she walked to school. The kidnapper, later identified as 19-year-old Fernando Castro, had no known connection to Pinson. Castro died in a shootout with police in Southern California the next day, leaving plenty of unanswered questions but no sign of Pinson.
Each year on May 25, a group gathers near the bridge to pay respects to Pearl and to raise awareness on her case. Mostly, they come to show they haven’t forgotten about her.
“The reason this is important is because I want to show my support for the family. How much help would you want if it was your own child?,” Vallejoan Bridget Doherty said. “If it was my child I would want a lot of support, as much as I can get. I’ve grown close to the family and when I spoke with Rose (Pearl’s sister) I told her that I will stand with her. I think it’s so important to help people know that if they feel they don’t have a voice, to let them know they have a voice and to help them project it. To let them know they have our support.”
The vigil for Pearl wasn’t as large as it has been in some other years, with about 20 people showing up — many of them kids that weren’t older than Pearl was when she was kidnapped. This year there was no balloons sent into the air and no big speeches, although Dougherty did bring flowers and wrote a message in chalk saying Pearl was not forgotten.
Related Articles
Monterey County man sentenced to 38 years for deadly shooting, attempted murder and jail stabbing
San Jose police arrest suspects in dangerous copper wire theft
Who is Trump’s new top Bay Area federal prosecutor? L.A. Times controversy, Guns N’ Roses, Chinese spy case and more
Man shot and killed on 100th Avenue in Oakland on Saturday
Five years after George Floyd protests, police reform slows amid Bay Area political shifts
Although they’d like nothing more than for Pearl to walk back into their lives right now, friends and family think that having Pearl’s name adjourn the bridge would mean a lot. They’ve tried contacting city officials and members of Caltrans but say they’ve been given the runaround.
“It would mean a lot to have it (the bridge) named after her,” Pearl’s father, James Pinson said in 2024. “I just want to keep her name out there as much as possible. It doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad, I just want her name out there.”
Pearl’s older sister, Rose, didn’t make it to this year’s vigil but said in 2023 that she accepted for the first time she may never see her sister again.
Rose Pinson sticks a poster remembering her sister Pearl on the pedestrian bridge where Pearl was kidnapped in 2016. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)
“This breaks my heart because … I finally realized that … I can finally breathe … I’ve finally realized that I may never see her again,” Rose said in 2023, fighting back tears. “She may be up in heaven. We’ve finally accepted that we’re never going to see her again.”
James Pinson has also come to the conclusion this year that he won’t see Pearl again.
“In my heart … I know she’s gone. But I just want to put the whole thing to rest,” James said. “I cry for her, but I try not to cry in public in front of people. I don’t want people to see me cry.”
James Pinson went on to say on Sunday that he’s upset that the family of Fernando Castro has still not once apologized.
“If they did, it would show they cared about this,” James Pinson said. “But after nine years? If they showed up today, I’m not sure what I would do. But I’ll tell you what, they know something. They know something about this case.”
Ben Pinson, Pearl’s uncle, also finds it hard to believe that there was just one person — Fernando Castro — who knows what happened to Pearl or where she might be.
Ben Pinson, a truck driver, said he once saw “Have You Seen Her” pictures at a truck stop in Roseville, but that was five years ago. He is urging more people to put up photos.
“We should have photos of Pearl at all kinds of truck and rest stops,” Ben Pinson said. “And not just her. Any kid that has gone missing.”
Doherty said she’s been reaching out to local sports teams like the 49ers to see if there is anything they can do to spread the word: “Have you seen Pearl Pinson?”
Bridget Doherty puts up flowers and leaves a message on Sunday afternoon for Pearl Pinson, who has kidnapped on May 25, 2016 and hasn’t been seen since. (Thomas Gase – Times-Herald)
“I’m reaching out to anyone, sports teams and their front offices and local rap artists like LaRussell,” Doherty said. “Anything to get some momentum to bring attention to her case.”
Unfortunately, the family said that no new developments have taken place in the case.
“Nothing has changed. We still have no tips of where she could be, where he (Castro) possibly took her,” Rose said, through tears in 2024. “So unfortunately the case is still cold. I always hold out hope in my mind she’s going to come home alive but I know in my heart she’s not.”
Although Rose was frustrated four years ago with the lack of help from authorities, she says the effort to find her sister improved three years ago. Sgt. Sheriff Officer Sean Mattson, the officer originally assigned to the case seven years ago, told the Times-Herald in 2022 he sometimes gets tips on the case. Rose said she still talks with Mattson, but that the officer now works out of state and isn’t assigned to the case anymore.
“Once in a blue moon I’ll talk with him and I’ll text him asking, ‘What’s going on?’ because the detective we have now doesn’t really communicate much with me,” Rose said last year. “I mean he has other cases he has to handle. Sean tries to reach us as much as he can. I know he’s no longer on the case but he still keeps an eye out for any tips or ideas. Anything that comes to Pearl’s case he tells me that there might be an update. He updates when he can.”
Until then the family will keep waiting and hoping that one day they’ll look across the other side of the bridge and Pearl will show up.