HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – Multiple law enforcement agencies are assisting in the search for a missing 21-year-old woman with autism.
Hollywood police officers, K-9 units and deputies from the Broward Sheriff’s Office were taking part in the search Wednesday just south of the Anne Kolb Nature Center, where Noemi Bolivar was last known to be.
“We’re actually doing a grid search of the area,” said Officer Christian Lata of the Hollywood Police Department. “The reason why we are doing that is to possibly find any evidence or any indication of where she could possibly be or have traveled.”
Officers say at the moment they don’t suspect any foul play and they haven’t uncovered anything in the search — the largest one we’ve seen since Bolivar went missing.
According to her relatives, Noemi was last seen around 4 p.m. Thursday, leaving her parents’ home.
They said they believe she caught a bus to go hiking at the nature center.
“She’s just a nature girl. She loves birds. That’s her passion, go look at the birds and the plants and everything,” her mother, Marycel Bolivar, said.
Noemi took a selfie at the observation tower inside the park and sent it to a friend on Snapchat.
But she stopped sending or receiving messages and phone calls around 6:15 p.m.
A few hours later, investigators say Bolivar’s cellphone pinged near Hollywood Beach, but when officers arrived, they didn’t find her.
Noemi’s parents say she is high-functioning, however she has the social maturity of a 15-year-old girl.
They fear she may have been kidnapped.
“We want to assure the family, we want to assure the citizens that we are doing everything we possibly can to help find Noemi,” Lata said.
Police are asking anyone with any information, to call the Hollywood Police Department or Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.