UPDATE: Police held a news conference to address their findings. Latest updates here.
Crews could be seen searching a pond in Vernon Hills Monday afternoon amid an investigation into a Carpentersville teen's disappearance in the area as she traveled for a holiday party.
Footage from NBC's Sky 5 helicopter showed crews and what appeared to be divers outside a pond on Lakeview Parkway near Executive Way and Milwaukee Avenue in the Chicago suburb. A vehicle was later seen being pulled from the water, but police said no body has been recovered so far. (Latest updates on the discovery here)
The village of Vernon Hills confirmed its police and Carpentersville police had "refined their search area for missing Brissa Romero and are currently on scene in the area of Executive Way and Lakeview Parkway in Vernon Hills, IL."
"This is an ongoing investigation, and the public is requested to avoid the area," the village said in a post on social media.
Family members had said the 17-year-old was last captured on traffic cameras in that same area.
Relatives said Romero's license plate was captured on a traffic camera near the area of Town Center Road and Milwaukee Avenue the evening she went missing on her way to a holiday party for her work.
Romero was last seen on Dec. 4, just before she left for a holiday work party at Bowlero in Vernon Hills.
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Carpentersville police said officers conducted an extensive search Friday near the venue, where her phone last pinged.
No one at the party saw her, police said.
Relatives are asking anyone who lives, works or owns a business in the northwest suburbs to check their security video between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 4.
"The Carpentersville Police Department continues actively searching for Brissa Romero, a 17-year-old female who has been missing for five days with no sightings or communication," a press release from the Carpentersville Police Department said Saturday.
The update added that Brissa's social media accounts showed no outgoing activity since Monday.
Family said Romero was seen on surveillance video Monday while visiting a family member in Des Plaines. According to authorities, said she doesn’t have a history of mental health challenges or running away from home.
Surveillance cameras also captured her returning to her work in Schaumburg to retrieve her iPad that same evening.
At a vigil Sunday night, relatives said Brissa's license plate was captured on a traffic camera near the area of Town Center Road and Milwaukee Avenue a short time later.
"From what we know that she was driving alone up here, north, but we're trying to figure out if, by any chance, something happened where somebody was able to contact her during the drive," Dulce Romero, Brissa's sister said.
Her family and authorities are asking those who live near the intersection where Romero's vehicle was last seen to share security footage as their search for the 17-year-old continues.
"That night, maybe there's something they can actually find that in the within their private cameras that the police don't have access to," Dulce said at the vigil "And please come forward. If there's any sort of information of Brissa's missing vehicle, or of herself."
According to officials, an "extensive search" for Romero's vehicle, which includes the use of drones and surveying local ponds, remains ongoing. Brissa's vehicle is described as a gray 2008 Nissan Rogue, with a sticker of a black coyote and Illinois license plate number CZ64618.
As of Sunday night, the circumstances regarding Brissa's disappearance remained unknown.
“One thing about our family, we all share our locations with our parents,” Jocelyn Rubi Romero told NBC Chicago last week. “She called my mom at 6:55 p.m. and said she was on the way over here, and my mom kept looking at her location, and she was heading over here, but around the time that she arrived, she did not call my mom.”
Rubi Romero said they lost her Brissa's location after 8 p.m.
“She’s currently in Harper College, she’s studying to be an ultrasound technician and all she does is literally just work. She has two jobs,” Rubi Romero said. “She goes to school, she’s a very hard-working and loving girl.”
At the vigil Sunday, Brissa's mother fought back tears as she pleaded for the community's help to find her daughter.
"I just want my daughter back," said Aguilera.
Anyone who may have security video that could assist police in their investigation is asked to call the Carpentersville Police Department at 847-551-3481.
