A pair of 15-year-olds went missing Friday night, and after widespread alerts on local media, they have been found safe as of Monday.
Michelle Olivas Sanchez, 15, attended the homecoming dance Friday at San Lorenzo High School with her date, Elvis Merino, who is also 15. They were last seen around 8:45 pm at the school on East Lewelling Boulevard in San Lorenzo, an unincoprorated community in Alameda County.
As KTVU reports, after interviewing the mothers of both teens, they had both lied to their parents and said the dance ended at 10 pm, when it in fact ended at 9 pm. The pair had met through Instagram and only first met in person in August, when Olivas Sanchez had a quinceañera in San Lorenzo.
The Alameda County Sheriff's Office put out a bulletin for the missing juveniles on Saturday night, after they failed to meet back up with their parents after the dance on Friday.
Olivas Sanchez attends San Lorenzo High, but her boyfriend, Merino, traveled with his mother to attend the dance from Potter Valley in Mendocino County, as NBC Bay Area reports. Merino's mother told KTVU that she planned to drive back to Potter Valley, a three-hour trip, after the dance, and had told her son via cellphone around 8:45 pm that he should get ready to leave soon, but he asked for more time.
Attempts to contact the teens on their cellphones over the weekend were unsuccessful.
Authorities did not say they believed the teens ran away together, but that was the implication.
In the bulletin, Merino is described as standing 5 feet, 3 inches tall, weighing about 110 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, and he has a birthmark on the right side of his face.
Olivas Sanchez is described as standing 5 feet, one inch tall, weighing about 108 pounds, with long, straight black hair and brown eyes. Both teens were dressed up, and she was last seen wearing a pink dress, black jacket, and black shoes, with a small pink backpack.
On Monday afternoon, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office confirmed that the teens were safe, however no details were given about their whereabouts for the past two days.
This post has been updated throughout.