The search intensified Tuesday for the missing 25-year-old Massachusetts mother whose family says the last person she was with before she vanished was a convicted sex offender.
Jaimee Mendez was last heard from Thursday, when her family says she called two friends to say that she was with a registered level 3 sex offender — the type considered most likely to offend again — and felt uncomfortable. That was the last anyone heard from her, her family says.
"We're desperate for anything," her sister Alyssa Mendez said while on foot in and around the woods along Technology Way in Salem Tuesday.
On Tuesday, police towed a minivan with a mattress in the back away from a home in Lynn Tuesday where neighbors say the man they describe as a sex offender was staying. A nearby dumpster and a neighbor's garage were also searched.
"Its just been crazy, just trying to figure it all out. They were searching the dumpster up there," neighbor Sarah Bullock said.
Family members say Jaimee Mendez was with a registered Level 3 sex offender Thursday when she called two friends to say that she was uncomfortable and wanted to leave.
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"She was worried. She was freaked out. She was with this guy; he was acting weird. She wanted to get out of there," said sister Alyssa Mendez. "The guy that she called went to pick her up, and she never showed. And that's it. That's the last time anyone heard from her."
The man Jaimee Mendez' family describes as a sex offender convicted in the 1990s has not been charged with anything in connection with her Mendez's disappearance.
Family members say Jaimee Mendez's sneakers were found in a dumpster behind a CVS on Eastern Avenue in Lynn, along with a piece of rug they say came from the man's van. Police have not confirmed that, however.
Jaimee Mendez is diabetic and has an autistic 5-year-old son, her family said.
"She still can't go four days without her insulin," Jaimee's father Stephen Mendez said Sunday. "Her son is severely autistic. She would be home to see him every single day. She would never — I don't think she's ever spent a day away from her son."
"Thank God we have a big family, and we can all hold each other up — that's all I can say. As you know, it's hard. It's just, you can't describe it. It's unbearable," Alyssa Mendez said Monday.
Massachusetts State Police is working with departments in Swampscott, Lynn and Salem to investigate the case.
Meanwhile, another local woman who had been missing since Oct. 30 has been found, her sister announced Tuesday on Facebook.
Stephanie Vaczy had gone missing Oct. 30, NECN had learned Monday, and her sister Karissa Vaczy said she was often with Jaimee Mendez and the man described as a convicted sex offender. Karissa Vaczy said Tuesday that her sister had been found, and Karissa later helped search for Mendez.
Although she said her sister does not remember any of the past 13 days, Karissa Vaczy said she's relieved Stephanie has been located and knows exactly how this feels for the Mendez family.
"They still have high hopes that they're going to find more evidence or more things that are going to lead them to find Jaimee, so we're hoping," Karissa said.
Police would not comment on whether the women had any connection to each other or to the man they had been with.
"We're just hoping to get a better understanding of where he might have hung out, people who he might have hung out with," said Alyssa Mendez.
The Essex County District Attorney's office said Tuesday that the investigation into Mendez's disappearance was fluid and ongoing.
"I don't have enough information to be satisfied," said Alyssa Mendez. "I'll be satisfied when my sister's home."
Anyone with any information about Mendez is asked to call Swampscott Police at (781) 595-1111.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to raise money to help provide for Mendez' son while officials search for her.