Follow the Ping

San Diego police searched the Santa Fe train depot for a missing person on Friday night, September 11. They were looking for an Orange County woman who had been reported missing earlier that day. Police described her as a 36-year-old Asian female, about five foot four inches tall named Annie.

Shortly after 9:15 p.m., four San Diego police units arrived at the Santa Fe train station on Kettner Boulevard near Broadway and asked a security officer and several ticket-office employees if they had seen anyone matching her description.

“We received a ping from her cell phone from a nearby cell tower,” said a police officer, “and she might still be in the area.” None of the employees recalled seeing anyone matching the missing woman’s description.

One of the ticket clerks told the officer, “The last Amtrak train left at 9:15 p.m., but there was a 10:00 p.m. bus to Bakersfield and a Coaster train to Oceanside after the Padres baseball game.... The Pacific Surfliner route is unreserved, so even if she was on one of our trains it may not show on a specific one if she purchased her ticket in advance.”

Police officers checked the nearly empty train station and the platforms outside. They left the area by 9:35 p.m.