Missing Fort Bragg teen’s phone found on night of disappearance
FORT BRAGG, CA., 12/19/24 — Missing teen Roy Mora’s phone was found on the Noyo River Bridge the night the 15-year-old disappeared. The man who found it said it was lying on the sidewalk in the middle of the bridge. On Tuesday Dec. 17, he surrendered the phone to a local coffee shop. Police are not disclosing the man’s name.
The man powered the phone on at 2 a.m. Dec. 8 when he walked from the bridge to the parking lot behind the Fort Bragg Fire Station. After the missing phone’s location data was collected through a warrant process, the search spread around oceanfront areas of Fort Bragg, the entire county and even to other states where Mora had contacts. Mora went missing after attending the Fort Bragg Lighted Truck Parade the evening of Dec. 7. The only video evidence that has turned up was the boy walking south on the Noyo Bridge.
The man turned the phone in anonymously to the staff of the Mendocino Cookie Company, a coffee-klatch inside The Old Union Lumber Company Store in downtown Fort Bragg. Police were able to track the man down and interviewed him to find out where the phone had been found. Jherica Chacon of the Cookie Company recognized the phone from the fliers when the man dropped it off and called the police.
The phone was turned off at the end of the Lighted Truck Parade at 6:55 p.m. Dec.7. Then a surveillance camera shows Mora walking south on the east side of the Noyo Bridge at 7:49 p.m.
A Fort Bragg police press release explains: “Two surveillance cameras on the south side of the Noyo Bridge were checked, and neither shows Roy leaving the bridge. No other surveillance camera has captured video of Roy after 7:49 p.m.. Also, the cameras did not capture anyone else on foot on the bridge or any vehicles stopping on the bridge during that time,.”
The Mendocino Voice had heard on Tuesday about the phone being turned in. The Voice held off on reporting the story until the Fort Bragg Police Department investigated and briefed Mora’s family Wed.night. Police Chief Neil Cervenka then issued a press release. The find has created a more intense search of the ocean, but the search in other areas continues, and there is no evidence at this point of what happened, other than that the turned-off phone was dropped on the sidewalk in the middle of the Noyo Bridge. Cervenka’s press release said the man who found the phone has been helpful to the investigation.
“He has been exceptionally cooperative, consenting to a search of his vehicle, property and person as well as allowing officers to take his phone so all location data from it could be examined,” the release said.
Authorities are still locked out of the phone. A search warrant for Mora’s phone was authorized and executed. The Sacramento Federal Bureau of Investigation offered to use its resources to extract the data from it, as there is a passcode locking it. Information to still be gained from the phone could be saved notes or voice memos. “The FBI is monitoring social media sources for any new accounts created using Roy’s information,” the press release said.
FBI Sacramento also offered its Air Support Unit to fly over the coastline to search for Mora. “The US Coast Guard provided a drift analysis and likely areas along the coastline to search.
State Parks was contacted for assistance. They will be conducting twice-a-day searches by boat as well as utilizing their Drone Teams for close-in aerial searches of the rugged coastline,” the release said “Fort Bragg PD continues to follow up on leads and tips as they come in and encourage the community to keep looking out for Roy. There is still no evidence of foul play. Everyone at the police department is working to find Roy and bring him home. Every tip is checked out, every possible sighting is investigated,” Cervenka said in the press release.
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