Family demanding answers from Ceres police about handling of missing person report
Erika Lopez didn't return home Friday night and was found dead Saturday. Family said police didn't act swiftly enough to try to find her
Erika Lopez didn't return home Friday night and was found dead Saturday. Family said police didn't act swiftly enough to try to find her
Erika Lopez didn't return home Friday night and was found dead Saturday. Family said police didn't act swiftly enough to try to find her
Filling seats and lining the entire back wall of the Ceres City Council chambers, friends and loved ones of Erika Lopez showed up by the dozens at Monday's council meeting.
People close to Lopez, who family and friends said was reported missing to the Ceres Police Department Friday night and found dead in a Modesto church parking lot Saturday afternoon, shared what she meant to them.
"Erika was our rock. Our rock. And not just to her family, but to her friends," long-time friend Maria Camarena said. "She was a mother of two. A wife. Didn't do anything out of the ordinary."
They called Lopez a model citizen – looked up to by all who knew her.
They also said they want justice for her.
As Lopez's family and friends wait to learn how she died from the Stanislaus County coroner's office and a Modesto Police Department investigation, they're demanding an internal investigation into how the missing person report was handled by Ceres Police Department.
"We just feel that more could have been done," said Camarena, who said that she and others went out searching for Lopez Friday into Saturday when she didn’t return home at the end of the day.
Ceres police Chief Rick Collins attended Monday's council meeting and listened to the public outcry related to Lopez's case.
He said he would agree to meet with Lopez's family, but not right now.
"I would be happy to meet with you and your family representatives when the investigation concludes," Collins said. "Right now, that would not be the appropriate time to do that."
Friends and family, desperate for answers, issued harsh criticism for the department they said they called repeatedly in the first hours Lopez couldn't be reached and didn't come home.
"She was failed by the Ceres Police Department," Camarena said.
KCRA 3 reached out to the Ceres Police Department for comment on the missing persons report the family said it filed on behalf of Erika Lopez.
We tried contacting them throughout the day Sunday and Monday, but we have not heard back.
The Modesto Police Department is handling the investigation into Lopez’s death since her body was found there.