Help Sought in Search for Missing Girl

NORTH HOLLYWOOD —  A 15-year-old girl has been missing since she left a group home two weeks ago fearing she might have to testify in a murder case, authorities said Wednesday.

Police and relatives asked the public’s help in locating Lisa Chamberlain, who is 5-foot-7 and has long, dark brown hair.

“Our concern is for her safety,” said Det. Vince Bancroft of the North Hollywood Division of the Los Angeles Police Department. “We don’t want her to be picked up by some predator-type person or be used by somebody. She looks a lot older than she is.”

On May 10, 1998, while walking to a 7-Eleven around 1 a.m., Lisa accepted a ride from a stranger, Alexander Pleitez, 22, police said.

With Lisa in the car, Pleitez encountered two men, Luis Lara, 20, and Efren Vazguez, 21, chased and eventually shot them as they waited at a red light at the corner of Sherman Way and Laurel Canyon Boulevard, police said. Lara was killed and Vazguez was wounded, and Pleitez is awaiting trial on murder charges.

Authorities said they can make their case against Pleitez without Lisa’s testimony, and are fearful that by running away, she may have exposed herself to dangers unrelated to the case.

“She’s either in the Hollywood area or here in the San Fernando Valley,” Bancroft said. “She really doesn’t have a lot of resources out of the area, unless she’s met someone recently.”

Lisa has been in the Hollywood group home since October, said her aunt, Linda Massaro, and had been making good progress toward overcoming developmental problems.

Massaro said she last saw Lisa the Tuesday before she disappeared and she seemed fine. The group home called Massaro two days later to say that Lisa had excused herself from a group therapy session to go to the restroom and never returned.

“She was at our house every weekend, we’d see each other twice a week. She was becoming a part of our family. It was great. But now . . . Lisa, call,” she pleaded.

Bancroft said anyone with information about Lisa can call the North Hollywood Division police station at (818) 623-4045, or after hours at (818) 623-4016.