{"id":516382,"date":"2026-11-02T21:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T21:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/516382\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T21:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T21:40:13","slug":"bakersfield-police-search-for-missing-teen-avery-mendez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/516382\/","title":{"rendered":"Bakersfield Police Search for Missing Teen Avery Mendez"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Bakersfield police are asking the public for help finding a missing 14-year-old girl who disappeared on Halloween evening and hasn\u2019t been seen since. Avery Michelle Mendez was last seen around 5:50 p.m. in the 3000 block of Loma Linda Drive, not far from Garces Memorial High School, and officers consider her at risk.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/bakersfieldnow.com\/news\/local\/bakersfield-police-searching-for-missing-teen-last-seen-near-garces-memorial-high-school-kern-county-california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">KBAK<\/a>, the Bakersfield Police Department put out the call after Mendez went missing from the area near the high school. The station reports that officers are treating her disappearance with urgency and have turned to the community for leads.<\/p>\n<p>Why Police Are Calling Her At-Risk<\/p>\n<p>Mendez is considered \u201cat-risk\u201d due to being a first time runaway and mental health concerns, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/kget.com\/news\/local-news\/bakersfield-police-seeking-help-locating-missing-teen-considered-at-risk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">kget.com<\/a>. That designation means officers are prioritizing the search, since this marks the first time she has run away and she has underlying mental health issues that worry investigators.<\/p>\n<p>The station\u2019s report describes Mendez as 5 feet and 1 inch tall, weighing about 90 pounds and having shoulder-length hair dyed dark brown with bangs. She also has blue eyes and pierced ears, details police hope will help the public recognize her if spotted around town.<\/p>\n<p>What She Was Wearing on Halloween Night<\/p>\n<p>Per the same account, Mendez was last seen wearing a lime green hooded sweatshirt with \u201cGIR from Invader Zim\u201d on it, black pants, black Converse shoes and a black and gray JanSport backpack. The outfit, tied to the popular animated character, could be a key identifier for anyone who may have crossed paths with her while out on Halloween.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone with information about Mendez&#8217;s whereabouts is asked to contact the Bakersfield Police Department at 661-327-7111. Police have not released additional details beyond her description, clothing, and the location where she was last seen in the 3000 block of Loma Linda Drive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bakersfield police are asking the public for help finding a missing 14-year-old girl who disappeared on Halloween evening&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-516382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}