The missing woman's 15-year-old sister told the Skagit County Sheriff's Department that she and her sister had been robbed at gunpoint, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported. She said that the teen, Sebastian Sanchez-Velasco, searched their cabin in a migrant camp near Burlington on Saturday, took their earnings for the summer and then forced all of them into her van.

Sanchez-Velasco, who had tried to have a romantic relationship with the older sister, allowed the younger one to get out of the van near their cabin before he drove off.

Deputy Will Reichhardt said that language difficulties delayed the start of the investigation.

The alert was issued for a white Plymouth Voyager van with California license plate 4AEJ690. Reichhardt said investigators believe Sanchez-Velasco is still accompanied by the woman and child and an older unidentified man.