Car Owned by Stabbing Victim Found : Investigation: Vehicle was apparently abandoned in El Cajon. It has been missing since the body of Mary Irene Lewis, 16, was found in Garden Grove.

Police in El Cajon found the car Wednesday that belonged to Mary Irene Lewis, the 16-year-old from Huntington Beach who was stabbed to death nine days ago on a street corner.

El Cajon police said a resident in the community east of San Diego noticed a suspicious car parked in a residential complex several days ago. The person reported the abandoned white 1987 Nissan Sentra to El Cajon police early Wednesday afternoon, Lt. Fred Morrison said. He wouldn’t say why it appeared suspicious.

Lewis’ relatives said Garden Grove police called them about 2 p.m. to tell them the car had been found about 20 miles east of San Diego. The family said police told them the car appeared unaltered.

The news brought a glimmer of encouragement for the Lewis family.

“It’s a hopeful sign,” said Anita Lewis, the victim’s older sister. “It makes me feel a lot better to know that we’re that much closer to getting him or her.”

The car is now in the custody of Garden Grove police, who said they had no further information. Police are conducting fingerprint tests.

Mary Irene Lewis was stabbed 16 times on June 20 on a Garden Grove sidewalk. Lewis, who attended Huntington Beach High School, had been out with friends that evening. She was last seen when she dropped off a friend in Santa Ana. At 11 p.m., she called her parents to say she would be home about 1 a.m. after eating with friends.

A neighbor who heard screams discovered Lewis, but her car had vanished. She died an hour later at UCI Medical Center in Orange.

Anita Lewis said police told her they have finished interviewing all of Mary Lewis’ friends who had seen her that night. They are now checking alibis.

Meanwhile, Lewis’ friends have printed thousands of flyers describing the time and place of death and the car that was missing until Wednesday. On Wednesday, they continued to post the flyers in shopping areas and slide them under windshield wipers.

“I’m reminded of my sister every moment. We shared the same room,” Anita Lewis said. “I wake up screaming in the middle of the night. . . . I remember her when I hear her favorite song.”