Missing Irvine Boy’s Mother Fears He’s Being Intimidated

The mother of an Irvine teenager who has been missing for four days rejected police accounts Sunday that her son was staying away voluntarily.

“I feel he’s alive,” said Leslie Novoa, mother of 16-year-old Brandon Novoa, “but I feel there is something or someone intimidating him not to come home.

“We feel he’s terrified,” she said.

In a statement released Sunday, Irvine police said: “Brandon Novoa has made telephone contact with two separate friends (Friday night and early Saturday morning). He reportedly asked the friends to tell his parents that he is OK.

“This is comforting news, and we now believe that Brandon is choosing to stay away and has not fallen victim to any foul play.”

The youth’s parents say that police have not done all they can to find their son. Police on Sunday referred media inquiries on the Novoa case to Sgt. Rick Handfield, who did not return calls.

But a news release issued by police Saturday states that police are continuing to work with the family to ensure the youth returns safely home. “Brandon is still a concern as he is obviously troubled about some issues that keeps him from making more substantial contact,” the release says.

The youth was last seen about 3 p.m. Wednesday at Woodbridge High School in Irvine. Originally, police investigated reports that the youth was involved in a fight with one or more teenagers at a park near Springbrook South and East Yale Loop.

On Sunday, the youth’s relatives continued to circulate fliers with his photograph in Irvine and other parts of Orange County.

The telephone calls, which were made collect, were the first positive sign for the youth’s relatives in four days, the mother said.

“They were good news,” she said. “I finally got a night’s sleep for the very first time since this began.”

She said her son contacted a high school friend and told him that he was “somewhere at a church shelter,” but that he didn’t know where and that he was hungry.