Teenage Girl Is Missing After Attending All-Night Rave Party

Authorities said they are worried about the well-being of a 16-year-old Coto de Caza girl who was last seen early Sunday outside a rave dance club in San Bernardino, hours after she told her parents that she was going to a church function near her home.

Kelly Ann Brooks, a sophomore at Capistrano Valley High School, was seen by her parents Saturday evening when she headed out for the evening with a boy she had met on the Internet, authorities said.

She told her parents she was going to an overnight youth function at Saddleback Community Church in nearby Lake Forest. It wasn’t until the next day that the girl’s parents learned there was no such church event.

“We’re scared to death,” said her father, Trent Brooks, 43. “Time is our enemy and we need help. We will do anything, anything.”

The girl’s parents said they assumed the young man who picked up Kelly was just a friend giving her a ride. “He was well-dressed, polite, drove a nice car and we had no reason other than he was a friend giving her a ride,” the father said.

Investigators said they have since located the 17-year-old Irvine youth, who told authorities he took Kelly to the rave and then left about 1 a.m. to pick up his girlfriend. When he returned about an hour later, he could not find Kelly, investigators said.

Several people who attended the overnight dance party said they saw Kelly about 3 or 4 a.m., asking people for a ride back to Orange County.

“This is a concern because it’s out of her character,” said Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. “We don’t think she ran away.”

The parents have offered a $25,000 reward for information that will help them locate their daughter. They have also hired private detectives and plan to launch an informational Web site today.

The parents said they learned about their daughter’s plans to attend the rave by Sunday afternoon when--panicked and uncertain what to do--they printed out all the e-mails on her computer, eventually coming across a message detailing her plans to go to the Masterdome in San Bernardino.

The dance facility is a former wrestling rink in an industrial section of town. The raves, according to Lt. Jeff Breiten of the San Bernardino Police Department, attract about 2,000 people and run from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

San Bernardino police said they’ve had minor problems at the facility in the last few years, such as stolen cars and dealing of drugs, particularly Ecstasy, a drug that has long been associated with raves.

Kelly is described as 5 feet 7 and 130 pounds with green eyes, a fair complexion and shoulder-length sandy blond hair.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Orange County Sheriff’s Department at (714) 647-7000.