Advertisement Searchers focus on Salem woods in missing mom case Swampscott's Jaimee Mendez still missing, search continues Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Investigators say about 100 searchers are scouring a section of woods in Salem Wednesday in connection with last week's disappearance of a young Swampscott mother. Jaimee Mendez, 25, has not been seen since last Thursday. According to her family, she was with a registered Level 3 sex offender before her disappearance.Watch Report | Images: Family searches for missing Swampscott mother"Right now, this is a missing person case," said Salem Police Chief Paul Tucker.Wednesday's search focused on a wooded area off Technology Way in Salem. "Some items that may be tied to the case have been found in the area, but we are not going to get into what those items are," Tucker said.The search teams have been using K-9s, ATVs and grid searches looking for anything that may point them in the direction of the 25-year-old. Police said an Airwing used in previous days would not be up Wednesday morning because of weather."We are working diligently on this case. We have been since it first came to our attention early Saturday morning when the family members and friends come to report her missing," said Swampscott Police Chief Ron Madigan.Massachusetts State police detectives searched the home of the registered sex offender for several hours, searched a dumpster and towed two vans."We're desperate. We're desperate for anything," said Mendez's sister, Alyssa.Alyssa Mendez asked for help from volunteers with search experience or who are familiar with the terrain of the area.Earlier Tuesday, the family of Stephanie Vaczy, a woman who also had been reported missing and was known to associate with both Mendez and the sex offender, said she was found alive at a local hospital.Police from several North Shore communities searched all day Monday for Mendez who has been missing since Thursday afternoon, according to her family.Photos: Unsolved Massachusetts MysteriesOn Monday night, Mendez's mother quietly sat across the street from the home of the level 3 sex offender the family said Mendez recently met."It's horrible. We just keep searching and searching. We just want to bring her home," said Mendez's aunt, Amy Murray.Swampscott police and Essex County investigators said Mendez's family reported her missing Saturday afternoon. Mendez's family said police were searching a dumpster at CVS on Eastern Avenue in Lynn Sunday, where they found some of her belongings, including her sneakers. "The sneakers were positively identified by her cousins who gave her those exact sneakers 10 days earlier," said Mendez's father, Steven Mendez.Mendez's family said they believe she was with the sex offender before her disappearance. That man's name has not been released."When I spoke to that gentleman, there was a complete bedroom inside his van. When I saw him the next morning it was gone -- the rug cut out. That's telling me something is not right there," Steven Mendez said."She was worried, she was freaked out, she was with this guy and he was acting weird and she wanted to get out of there," said Mendez's sister, Alyssa.The family said Mendez called a friend to pick her up, but never showed up when they were supposed to meet. "The guy that she called went to pick her up and she never showed, and that's it, that's the last time anyone heard from her. Her phones been off until they found her phone, they found her phone, and her jacket and her ID," Alyssa Mendez said. Family members said Mendez is a type 1 diabetic and cannot go for this many days without her medication. Her son is severely autistic and family members said she would never leave him for this long.