Search expands to San Francisco for missing Hayward teen

HAYWARD, Calif. (KGO) -- Authorities are looking for a 16-year-old boy missing since Saturday afternoon and last seen in the Hayward hills.

Investigators are working two possibilities: Minh Ly could be injured or lost in the East Bay hills or he could be in San Francisco, near St. Anthony's Church. That's where they traced some Internet activity to a library there. The family is hoping it's the latter.

"We had similar activity on Monday that turned out to be a false alarm. This one may not be a false alarm so we're concentrating our efforts over in San Francisco," said Alameda County Sheriff's Sgt. JD Nelson.

Police say someone at a library in San Francisco opened and read a message on Minh's Facebook page.

"Hopefully that's him. Hopefully, because normally nobody can know his password to log in," Sanh Ly, Minh's father, said.

Minh Ly was last seen walking from his home located on Clover Road and into the woods near CSU East Bay in Hayward following an argument with his father.

For most of Tuesday, the search area was focused in the East Avenue Park area near Five Canyons Parkway in Hayward. There were six search dogs combing the area with search-and-rescue team members until 9 p.m.

Minh is a student at Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward. His sister tweeted a message to ABC7 News on Monday asking for help. She says her brother, who is on the high school swim team and makes straight A's, has never runaway before. However, he got into an argument with his dad and hasn't been seen since.

The Alameda County Sheriff's Department says it launched a search party after monitoring his Facebook account. "A lot of the students at the school started to friend him on Facebook. One of those requests was answered and we thought, 'OK, he's fine.' Come to find out the answer was not him. So now we're into day four and that's why you're seeing the response that you do," Nelson said.

"I'm scared he might hurt himself," Minh's sister Kim Ly said.

Investigators believe it was actually another family member who accepted a friend on his account.

Minh is described as standing about 5'3" tall, weighing around 130 lbs. with brown hair, brown eyes and braces. He was last seen wearing a bright teal collared shirt with khakis and slippers.

"It's getting cold and we worry a lot for you every night and if you have something to eat. So please come back," Ana Marie Ly, Minh's mother, said.

Family members hope he's safe somewhere in San Francisco and not lost or injured in the canyons around his home.