Sacramento teen missing since April with 25-year-old may have been sex-trafficked on West Coast

Sacramento police are seeking the public’s help in locating a 17-year-old girl who has been missing for nearly two months and is believed to be with a man in his mid-20s.

Isabel Gallego, a high school senior doing independent study, was last seen by her parents the night of April 19, and was not in her room the following morning, according to her mother, Julie Gallego. The teen left her phone in her room and had only taken a backpack with her.

The Sacramento Police Department reported Isabel is believed to be with Kyree Jackson, 25, who has two felony warrants out of Sacramento County — for illegal possession of a firearm and theft of a motor vehicle.

While the girl once ran away from home when she was 13, Julie Gallego said she believes that Isabel had not intended to leave for a long period of time. According to her mother, Isabel Gallego had ordered jewelry to take senior pictures, which arrived after she went missing. The teen was also making plans for her 18th birthday at the end of June and had a boyfriend she was excited to move forward with, Julie Gallego said in an interview.

“This was just not in her plan,” she said.

After Isabel Gallego left Sacramento, she was reportedly tracked to Portland, Oregon, before being spotted in Seattle, according to police. She was considered at-risk due to her age, and Police Department spokesperson Officer Anthony Gamble said investigators believe Isabel is a victim of human trafficking.

The teen met Jackson about two weeks before her disappearance, her mother said, and Jackson had even come to the Gallegos’ residence, introduced to Isabel’s parents as being a 19-year-old friend.

‘He just gave us a weird feeling’

“He came into our house, he shook our hands,” Julie Gallego said. “He brought us candy, and he just gave us a weird feeling.”

Gallego said her daughter and her friends knew Jackson as “a pimp,” and that the 17-year-old is very trusting of people, which she said was “probably her downfall.”

However, Sacramento Superior Court documents show Jackson faces felony charges for weapons possession and a vehicle theft. According to court filings, Jackson skipped out of his pretrial services and had tampered with his court-issued ankle-monitoring device, rendering it disabled.

Gamble said detectives “have been working diligently” to find Isabel and Jackson, but investigators have “exhausted all of their leads.”

Julie Gallego said she was “very appreciative” of the Police Department’s work to find the girl.

“(The detective assigned to the case) has put in so many long hours,” she said. “I just am so grateful for how much he cares about finding her.”

California Highway Patrol has yet to issue an Amber Alert for the teen.

Isabel Gallego is about 5-foot-4 and about 105 pounds. She has brown eyes and had green hair and multiple facial piercings at the time of her disappearance, but police note her appearance may have changed. Jackson is 5-foot-7 and 165 pounds.

Julie Gallego described her daughter as “very creative,” with hobbies like painting, drawing, crocheting and making patches for clothing. She also expresses herself through piercings, clothing and hair colors, which her mother said were different every month.

She was also active in the Sacramento punk rock scene, frequently attending concerts at the Colony on Stockton Boulevard with friends, her mother said.

Sacramento police ask anyone with information about the teen to contact the department at 916-808-5471.