Missing Teen’s Family Questions Police Response
The family of a 17-year-old girl is expressing frustration over the police’s efforts to locate her after her severed leg was discovered weeks following her disappearance. Charo Tovar, the girl’s mother, filed a report on December 1, stating that Tineya Tovar had traveled to Palm Springs from Hemet and stopped responding to her calls.
It was later revealed that Tineya had visited a 51-year-old man named Abraham Feinbloom, who lived in a boarded-up pink house in Salton City.
On December 21, reports emerged concerning human remains found in the Vista Del Mar area of Salton City. Authorities discovered a decomposed severed foot but were unable to ascertain any identifying details about the individual.
Weeks later, a forensic pathologist confirmed the DNA profile matched Tineya on February 12. Shortly after, on February 14, Feinbloom was arrested as he allegedly attempted to flee when a SWAT team executed a search warrant.
The Tovar family revealed they had visited Salton City multiple times to request welfare checks at Feinbloom’s residence, where their daughter’s phone last received a call. However, they said that police only knocked on the door and failed to conduct a thorough investigation.
“If they had acted sooner, maybe my child could have been saved,” Charo Tovar lamented.
According to her, police initially presumed Tineya was a runaway and downplayed the situation, possibly due to her being on probation at the time.
Neighbors reportedly heard strange sounds, including screams and drum beats, coming from Feinbloom’s home. One neighbor remarked that Feinbloom was considered “the scary guy in the scary house,” and noted that he had installed security cameras just two days after Tineya was reported missing.
Friends of Tineya mentioned that they saw her meeting an older man at the 7th Metro Transit Center in Los Angeles back in October, suggesting this was likely her first encounter with Feinbloom.
Salton City is a locality adjacent to the Salton Sea, an artificial lake that developed incidentally when the Colorado River overflowed in 1905, leading to a body of water notorious for its toxic conditions.
