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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The sister of a woman found slain last week and whose 2-year-old girl is missing said Sunday she is hopeful her niece will be found safe.
Contessa Fitts said San Francisco police haven't told her much about what happened to her sister, Nicole Fitts, but added that she knows they are doing everything they can to find 2-year-old Arianna Fitts.
"It's rough," Contessa Fitts told the San Francisco Chronicle Sunday (http://bit.ly/1qhBNq8). "The thing that is keeping me going is that we're going to find Arianna. I have to keep finding information."
Nicole Fitts was found slain Friday after being reported missing a week earlier. She was last seen on April 1, according to police.
Contessa Fitts said she stayed in touch with her sister and despite living in different cities, the two would get together about once a month. She described Nicole as a cheerful and pleasant person.
Nicole Fitts, who went by Nikki, most recently lived in San Francisco and worked at a Best Buy store, her sister said.
"None of this makes sense," Michael Jacobo, Nicole's friend and co-worker, told the newspaper. "She was one of the kindest people you would ever meet. She always had a smile on her face. It always stuck with me how kind and shy she was."
Police spokeswoman Officer Grace Gatpandan said at a news conference Saturday night that Arianna Fitts is missing and considered at risk. She was last reported seen in late February.
Gatpandan said that due to the sensitive nature of this investigation, authorities can't disclose any other details about the killing or any other circumstances of the case.
She says the mother and daughter were reported to frequent the San Francisco, San Mateo, Oakland/Emeryville, Fresno, Santa Cruz, and Silicon Valley areas, as well as various locations in Southern California.
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