Police have stepped up their search for the missing Eli Lilly sales rep after finding the 28-year-old woman’s car near an abandoned building in Hammond, Ind. Nailah Franklin was last heard from Tuesday, when she sent an uncharacteristically vague text message to friends and family saying that she was having dinner and that she’d call later. She never did.

Franklin’s sister, Lehia Franklin Acox, told the Associated Press the family is trying to stay positive as police search the 2005 Chevrolet Impala for clues that could shed light on her disappearance. Acox said the discovery of the car was heartening because it could yield some clue to Franklin’s whereabouts, but “on the other hand, it’s still maddening because we do not have (her) back with us.”

When Franklin didn’t turn up for an important meeting Wednesday morning with her boss at Lilly, co-workers at the Indianapolis-based drug company called her family, and family called police. Franklin’s sales territory covered Chicago’s suburbs, her sister says.