A onetime UCLA student who went missing Wednesday apparently fled because of pressure she felt: She was expected by family to graduate this spring but declined to tell her kin she dropped out of school in 2008, police said.

Nancy Salas, 22, took a bus to Merced, where she walked into a carpet store about 11 a.m. and asked someone to call 911 because, she said, she had been abducted at knifepoint, according to Fox 11 News. She later recanted the story and said she left because of the pressure she felt about completing her studies.

“Because of the fact she was expected to graduate,” Glendale police Sgt. Tom Lorenz told reporters late Thursday, ” … she could no longer take the stress she was facing.”

Glendale police officials, who had embarked a search for the woman in Glendale's Chevy Chase Park after she failed to return home following her morning job Wednesday, said they would not seek charges against Salas. However, it's still up in the air about whether Merced authorities would act against her for summoning them and allegedly making up a story about an abduction.

On Thursday it was revealed that Salas, who was at first believed to be a UCLA student, hadn't attended the school since 2008.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.