Christmas Eve turned into a nightmare for one Texas family after a 19-year-old woman vanished from her San Antonio home, leaving behind her phone and car.
Camila Mendoza Olmos was last seen just before 7 a.m. Wednesday outside her home, according to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities say she appeared to be heading out for what her family believed was just a routine walk.
Surveillance video shows Camila wearing baby blue pajama shorts, a black hoodie and white shoes as she rummaged through her car before the footage cut off, officials said.
Her vehicle was left at the home, and investigators believe she walked away carrying only her car keys and possibly her driver’s license.
The morning she disappeared, Camila had been sleeping in the same bed as her mother, Rosario Olmos. She told KENS5 that she felt her daughter get up but stayed in bed for about 90 minutes before checking on her.
When she realized Camila was gone, Rosario tried calling her, but then found her daughter’s phone turned off and left on the bed.
“I called her cell phone, but the cell phone was there on the bed and it was turned off,” Rosario said. “I put it to charge and went out to look for her. I thought I would find her like other times, walking, and we would come home together.”
Rosario searched the neighborhood, believing she would spot her daughter on her usual route, but she was nowhere to be found. After contacting Camila’s boyfriend and father, both of whom said they had not seen or heard from her, she filed a missing persons report.
A CLEAR (Coordinated Law Enforcement Adult Rescue) Alert was also issued for Camila, who is listed as missing and “possibly endangered.”
Family and friends spent Christmas Day searching areas near the home but found no sign of her, Rosario said, adding that it is completely out of character for Camila to disappear without telling anyone where she was going.
“I only ask God to please bring her back home,” Rosario told KENS5. “Bring her back to me.
Friends said Camila regularly went on walks, but that she always stayed on the phone with someone during them.
“It’s been very out of the normal,” her friend, Isabela told KSAT. “It’s not like her. She’s always been the one to always stalk on us and like, ‘why aren’t you doing this?’ [She would] make sure that her phone’s always charged.”
As hundreds of loved ones and community members search for Camila, her family pleads for her safe return.
“It’s been real hard,” Camila’s father, Alfonso Mendoza, told KSAT.
“Please come home,” he added in a plea to his daughter. “Daddy’s missing you.”
Her brother, Carlos Mendoza, flew back to Texas after learning she was missing and has been searching on foot with volunteers.
“We’ve been searching on foot within a three-mile radius,” Mendoza said. “I want her to come back.”
Anyone who may have seen or heard from her is asked to contact the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office at 210-335-6000.
