Summary based on the NamUs case record (MP18032)
In the vast and unforgiving landscape of the Sonoran Desert, a young man’s journey to reunite with his family came to a devastating halt. Hugo Patricio Tenezaca, a 21-year-old male from Ecuador, was last seen around June 17, 2012, near the small community of Nolic, Arizona, on the Tohono O'odham reservation. Accounts of what precisely transpired are muddled, pieced together from varying stories told to his family.
The general understanding is that Hugo was crossing the border with a group, guided by a coyote, likely having started near San Luis. For reasons that remain unclear, he was separated from the group and left behind in the harsh wilderness, approximately 14 miles west of Sells, Arizona, without any food or water to sustain him.
Hugo’s attempt to cross the border in 2012 was not his first. He had successfully made the arduous journey in 2009 to join his mother, Romelia Yuqui, in New York City. For two years, he built a life there, working at a bookstore in Manhattan to help repay the debt from his initial crossing and spending his free time with his younger siblings, painting, drawing, and playing the guitar. A sense of duty called him back to Ecuador following the death of his father, as he wished to support his sister who was facing mistreatment. However, life back in his home country proved difficult; friends took advantage of him, eventually beating and robbing him. When his sister managed to secure a visa to the United States, Hugo tried to do the same. Despite initial approval, his visa was inexplicably revoked, leaving him feeling desperate and without a legal pathway to return to his mother. This desperation led him to make the fateful decision to once again face the dangers of the desert.
The last time Romelia ever spoke to her son, he called to ask for her blessing for his journey, telling her he loved her very much and that the walk would take about five days. When eight days passed with no word, his family’s agonizing search for answers began. They were met with a wall of conflicting reports; some said Hugo had gotten lost while searching for water, others that he simply fell asleep and never woke up. An Ecuadorian woman who was with him on the journey promised to tell his mother what happened in person but never did. In the nightmarish period that followed, Romelia was tormented by cruel opportunists who called claiming to have kidnapped Hugo, extorting thousands of dollars from the desperate mother with false promises of his return. The case of Hugo Tenezaca is a heartbreaking story of a young man who vanished while undertaking a perilous journey born out of a desire to be with his family. Left behind in the Arizona desert, his disappearance has left his loved ones in a state of perpetual uncertainty, grappling with conflicting stories and the profound pain of not knowing what became of him.Last Seen: Jun 17, 2012
