On a cold evening in Alamosa, Colorado, the routine task of doing laundry turned into a lasting mystery. On February 23, 2011, 21-year-old Angelica Sandoval returned to her home in the 700 block of 13th Street shortly before 10 p.m.. After parking her car, she carried her one-year-old daughter, the child's car seat, her phone, and a portion of the clean laundry inside her duplex.. She then went back outside to retrieve her purse and the remaining laundry from her vehicle.
She never came back inside.. About ten to fifteen minutes later, her brother went to check on her and discovered a disturbing scene.. Angelica was nowhere to be found, but her car's back door was left open, and the keys were still in the door lock.. Her purse was found either on the ground or on the car's floorboard.. Crucially, her cell phone and cigarettes had been left inside the house, items her family said she would not have willingly left behind..
Angelica’s disappearance was made more alarming by events that had transpired just a few months earlier. In November 2010, she had been the victim of a violent home invasion.. An assailant, whom she later identified as an acquaintance named Jose Luis Meraz, allegedly broke into her home while she slept, threatened her and her infant daughter with a gun, bound her with duct tape, and stole $200.. Despite the terrifying ordeal, Angelica was able to identify her attacker by his voice and tattoos, leading to his arrest.. Meraz was charged with multiple felonies, including kidnapping, robbery, assault, and child cruelty.. Angelica was the crucial witness for the prosecution, and her testimony was scheduled for just ten days after she vanished..
In the wake of Angelica's disappearance, the case against Jose Luis Meraz crumbled. Without his key witness, the prosecution had no choice but to drop all charges, though Meraz remained in custody on an unrelated matter.. While he was incarcerated at the time Angelica went missing and has denied involvement, investigators have considered him a person of interest.. Authorities and Angelica's family firmly believe that she was a victim of foul play, stating that the dedicated young mother would never have abandoned her child.. Her daughter was left in the care of Angelica's mother as the family waited for answers that have not come.. The investigation into her disappearance has continued over the years, with police identifying several persons of interest, but no arrests have been made.. The case remains a painful, unresolved chapter for her loved ones and the community, a story frozen in time like the scene of her disappearance, with a young mother vanishing in the middle of a mundane task, leaving behind a daughter and a family desperate for closure.Last Seen: Feb 23, 2011
