On May 20, 2010, 21-year-old Kaylene Marie Gallegos was at her father's home in Lakeside, Arizona, when she was seen getting into a car with two men. She told her family she was going to the Phoenix area. At the time of her disappearance, she was a young mother, described as a Hispanic and White/Caucasian female, between 5 feet and 5 feet 3 inches tall, and weighing 100 to 120 pounds. She had long brown hair and brown eyes.
The last clothing she was known to be wearing was a grey tank top, a light brown sweater, dark-colored blue jeans, and flip-flop sandals. Her departure that day marked the beginning of a decade-long mystery that has left her family searching for answers.
The narrative of what happened after Kaylene left her father's house is convoluted and primarily comes from one of the men she was with, Jacob Mata. According to his account, after traveling to Phoenix, he and Kaylene, now accompanied by another woman, were returning to the Show Low area when they got lost on a Forest Service road in the White Mountain Apache Forest. On the evening of May 22, the third individual reportedly took the vehicle and left, while Kaylene and Mata stayed behind, building a fire for the night. Mata claimed that the next morning, they began to walk for help, becoming separated in a small canyon. He stated he reached a ridge, saw a road, and called out to Kaylene, who answered him, but that he never saw or heard from her again.
Mata's account of the events has been the primary source of information, but it has also been met with questions. After searching for Kaylene for a short time, he made his way out of the forest and sought help from passersby, telling at least one driver that his companion was lost. He was later arrested on outstanding warrants and for drug possession. Because a week had passed before he was asked to show investigators where he had last seen Kaylene, he was unable to pinpoint the exact location. While the other woman in the vehicle reportedly corroborated Mata's story, rumors have persisted that foul play, possibly related to drugs, was involved in Kaylene's disappearance. The case remains an active investigation with the Navajo County Sheriff's Office, a painful and unresolved chapter for a family left to wonder what truly happened in the Arizona forest.Last Seen: May 20, 2010
