Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Gorgeous Girl 26, Caught on Camera Leaving for Work, DISAPPEARS: WHERE'S ARELIE

Episode Date: November 22, 2023

Arelie Garcia is the youngest of the six children in her family. After high school, Garcia trains in Automotive Mechanics Technology at the Center for Employment Training and works at My Chevrolet in Salinas as a service advisor. Co-worker Miguel Alvarez describes Arelie Garcia as the "happy one" of the group. Garcia maintains a close relationship with her sisters and texts Veronica almost daily. On September 22, Arelie Garcia sends Veronica a message at 6 a.m.,  a simple message of  ‘Good morning, I love you." At 6:30 a.m.,  Garcia is seen on surveillance video leaving her apartment and heading for work. She didn't show up at all. Her sisters begin texting and calling their sister's phone, getting no response.  Garcia's sister, Veronica, logs into Find My iPhone and is surprised to see Arelie Garcia's phone last pinged to a location in Big Sur, about an hour away from Salinas. Her car is found parked on the side of the road. Locked. Garcia was nowhere to be found. Joining Nancy Grace today: Ely Mendoza - Arelie’s Older sister, www.gofundme.com/f/help-find-arelie-garcia; Instagram: bringareliehome_    Wendy Patrick – California Prosecutor, Author of “Why Bad Looks Good” and “Red Flags,” and Host of “Today with Dr. Wendy” on KCBQ in San Diego; Twitter: @WendyPatrickPHD Dan Corsentino – Former Police Chief, Former Sheriff (served on US Homeland Security Senior Advisory Board), and Private Investigator; Expert witness certified in Federal and State courts in the area of Police Policy    Todd G. Shipley, CFE, CFCE – Cyber Crime Expert, and Author: “Investigating Internet Crimes: An Introduction to Solving Crimes in Cyberspace;” Twitter: @webcase Mike Hadsell – President and Founder of Peace River K9 Search and Rescue; Twitter: @K9River Ricardo Tovar - Journalist, Digital Content Manager for KION Newschannel 46; Twitter: @rtovarg13 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A gorgeous young 25-year-old girl seemingly vanishes into thin air. The family getting no answers. We've got to help find Arely. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Crime Stories and Sirius XM 111. Listen to this. Arely Garcia was seen leaving her apartment around 630 in the morning, headed to work. Garcia never made it to work. Instead, police found her red Honda Accord in Big Sur near the Little Sur River.

Her car was locked and phone and car keys were found inside the vehicle, but no sign of Arely Garcia. Brian Johnson of the Salinas Police Department told KSBW Action News 8 that they had help from Monterey County Sheriff's Department search and rescue team, as well as helicopters, airplanes and drones in the sky and search and rescue team dogs on the ground. But nothing came up after two days of searching. Since then, police have checked Arely Garcia's bank account activity, phone records, contacted area hospitals and police departments. But they have no leads or any evidence of foul play. No leads? How can that be?

You know, in my experience, after helping to search for hundreds and hundreds of missing people, they don't just disappear into thin air. There are leads. They just haven't been found. With me, an all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now. But first to Mike Hadsall, president and founder of Peace River Canine Search and Rescue. You can find him online at prsar.org, Peace River Canine Search and Rescue. Mike Hadsall, nobody disappears into thin air. That doesn't happen. There are clues. There is evidence left behind. Apparently, nobody's finding it. Do you agree or disagree with that? No, I totally agree with that. Somebody

probably saw something. They just haven't found that person yet, and hopefully they will, and maybe with enough attention, they'll come forward and say what they saw. It's a really unusual case that two days of searching around a car that they found, her personal items in the car, and no trace of her whatsoever. Montrose is a good search team, and I'm going back to my old stopping grounds because that's where I started back in Malibu, so I know this area really well. And very surprised they didn't find anything at all. I'm very surprised too. And Mike Hadsall, I think that there is evidence that has not

been found or as you say, hasn't been, let me say, relayed. Someone sees, knows, heard something, but they don't know what they heard, saw, or learned in order to hand it over. We're looking for a beautiful 25-year-old girl, her family beside themselves. But what more do we know about this young girl? Arely, take a listen to our friends at CrimeOnline.com. Arely Garcia is the youngest of six children. After her parents' marriage broke up, Garcia lived with her mother, Blanca Sanchez, in Salinas, California. After high school, Garcia began training in the automotive mechanics technology program at the Center for Employment Training. She found a job at My Chevrolet in Salinas as a service advisor.

Coworkers described Arely Garcia as the, quote, happy one of the group. To Dan Corsentino joining me, former police chief, former sheriff, also with U.S. Homeland Security on the senior advisory board, now private eye at DanCorsentino.com. Dan Corsentino, did you hear that, that she was the, quote, happy one of the group. Now, this is a young woman that has broken into a male dominated industry, you know, service, car service. I will never forget when I worked at Sears when I was in high school. Normally I was in the girls junior clothing department or the candy shop. Once in a great while, they'd throw me into automotive. I would basically want to go hide in the back room and never come back out. I didn't know what anybody was talking about.

That asked questions. I would have no answers. This girl plows into it, makes her way at my Chevrolet and Salinas as a service advisor, telling people what they need to get done to their car. So she's a success. She's doing really well. And she's known as, quote, the happy one, Dan Corsentino. Why is it that we see the best, the sweetest, the most wonderful people turn into victims while all the dope dealers and the child sex predators, they seem to live forever, Corsentino. They never go away. Boy, you said it, Nancy. It's really difficult. Here's a young woman who had a passion for automobiles. She loved cars. You know, my nephew's like that. We thought he was going to turn down college and be a car mechanic. He worked at, what is it, AutoZone the whole way

through high school. He loves nothing more than to work on cars. And she was part of a Meisel Fresh Car Club where she customized and showed her own Honda Accord at times. So she had a passion. But to your question, the victimization of those that are kind, gentle, outgoing, and happy, I can't explain that. There's no explanation in regards to the school world that we live in. But we see that all too often. One of the things this does suggest, though, in a male dominated vocation is she had the respect of her fellow mechanics and she was successful in that environment. Joining me right now is a very special guest, Ellie Mendoza. This is Arely's sister, and you can find her online at Arely Garcia, spelled A-R-E-L-I-E,

ArelyGarcia.com, GoFundMe.com, help find Arely Garcia and at bring Arely home underscore. We really need your help. Arely is not a celebrity. She is not a high profile case. She's not a fashion model that walks the runways of New York at Fashion Week. This is a beautiful, young, loving girl coming from a big family that loved her more than anything. This is a girl who loved cars. She has a red wrapped Honda that she worked on incessantly. This is a great girl and she's not getting the attention and the effort that she needs.

Ellie, thank you for being with us. I just can't say enough about your sister. But I've researched her, but I want you to tell me about Arely. Yes, of course. Thank you for having me. I'm glad that you pointed out that point. Obviously, we're just a simple family. We are not rich. We are not someone important. Well, you're important to simple family. We are not rich. We are not someone important.

Well, you're important to us. You're important to us. Just know that. Thank you. I appreciate it because a lot of people still don't know about her story. They still don't know. And it's just really frustrating because we've been asking for awareness since the beginning. And we're not getting that.

Tell me about her. Tell me about her personality. Dan Corcentino, formerly with the U.S. Homeland Security, he certainly knows slouch. He knows what he's talking about. He said something that really caught my attention, and it was kind-hearted, people that are loving and happy and kind-hearted. I mean, Ellie, when we see a homeless person, we go buy them food or we give them money.

And one day, John David, my son, got out of the car to go give someone money. I'm like, no, don't don't. I pull the car over and I went and gave the guy a 20 because I was afraid the guy. I mean, I didn't know if he was mentally unstable I didn't know what would happen and I didn't want anything to happen to John David my point is a good heart my daughter's the same way they would do anything to help somebody else and it makes me think of Aurelie and did that somehow put her in harm's way, her own heart of gold? Tell me about her.

Well, Arely is a really funny person. She loves to help people. She always puts other people before her. She's a very hardworking girl. At one point, she had almost three jobs. She really loved working. She's very girly. She loves shopping for pink stuff.

She's addicted to Starbucks. And obviously, her car is everything. She would always be working on it, buying new things either inside or just making it look cute and shiny. Like whenever she's driving around, you could tell that's Adelie because her car was just special. You know, that reminds me so much of my nephew, Sam. Ever since he was a teen boy, like 13, obsessed with cars, knows all about cars, works on cars. I mean, he went on to major in chemistry and became an eye tech superstar, but he still has a thing for cars. And when he visits, he pulls up in this shiny red truck and it literally shines.

I think you could eat off of it. There's something about people that get the car bug. They devote so many hours to them and she actually succeeded in a male dominated business and they loved her there. So what more do we know about Arely? What should lie on what happened to her? Listen. Even though she's the youngest, Arely Garcia is very close to two of her married sisters, Veronica and Elizette. Still living at home with her mother, Garcia texted sister Veronica almost daily. On September 22nd, Arely Garcia sent Veronica a message at 6 a.m. A simple message of good morning. I love you. At 630 a.m. Garcia is seen on surveillance video leaving her apartment headed for work. Arely Garcia is scheduled to be on the job by 7 a.m., Garcia is seen on surveillance video leaving her apartment headed for work.

Arely Garcia is scheduled to be on the job by 7 a.m. and is known to always be on time. But this day, Arely Garcia wasn't. She didn't show up at all. So in just 30 minutes, everything changes. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Let me go to another special guest joining us, Ricardo Tovar, Journalist Digital Content Manager at KION46. That, by the way, was the very first station to pick up on Arely's case and has followed it extensively. One of the few. I'm not sure why others are not joining, but we are. Ricardo, thank you for being with us. Let me just ask you a couple of very quick questions. Ricardo, did Arely have a boyfriend? As far as I'm concerned,

not at the time, no. Okay, that's important. Ellie, do you know of a boyfriend or an ex? Well, we did find out after, yes. Find out what? That she was in a relationship. Okay, important. Who, what, where, why, when? Who is the boyfriend? Why was it it a secret and what did you find out about it and has the ex the boyfriend being cleared not sure how long they were dating they were barely starting so that's why you know on typical Hispanic families we don't normally like to bring a guy too soon because you know well the family starts you know assuming okay this is the guy you're going to marry. Oh, yeah. I can understand that. And the minute you bring him home, everybody starts planning the wedding.

Yeah. And like you don't even know if that's, you know, they're going to last or not. So I'm pretty sure that was the main reason. Other than that, his name is Marcelo. He what? Marcelo. Marcelo. Question regarding Marcelo. Yeah. Did police get his alibi for those 30 minutes? According to what they told us, they did interview him and other people, which names are unknown till this day. But they interviewed the boyfriend. Yeah. I don't know if he could really even be called a boyfriend because what you're telling me is they've been out a couple of times.

Yeah, no, I'm not. Like I said, they don't really have anything on him or any other interview that they have done. It's interesting that you're saying that. Let me go out to you, Wendy Patrick, joining me, prosecutor, author of Why Bad Looks So Good And Red Flags. She's a star of today with Dr. Wendy on KCBQ San Diego. And you can find her at Wendy Patrick, Ph.D. Wendy, I don't have any cases at all where after just a few dates, say two, three dates, there's been a homicide. I've had cases where, you know, people date for a few months and they become obsessed, but never on just a couple of dates. Have you ever seen that? I've never seen that. And what we normally see is you talk about somebody that's that

approachable and kindhearted and loving. She ends up being a target because she's so likable, not necessarily to date for somebody who's a prospective paramour, but for a prospective stalker. And that's what struck me about this case. She's just so delightful. She's working in a man's world. She's successful. She's generous. She's like John David should probably volunteer to show up at work early to help somebody, which probably her sisters might have talked her out of if they knew about. So it's not unusual to start in with the inner circle, like the boyfriend. She's just starting to date. But it would be unusual for him to have been the primary suspect once you figure out about the relationship.

I believe I have reason to believe, Ricardo Tovar, that police have already interviewed the boyfriend and have ruled him out. What do you know ricardo oh absolutely um the during the course of this investigation we heard brian johnson uh commander with the police police department earlier in the podcast uh they interviewed over 62 people extensively and i they've gone back and forth with them uh over the course of the year. And they've ruled all 62 out as possible suspects, as possible leads for this case. Guys, we are on the search for Aurelie Garcia, age 25. She heads out 630 a.m. It's never late to work at seven o'clock.

She hasn't shown up. You were earlier hearing from our friends at KSBW. Now, take a listen to this. Arely Garcia's sister, Elizeth Mendoza, tells NBC, I got a call from the manager saying that she never arrived, asking if I knew anything because there was no sign of her. And that's not something she would do. Her sisters started texting and

calling their sister's phone to no response. Garcia's sister, Veronica, logged in to find my iPhone and was surprised to see Arely Garcia's phone last pinged to a location in Big Sur, about an hour away from Salinas. Wow. OK, Todd Shipley joining us. Todd G. Shipley, certified fraud examiner, forensic computer examiner, cybercrime expert, former detective sergeant and author of Investigating Internet Crimes, An Introduction to Solving Crimes in Cyberspace. You can find them online at darkintel.info. Todd Shipley, thanks for being with us. OK, explain how the find my iPhone has really

revolutionized finding missing people. Remember, that was used in the Sherry Papini case. Her phone, of course, told me a lot because the theory out there was that she had been brutally kidnapped, snatched off the street. But the phone was found neatly placed, I believe, on top of a mailbox or something. And it had the phone cord wrapped around it neatly. Uh-uh. No, no. That's not how your phone gets thrown down when you're fighting for your life. That said, it was used then and it brought a lot of attention to the Find My iPhone app.

Explain. Well, I think that, you know, it's pretty obvious that the use of the technology is probably going to further this if we know more about what law enforcement's done. Because having her iPhone that was apparently left in the car is a valuable piece of evidence, not only from the fact that they were able to find where her car was, but the iPhone itself tracks so much information about where we've been and what we've done. And I haven't seen the reports, and I don't know if the family's gotten the exact, you know, forensic reports from the law enforcement agencies involved, but there's a lot of data in there that would let people know what she had been doing. Just the text messages and the, you know, find my iPhone,

but her social media, other texting apps, other things that are out there and a lot of data that stored the cloud data. There's just tons and tons of data that could potentially give rise to new information that we don't have right now. And I haven't heard that yet. Guys, the very latest in the search for Aurelie Garcia, age 25, when she goes missing, called, quote, the happy one at work where she worked at My Chevrolet there in Salinas as a service advisor, beloved, respected. How does this family girl seemingly

just vanish without a trace? It's not exactly without a trace. Take a listen to Dave Mack. The search for Arely Garcia began with a phone call from Garcia's employer. The family tried calling and texting with no answer. Sister Veronica logged in to find my iPhone. Arely Garcia's phone last pinged to a location in Big Sur. That's about an hour away from Salinas. Once her family found the car, a red Honda, police searches began.

Oh yes, they did. Here's more. Eliza Mendoza and her husband drove to Big Sur, finding Garcia's car parked on the side of the road, locked. Garcia was nowhere to be found. With no cell phone service, Eliza Mendoza said she and her husband had to drive about 10 minutes away to let family know they found her car. By the time they returned to the car, local police were on the scene and unlocked the car. Inside the locked car, they found Arely Garcia's phone,

keys, and other personal belongings. That's telling me a lot. To Ricardo Tovar, who's been on the story from the very beginning, joining us from KION 46, explain to me, help me visualize where Arely's vehicle, her red-wrapped Honda, was found. Yeah, of course. So Highway 1 is a huge stretch of road stretching all the way from the Bay Area all the way down into San Bernardino County. In fact, it's two lanes, not, you know, one lane going north, one lane going south. And in the area, it's right almost close to the famous Bigby Bridge we have in the Big Sur area.

Not a whole lot. We got the ocean to one side. We got giant cliff to the other side, some foliage, some brush. And obviously there are little areas where cars can go off to the side and park. That's used for scenic photographs, looking at the view and that sort of thing. So not a whole heck of a lot out there. You know, some off trails, but that's about it. Not a whole heck of a lot in that area. Why would she be there?

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Joining me is Ellie Mendoza. This is Arely's older sister. Why would she have been there? I have no idea. There's no reason for her to be there, especially that morning that she was supposed to go to work around 7, 7.30. There's no way she was going to have enough time to get ready if she did went for a walk or whatever.

It's just very strange. I'm just thinking this whole thing through. Her car is found about an hour away in Big Sur. She was on her way to work. Had she ever hiked there or visited there, camped there that you know of, Ellie? According to one of her friends, they did went hiking. They had gone there hiking or just hiking, period? Just hiking, her and one of her friends. Okay, so not necessarily there.

And why would she have gone at 6.30 in the morning? Nancy, this is Wendy. The very first thing I thought when I heard about that location is it's a good place to kidnap somebody and make a quick getaway without being seen. And I would just wonder whether or not somebody alleged to have car trouble because she's very forthcoming and sweet and helpful and knowledgeable about cars and asked for her help only knowing that that would be a place to be able to abduct her and not have witnesses. If it's near a thoroughfare, that's a quick getaway. And if it's in a remote area, there's less opportunity to be seen. And early in the morning, not a lot of people are up. That was the first thing I thought when I heard of why she would have been there to begin with. You know, I'm guessing, just an educated guess, and Ricardo Tovar, you know the topography

very well, that she was abducted between 6.30 and 7 o'clock in the morning from the time she left her mom's apartment where she lived, which also greatly reduced our list of suspects. Nobody stayed over there with her the night before. Nobody was loitering around. She was actually caught on camera getting into her red wrapped Honda and leaving. Isn't that true, Ricardo Tovar? Yes, it is. Family very early on in the investigation, maybe a couple months in, you actually see video.

The only piece of video we have of her that morning, she's just getting down the steps from her apartment top. She gets into that red Honda, drives off and never to be seen again. And I always thought that was strange that, you know, a whole city full of cameras and whatnot. That's not a short drive. It's an hour. And no one else saw any glimpse of that red Honda. Okay.

That leads me to a lot of questions, Ricardo Tovar. And you and Ellie Mendoza, her sister, should know, are there any toll booths between her home and where her car was found in Big Sur an hour away? There's got to be traffic cams. I mean, we're talking about Salinas. There's got to be traffic cams that would have caught her vehicle. What about that? Do either of you know about that? There are no tolls. You get on 68 64 uh you you go all the way you can get one from there and you just go it's a straight shot down there no toll booths but security cameras absolutely you know we've had several cases i've been dealing with i do a bit of court reporting here they have security cameras you know from businesses from everything and i'm sure they

asked for it and not one of them caught. There is a path there and it's a very clear path. Well, there had to be red light cam. There has to be red light cam of her car between her mom's apartment and Big Sur. Is that you, Ellie? Jump in. Yeah, definitely. I agree.

There's lots of cameras and it's just incredible how there's no other lead of her driving all the way to Big Sood. Obviously, once you get to Big Sood, there's no signal, but still like all the cameras before that and we don't have anything at all. That surveillance video that shows when she's leaving home was given to us three months after. Who gave it to you? The detectives, pretty much. But we were asking for it since the beginning, and for some reason, I don't know why they waited until the third month. Do you know if they've gotten the traffic cam video, Ellie?

According to them, there is no other videos. Hey, I've got a question, if I could ask. This is Dan. Sure. In relationship to Allie, whether they had license plate readers that were posted along the roadway anywhere, in addition to the traffic cam. Do you know, Allie? Not that I know. What about Ricardo? The city of Salinas has a partnership with Flock. They're a type of license plate readers in the city. So, yes, there are license plate readers in the Salinas area.

Okay, I'm just not understanding what, if anything, has been done on the case. Maybe they've done it and we don't know. But it's impossible for her car to have gone from mom's apartment all the way to Big Sur and not be caught by one license grabber or one red light cam or one business cam. I mean, that route. Let me ask you, Ricardo, Ellie, help me out. On the route from the apartment she shared with her mom to where her car was found in Big Sur, are there any businesses?

Do you pass by strip centers or a mall? Because they've all got security cam. Yeah, because there's business there's like a liquor store kind of in the corner if she went through the alice hall street um but basically there's camera on every light stop so there has to be a trace i just don't understand why there's nothing on it nancy this is todd go. Go ahead, Todd, please. That's why I'm so concerned about the phone. The phone tracks so much information, and we have little or no information about what's on that phone. Because it'll track you from that house to that location.

And we have no information so far that I've seen that will detail exactly what's happened. And it should all be there. The technology recorded it. Ricardo Tovar joining us, KIO N46. What was the make of Areli's Honda? It was somewhere from 2012-ish, Honda Accord. Honda Accord. And to you, Todd Shipley,

when did Honda start nav systems in the Accord? Well, they've had them for a long time. I mean, probably, you know, a couple of decades of variations, the early start of it. How much that version actually recorded is going to be something we've got to research. But the point is, there's another location that there's potential data that might be an indication of what happened. And we haven't seen it. Now, I was just told that the nav system as we know it today in the Honda Accord was commenced in 2011 to 2012. I'm also getting information that nav system, a rudimentary elementary nav system has

been in place for two decades now I think the 2011 is a more reliable nav system date as far as forensically analyzing where the car has been and I want to direct everyone's attention and you know this well Dan Corsentino for instance in the Alex Murdoch trial. And I use that because it's such an example, his double murders of so many forensic intricacies. For instance, in that case, we looked at his, I believe he was driving a Suburban, a big honking Suburban. And we learned when he would turn the car on at the time of admission, when he put it in drive, reverse, neutral, park, what time, the location, when he would let his electric windows up and down, when he would slow down, how fast he was driving, where he went. The nav system tells a lot.

What about it, Corcentino? Absolutely. I equate that to a black box in an airplane. It gives you all the intelligence that you need from speed, as you stated, and every turn that is made in relationship to acceleration, stopping, everything. So clearly, the 56 to 60 minutes south to Big Sur would be recorded, and they would be able to journal every aspect of this travel that she was involved in. What also was interesting, which Allie had stated at one point was how she parked the vehicle and I don't want to get ahead of myself but it was very interesting as a clue that when she

she normally backed in and lowers her airbag suspension when they came upon the car when Allie came upon the car, the vehicles pulled forward and the hydraulics were not lowered in that vehicle. And that also suggests that there was the potential for suspicious activity. Okay, you got to slow down. You know what? They did not teach me that in law school. Who's jumping in? This is Wendy Patrick.

You know what that suggests to me is that she's not the one that parked the car. You know, when you look at the way somebody has habit and custom, the way they park, the way they drive, the way they position their personal belongings within the car when they leave it, you got to wonder who was it that parked that. You know, the one thing I have found from Detective Cruz, just kind of looking online, is apparently a vehicle matching hers past what it says is the Carmel Highlands General Store, which is 40 minutes from her apartment. So it seems like she's not taking, you know, some roundabout road where nobody's going to see her. But in fact, as we're talking about, going right through main thoroughfares where there should have been other camera footage besides the Carmel Highlands General Store. Was she driving it, Wendy, at that time? That was what I was just going to say. Who's behind the wheel? Can't tell who's behind the wheel.

So there is Ricardo Tovar and Ellie Mendoza. There is cam footage from businesses. We have to get the cam footage. And I want to follow up on what we're saying about how she parked. It reminds me of the case of Tara Grinstead, a high school teacher that goes missing. We find out years later, of course, that she was murdered and her body destroyed, burned. But I remember going to her home with her mother and the home was off. Like there was something, a necklace had been broken on the floor and she would never have left it like that. The mom told me the driver's seat

had been pushed back and Tara was very small and petite and there was mud all over her car and she was a neatnik. She would never have parked the car like that, covered in mud and with a seat out of space, out of place, which means, as Wendy Patrick just said, somebody else was driving it. What are we learning about the investigation? We know that her purse, her keys, her private items, her personal items were still in the car. Her phone was still in the car. So I guarantee you, I mean, Ellie, she would never go anywhere without her phone, right? Definitely. Especially nowadays, everything's in your phone.

So there's no way she would leave it behind. Definitely not. John Penn, go ahead, please. One news report has said that she left at 530 in the morning, which is two hours earlier than her normal departure. Is that correct? I thought she left at 630. Ricardo Tovar, what do we know? Yeah, absolutely. If you look at the we have an an article on it, on the timestamp of the video, has a timestamp of 5.30, and the text message comes in at 6.56 from her sister. Okay, hold on just a moment.

So she did not leave at 6.30. She left at 5.30 in the morning? Oh, no, the thing is in the surveillance video, it's like an hour behind, but it's original at 6.30. So question, Ellie, did she leave at 5.30 or 6.30? Around 6.30. And your mother confirms that, Ellie? My mom normally leaves to work before her, but she always checks on her before leaving.

So was she still at home when your mom left? Yeah, she was sleeping before she left. What time did your mom leave? She normally leaves around 5.30, 5.45, it depends. So at that time, Aurelia was still asleep. That corroborates the 6.30 depart time. And you're right, that's really important. If she had left a whole two hours before she's due at work, that would have raised a red flag.

That did not happen. Somebody else was jumping in. Who was it? Yeah, I was jumping in. This is Dan again. And when we were getting to the parking of the vehicle, another concern that I had in regards to the crime scene investigation that was conducted, which we don't know or I don't know, is whether or not really his driver's seat was in a position for a five-foot, five-inch person. If there was someone else driving, was the investigation able to document where that seat was upon the exit of that vehicle?

If there was a larger person driving, the forensic evidence of the DNA and everything else, body fluids, anything that may have been left behind, which weren't found. An extensive search goes down. Take a listen to Dave Mack. An extensive search was conducted by the Monterey County Sheriff's Search and Rescue Teams, which used drones, canine units, including cadaver dogs, and aircraft around Big Sur, but did not find Garcia. Video surrounding Garcia's home, according to Detective Edwin Cruz with the Salinas Police Department, showed that Arely left home alone in her red Honda. Cruz says no one approached her, and there is no indication that her vehicle was followed. Police found footage of a vehicle matching Garcia's passing the Carmel Highlands General Store about 40 minutes away from her apartment. It's on a route consistent with the drive to Big Sur. There were no obvious

indications of foul play and police executed multiple search warrants for Garcia's electronic devices and bank accounts, but there's been no activity. 62 people have been interviewed, including family, friends and co-workers. 62 people have been interviewed, including family, friends, and co-workers. No leads have panned out. I'm trying to make sense of what we know right now. The family, of course, is not giving up the search. To Ellie Mendoza, this is Arely's older sister. Tell me what your mother has gone through since Arely went missing. She's been doing horrible. Obviously, she already has, you know, diabetes. She's obviously an old person now, and she's not doing well. She's been really depressed.

You could tell by looking at her, and her face just looks devastating. And we're not losing hope that she's going to return home. Guys, if you know or think you know anything about Aurelia Garcia's disappearance, please contact, this is the detective, Selena's detective, Edwin Cruz, C-R-U-Z at 831-758-7393. Repeat, Edwin Cruz, 831-758-7393. And we have his email because I'd really like to know if they've gotten all of that surveillance video, if they've gotten the tag grabbers. Who have they interviewed?

What's the status of the case? Why is the mother and the family having to go in front of the Salinas PD and protest for answers? I'd like to hear that answer. Here's the email. Edwin C., as in California, edwinc. at C I dot Salinas dot C A dot U S. Edwin C. at C I dot Salinas dot C A dot U S. We continue our search for Areli. There is a $10,000 reward, a $10,000 reward. Again, tip line 831-758-7393. We continue our search for a rally. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.