Dark Downeast - The Disappearance of Reina Morales Rojas (Massachusetts)

Episode Date: March 27, 2023

MASSACHUSETTS, 2022: On November 26, 2022, 41-year old Reina Morales Rojas got into a car in East Boston, MA and some time later was dropped off in nearby Somerville. That’s the last time anyone had seen or heard from the mother of two.Though she was reported missing soon after, the public didn’t hear anything about Reina’s disappearance for almost two months, and if advocates like Lucy Pineda of Latinos Unidos en Massachusetts hadn’t stepped in to help bring attention to her case, Reina’s family wonders if her story would’ve ever made the news.Now four months later, Reina still isn’t home and information is scarce. Her children and sister in El Salvador who once spoke to her every single day await any sign that she is okay, all while fighting for attention on her case that took far too long to receive.Anyone with information regarding her whereabouts is advised to contact 911 or A-7 Detectives at [phone]. If you would prefer to share information anonymously you can do so by calling the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1-800-(494)-TIPS or by texting the word 'TIP' to CRIME (27463).  View source material and photos for this episode at darkdowneast.com/reinamoralesrojas Dark Downeast is an audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.Follow @darkdowneast on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTokTo suggest a case visit darkdowneast.com/submit-case

On November 26, 2022, 41-year-old Reyna Morales Rojas got into a car in East Boston, Massachusetts, and sometime later was dropped off in nearby Somerville. That's the last time anyone had seen or heard from the mother of two. Though she was reported missing soon after, the public didn't hear anything about Reyna's disappearance for almost two months. And if advocates like Lucy Pineda of Latinos Unidos and Massachusetts hadn't stepped in to help bring attention to her case, Reyna's family wonders if her story would have ever made the news. Now, four months later, Reyna still isn't home, and information is scarce. Her children and sister in El Salvador, who once spoke to her every single day, await any sign that she is okay, all while fighting for attention on her case that took far too long to receive in the first place.

I'm Kylie Lowe, and with Lucy Pineda, this is the case of Reina Morales Rojas on Dark Down East. 41-year-old Reina Morales Rojas came to the United States from El Salvador just after Mother's Day in May of 2022, making her home in East Boston. She is a mother of two children, but Reyna had to leave the kids behind with their aunt, Reyna's sister Alicia Morales, to find work and a better life in Massachusetts until she could be together with her children again. She'd been a police officer back in El Salvador, but in Boston, Reyna worked in food services and catering at Logan International Airport. Being so far away from her family, Reyna stayed in touch with her sister and children

almost constantly. November 26, 2022 was no different for Raina and Alicia. They had a long conversation earlier in the day, as they usually did. But when Alicia tried to contact her sister the next morning, she didn't hear back. It immediately struck her as odd. Alicia tried everything to get in touch with her sister that day. Texts, WhatsApp, phone calls, but Raina was radio silent. According to reporting in the Boston Globe by Hannah Kruger and Tiana Woodard, Raina had two cell phones, one she got for her birthday in October and her old phone that she still kept active and on despite having a new one. Raina always wanted to be reachable, so the fact that she wasn't responding to texts or picking up call after call was unusual. Alicia couldn't shake the feeling that

something was off, so she reached out to Reina's boyfriend, as well as her landlord. According to Boston Globe columnist Marcela Garcia, who spoke to WBUR's The Common podcast, Reina's boyfriend hadn't heard from her since the night before, and he couldn't get in touch with her either. When Alicia spoke to Reina's landlord, he told her that Reina never returned home on the night of November 26th. Being in El Salvador and unable to travel to the United States, there was little Alicia could do to track down her sister herself other than keep trying to reach her. But finally, after almost a full day of no contact, Reina's boyfriend and landlord

went into the Boston Police Department to report Reina Morales Rojas missing on November 27th, 2022. Although Reina was reported missing in November of 2022, her disappearance wasn't made public until January 12, 2023. When Boston police did release a missing person alert, Reyna's name was at first spelled incorrectly. In the alert, Reyna is described as a Hispanic female,

5 foot 5 inches tall, 145 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. They included several photos of her, each one showing Reina looking slightly different. She liked to play with her appearance. She had different makeup, hairstyles, and hair colors in each one. Also in the alert, Boston police disclosed that Raina was last seen getting into a car in the area of Bennington Street in East Boston on the evening of November 26th and was later dropped off on Alston Street in Somerville. That's about an eight and a half mile distance between each last known location. The first 48 hours after someone goes missing are the most critical. But 46 days passed before Boston police circulated that

missing persons alert. Raina's sister Alicia tried to get police to respond and search for Raina sooner. They just told her to let them know when she heard from Raina. But that was the entire issue. Alicia hadn't heard from Raina, and she didn't know how else to get police to understand or care that not hearing from her sister for so long, not even a text to check in on her kids, was extremely unusual and concerning. Something was wrong, and no one seemed to give a damn. As Alicia Morales fought to get any attention and answers from Boston police, Telemundo Boston, a Spanish-language Boston news outlet owned by NBCUniversal,

picked up the story. That's how Lucy Panetta first heard about Reyna's disappearance. Lucy, who is also from El Salvador like Reyna, is an activist and the executive director of Latinos Unidos and Massachusetts, also known as LUMA. LUMA contributes to the development of the Latin American community with their mission of protecting the rights, educating, organizing, and empowering the immigrant community in Massachusetts. Two days after Lucy heard the Telemundo news report about Reyna's disappearance, a different news outlet contacted her for comment. One of the English media, they called me and they asked, what is Luma doing regarding Reyna's

case? So I asked them if any organization is already involved in the case. So they told me that no one was working on the case. So when they told me that, we talked to our members and I said, listen, we need to do something about this case. Lucy reached out to Raina's family to learn more about her, where she was from, where she lived and worked. Lucy also contacted the chief of police in the city of Everett, where Luma is based. She contacted state representatives and other local leaders to see if anyone knew anything about Raina's disappearance, but no one had even heard her name. Raina's name hadn't even been added to NAMIS yet, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System database. So Lucy called the Luma community

to action. They started posting live videos on social media, alerting their followers about Raina's disappearance, and they took to the streets looking for her themselves. We went to look for Reyna on those places that we read in the news that she was from East Boston. They picked up her on East Boston and they left in Somerville. So we started looking for her. We organized and we mobilized our members, our volunteers, and our DeWalt community. And we started making live videos, and we make a press release to demand to our authorities to take actions in the case of Reina Morales Rojas. The state of Massachusetts has a one-page info sheet available online detailing the recommended missing persons protocol.

The first step is to contact local law enforcement and communicate the risks to police so that any urgency is understood. This step includes the parenthetical comment, advocacy may be required for police action. Advocacy is what Lucy Panetta does best. She wrote two letters to the Boston Police Department. According to the Boston Globe, her first one, sent on January 17th, received no response from BPD. She sent the second on January 21st. It reads, in part, It is of grave concern to our community that the authorities have done little to move forward with

the investigation of this case until now and without pressure from organizations such as ours. Those letters were accompanied by social media posts and a vigil held in Raina's honor outside the District A7 East Boston Police Station. LUMA members held signs with Raina's face and waved their words on neon posters. Police silence is police complicity and Latino lives matter, they read. Finally, Lucy got the attention of Boston police and detectives agreed to meet. She planned to attend their scheduled January 25th meeting with attorneys from Lawyers for Civil Rights, working pro bono on Lucy and Luma's behalf. But the attorneys later told the Boston Globe that police nearly canceled the meeting when they showed up. Not wanting

to lose the opportunity to learn more about what was happening with Raina's case, Lucy spoke to police without that legal representation. Lucy challenged Boston police on their response to Raina's disappearance and asked why it took so long to publicize her case. When I talked to the detective from East Boston and I asked, why are you guys release this case 47 days after when you guys supposed to release this information 24 hours after or 48 hours after? The answer was, oh, because Reyna, she don't have no family in here. So it was hard for us to ask for information about her family, what kind of friends or whatever she have in the state. But in a public statement to the Boston Globe,

the Boston Police Department's Chief of Communications, Mary Ellen Burns, alluded that the search started immediately, even if the public wasn't notified for almost two months. The statement reads in part, quote, in our focused efforts to identify her whereabouts, our investigative team, regrettably, did not share her information publicly until January 12th, end quote. Later, in an email statement to MassLive, Burns said, quote, it could have and should have been done sooner, end quote. None of this sat well with Lucy.

Within the same few weeks that Raina's disappearance was publicly announced, the disappearances of other Massachusetts women received ample police attention and press coverage. Anna Walsh from Cohasset, Massachusetts, was reported missing by her co-workers on January 4, 2023. The very next day, Cohasset police announced their search for Anna, with Massachusetts State Police joining the effort days later. The story made national headlines and took over the news cycle. Brittany T. from Brookfield, Massachusetts, was reported missing by her family on January 13, 2023. Within three days,

her disappearance was made public, and state police joined the search effort within the same week. Another Massachusetts woman, Lori Baxter, was last heard from on December 28, 2022. Though her case does not appear to be nearly as widely publicized as Brittany T. or Anna Walsh, the first public announcements of the search for Lori Baxter were made public within two weeks of her last known contact. One clear difference between the cases of these three women and Reyna Morales Rojas? The three women are white. You know, I feel like this is racist because the way they treat the people when they went to report Reyna, I think they feel like, oh, okay, she's a Latino. She's undocumented.

Nobody knows what's going on with her or whatever. In the same month, four women was missing. Three women was white and one was a Latino. And I said, thank you, because you're doing a good job with the three white women. But I want to see the same actions with Reina. Why are you guys use drums, helicopters, use a state trooper, dogs, everything, all the resources to find these three women and you forget about Reina. Lucy Panetta and Luma's efforts brought attention not only to Raina's disappearance, but also to the glaring inconsistencies in how missing persons cases are handled within Boston Police and Massachusetts as a whole.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Police Commissioner Michael Cox met with Lucy and Raina's sister Alicia via Zoom in late January. According to reporting by Marcela Garcia in the Boston Globe, Commissioner Cox explained in that meeting that the police were committed and had been committed to finding Reyna since day one. Mayor Wu told the Globe that she was looking closer at the delay between Reyna's disappearance and the public notice. Quote, What I know is that when a person is officially designated as missing,

there are a number of things that BPD does to investigate. And some of that is the direct interviews and conversations with contacts and those in the area where a person might last have been seen. End quote. What should also be included in those efforts is informing the public. But Wu acknowledged that there was no formal procedure for when that should happen. Quote, We need to evaluate our larger procedures for when a public call goes out.

End quote. On February 26, 2023, the three-month mark since Raina disappeared, six Boston City Council members penned a letter to Mayor Wu and Commissioner Cox calling out the dismissive treatment in the case of Raina Morales-Rojas. The letter reads, in part, Unfortunately, the type of response Ms. Morales-Rojas' case received reflects a nationwide pattern.

Missing cases of women of color are often unmet with the same urgency as their white counterparts. In this case, Raina is not only a woman of color but also an immigrant, which further makes her susceptible to dismissive treatment, end quote. Although Raina is an undocumented immigrant, Boston Police Department Chief of Communications Mary Ellen Burns told Boston.com that immigration status is, quote, not something Boston police officers ask about or are concerned with in any way, end quote. But the fact that Raina is an immigrant is important context for understanding the larger issues at play in her case. Lucy explained to me that as it is, immigrant women lack trust in police,

stemming from experiences in their home countries. Reyna's case has done nothing to quell those fears. You know, I feel sad, sad, because I am a woman, I am a mother, I have child, and as an activist, as a woman, that we have a group of women, empowering women, that we educate them every single day that we need to trust in our authorities, that we need to call 911 if we have any emergency.

How can we trust in them? How can they build trust if we see cases like this one? We flee these women, like myself, I'm from El Salvador, we flee from different Latin American countries because we're coming from a dangerous country. We don't believe, we don't trust in police, we don't trust in the military because women, they're missing and you never know what's going on with them. So now it looks like I feel like I am in 1980s. I feel like I am going back like I am in El Salvador again from 1980s that women are missing and nobody cares what's going on. On March 8, 2023, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey proposed a new Missing and Unidentified Persons Coordination Unit

to support local law enforcement agencies in their response to missing persons cases. She called for $300,000 of the 2024 fiscal year budget to fund the unit, saying, quote, this initiative is important for local law enforcement and the communities they serve as it provides the resources needed to assist these complex investigations and help reunite missing people with their loved ones, end quote. The proposal is a testament to just how hard Lucy Pineda and Luma have advocated for the case of Reyna Morales Rojas and bringing attention to police response when a person and when a person of color goes missing. But the most important fact remains.

Four months later, Reyna still isn't home. I talk to them every day with the kids. And also I went to El Salvador. isn't home. I talk to them every day with the kids and also I went to El Salvador, I met with the kids and it's sad, it's you know, because especially in this moment now every day count, we're going to have on the 26th four months that Reina was missing. And we don't know anything. We don't have nothing new. Everything's still the same. As of this episode's original release date,

it has been four months since Reina Morales Rojas was last seen in Somerville, Massachusetts. The Boston Police Department said via a statement to MassLive in late February 2023, As the investigation continues, Lucy Panetta continues to advocate for Reyna and her family. It's hard because we've been talking to them every, you know, I always send them messages, emails, we have meetings, and I'm tired with the same information. Oh, this case is open. We cannot give more information about this case because it's open. And I say, listen, I already know that.

I don't want to hear the same story. I already know that the case is open. It's under investigation. I'm not asking you for names, address, phone numbers. I just want to know what's going on. I will know that you guys are doing your job when you find Reina. And you return Reina to us and we can return Reina to her kids. But right now, I was still thinking that you guys are not doing anything. And you're not care for this case.

Between phone calls with detectives and the media and dedicating her time and energy to keeping Reyna Morales Rojas in the public eye, Lucy stays in constant contact with Reyna's family in El Salvador. The conversations with Reyna's children weigh heavy on her heart. They have that hope that I will find their mom. And Kimberly, that I've been talking, I talk to her every single day. And she say, Lucy, I know. I know you will find my mom. And, you know, it's hard.

It's hard for me because I don't have the power to do that, to find their mom. So, you know, I just try to do the best I can. Everything is in my possibilities. Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Reyna Morales Rojas is advised to contact A7 detectives at 617-343-4324. If you would prefer to share information anonymously you can do so by calling the Crime Stoppers tip line at 1-800-494-TIPS or by texting the word TIP to CRIME27463. All contact and tip line information is included in the show notes of this episode.

Raina has two children, a sister, an entire family who wants to bring her home. Please, if you know anything, don't keep it to yourself. I never knew Raina before. I don't keep it to yourself. for justice and equality to make those changes that everyone we deserve in this life. And we not give up. We will continue looking for Reyna. Thank you for listening to Dark Down East. Sources cited and referenced for this episode are listed at darkdowneast.com. Please follow Dark Down East on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening right now.

And if you could, leave a review on Apple Podcasts. I love to hear what you think of the show and what you want to hear next, and reviews are really the best way to support this show and the cases I cover. If you have a personal connection to a case and you want me to cover it on this podcast, please contact me at hello at darkdowneast.com. Thank you for supporting this show and allowing me to do what I do. I'm honored to use this platform for the families and friends who have lost their loved ones, and for those who are still searching for answers in cold missing persons and homicide cases. I'm not about to let those names or their stories get lost with time.

I'm Kylie Lowe, and this is Dark Down East.