A massive search is underway for a young woman who mysteriously disappeared near her Texas home on Christmas Eve, with law enforcement officials saying she may be in “imminent danger.”
Camila Mendoza Olmos, 19, was last seen leaving her home in Bexar County, Texas, on the morning of December 24, according to the Bexar County Sheriff's Office.
She usually goes for a morning walk, but her mother became concerned when she did not return home at a reasonable time, the sheriff's office said.
Sheriff Javier Salazar told ABC News that authorities believe she is in danger and have not ruled out kidnapping or human trafficking. They also believe the case could cross international borders.
However, he added, Mendoza Olmos may have left of her own accord.
The search, which has been going on for almost a week, has yielded scant evidence, most notably a video allegedly recorded on the day of her disappearance. Surveillance footage shows the woman searching the back seat of her car for an unknown object, the sheriff's office said.
Authorities believe she then went somewhere because her car was left behind.
The only things she had on her were her car keys and possibly her driver's license, authorities said. They were concerned that she had forgotten her phone, which was unusual.
Sheriff Salazar also told ABC News that Mendoza Olmos, who is a U.S. citizen, was not detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which conducts sweeps of suspected illegal immigrants across the country.
“It was a personal matter. So I checked on him to make sure there were no stops, no arrests and that she wasn’t in a federal facility somewhere,” Salazar told the publication.
Authorities used deputies, investigators, search and rescue forces and teams, drones and cadaver dogs to search for Olmos, the sheriff's office said.
FBI officers are also assisting local law enforcement, Sheriff Javier Salazar told CBS.
“Cami needs us,” her aunt Nancy Olmos wrote on social media. “By the grace of Jesus Christ, we will find you, Kami.”
