The FBI is asking the public for help in locating a missing teenage Utah girl who disappeared last month while visiting family in Mexico.
Elizabeth “Ely” Gonzalez, 14, of Ogden, vanished on June 30 while she was visiting her grandmother in Mexico City, FBI Special Agent Steven Hymas said during a Wednesday news conference.
Surveillance video showed Gonzalez getting into a taxi, and she hasn’t been seen since. Investigators said they believe she was “manipulated by an adult” into getting in the vehicle.
Gonzalez, a U.S. citizen, initially traveled alone to Mexico on June 15 and was slated to return on Aug. 7. The FBI was informed of the missing teen on July 1.
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An Amber Alert was issued in Mexico, Hymas said.
“We don’t have any reason to believe that she is not in the country of Mexico at this moment,” he said. “We do believe that there will be people here (in Utah) who know information. Maybe they have reached out to friends or acquaintances or other family members who might know something that could help us out.”
The FBI is working with Mexican authorities on the case, Hymas said. He noted that the FBI has to “rely on our partners” since the agency doesn’t have any authority in Mexico.
“Because the incident occurred in Mexico, the FBI does not maintain jurisdiction and, therefore, Mexican law enforcement leads this crucial investigation,” Fox News contributor and former FBI agent Nicole Parker told Fox News Digital. “But rest assured that the FBI’s Legat office and assistant legal attachés (ALAT) in Mexico City will not stop until she is found.
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“I worked cases involving Mexico,” she added. “And I can unequivocally attest that FBI Legat/ALAT Mexico City has a solid track record of working tirelessly around the clock day and night to recover American citizens who have gone missing and solving other complex and violent crimes etc. And I believe this case will be no exception.”
Gonzalez’s mother, Alma Soreque, told reporters that she last spoke with her daughter the morning she went missing. The pair spoke about how Gonzalez slept and what she was going to eat for breakfast. She said she received a call later that day from her family saying they were going to a store to purchase soda.
Soreque said she immediately contacted authorities when she was told that Gonzalez never returned.
“It is the worst thing that a mom wants to hear,” Soreque said, adding that her daughter’s disappearance is “one of the worst nightmares.”
Gonzalez, the middle of three siblings, had just finished seventh grade at Roy Junior High School, her mother said, who described her daughter as “smart” and “compassionate.”
Soreque said Gonzalez was visiting family so she could experience more of her culture and roots. She had traveled to Mexico City before and there had never been a problem.
Parker said Gonzalez may not be in a position to communicate with her loved ones.
“It is believed that Elizabeth was lured into a car in Mexico,” she said. “If so, she may be prevented from making any unattended moves. But children are savvy, and if she can access a means to communicate to someone regarding her whereabouts, she will.”
