21-year-old mother disappears during trip to Tijuana
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SANTA ANA, Calif. (KCAL/KCBS) – Police in southern California are searching for a mother who has been missing for nearly two weeks.
Yasmin Gonzalez Benitez, 21, was last seen getting into a car with relatives for a trip across the border to Tijuana.
She was only supposed to be gone for a day.
“So, unfortunately our detectives made numerous attempts to contact Yasmin’s brother and mother and they’re being very uncooperative,” Natalie Garcia with the Santa Ana Police Department said.
It’s been 11 days with no word from Benitez, who, according to police, had plans to take a quick trip to Tijuana and then return home.
“She says she’s going to Tijuana see somebody over there. Yasmin’s brother over there and then don’t come back,” a man who asked not to be identified said.
For the past year, Benitez and her daughter lived with him and his wife.
The last time the young mother was seen, according to officers, was at the home where she rented a room down the street from Santa Ana High School.
Police said that she was getting into a car with relatives and had plans to cross the border to visit a brother. She wasn’t supposed to be gone for more than a day.
“The roommate tries to contact Yasmin but there was no answer. Yasmin left behind a 4-year-old daughter in the care of the roommate who has now been turned over to Child Protective Services,” Garcia said.
Detectives haven’t been able to confirm whether Benitez, who was born in the U.S., has a brother in Tijuana.
One of her roommates said he’d heard that Benitez’s mother and brother took her to Mexico to a facility. Police are also trying to verify that claim.
Officers said it’s just not like Benitez to leave her daughter for so long.
“She would take her to preschool, she would come home, she would work but she always had someone in the care of her daughter. She never left for more than a couple days with the daughter, so this is very suspicious to us,” Garcia said.
Police are asking for tips about her disappearance.
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