A 14-year-old girl from Utah, Elizabeth “Ely” Gonzalez, disappeared under mysterious circumstances while visiting family in Mexico City last month. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) suspects that she may have been abducted by her uncle, Antonio Moreno, after she failed to return from a trip to a local convenience store on June 30.
Gonzalez, a 7th grader, was last seen on surveillance footage entering a taxi with her two young cousins, aged 4 and 6, on the same day that their father, Moreno, unexpectedly arrived in Mexico City from Utah. The FBI’s Salt Lake City office released a statement suggesting that Gonzalez was coerced by Moreno, an adult male, into the taxi. The statement further emphasized that Moreno did not have the mothers’ consent to leave with the girls.
The family has not had any contact with the girls since their disappearance. The FBI believes that the girls are still in Mexico and could be in danger. The motive behind Moreno’s alleged abduction of the girls remains unknown.
Alma Soreque, Gonzalez’s mother, reported to ABC 4 that she had spoken to her daughter just hours before she went missing and nothing seemed amiss. Later, she received a distressing call from her family in Mexico City informing her that Gonzalez and her cousins had gone to a nearby convenience store and had not returned.
Soreque described the news as the “worst thing that a mom can hear.” Gonzalez was spending the summer with her family in Mexico City to immerse herself in her cultural heritage. This was not her first visit to the city, and there had been no previous incidents.
An Amber Alert has been issued for Gonzalez and her two cousins, Sofia Mailen Moreno Zamora and Regina Moreno Zamora, who are both Mexican citizens. At the time of her disappearance, Gonzalez was wearing dark blue jeans, a black hoodie, and black and white Vans. She is 5-foot-1, weighs 140 pounds, and has brown eyes and hair.