Missing Texas teen Camila Mendoza Olmos’ father speaks out as search continues: “I miss her”
The father of missing Texas teenager Camila Mendoza Olmos said he is still holding out hope for her safe return as authorities released new video that they believe shows the 19-year-old shortly after leaving her San Antonio home on Dec. 24.
She was last seen on the morning of Christmas Eve, when a neighbor’s doorbell camera appears to have spotted her standing next to her car just before 7 a.m., according to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office. She was wearing a blue and black hoodie, blue pajama bottoms and white shoes. Her family said that she frequently goes for morning walks.
On Monday, the sheriff’s office released new dashcam video that they believe shows Mendoza Olmos. Sheriff Javier Salazar said in a news briefing that he was “not able to say with a hundred percent certainty” that she is the the figure in the video, but noted that the person in the footage is wearing clothes that “certainly match up with what she was wearing at the time.”
Bexar County Sheriff’s Office
The footage shows the person walking by herself a few blocks from the teen’s home. Salazar said that officials believe that she did “walk away from the residence on her own.” Her mother has said that her daughter left her phone at home.
Salazar said officials are investigating all possibilities as the search continues. Dozens of volunteers are searching locally, while the Department of Homeland Security monitors border crossings. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is also involved.
“We’ve got to consider all possibilities from disappearing willfully to the possibility of of self-harm to somebody may have taken her,” Salazar said.
Alfonso Mendoza told “CBS Mornings” that he has been “praying to God” since his daughter vanished.
“She’s out there watching this, seeing me,” he said. “I miss her, come home.”
“It’s hard. It hurts,” he continued. “I might sound strong … but it hurts.”
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