She Texted "Good Morning" Then Vanished ... Where Is Arelie Garcia?

[MUSIC] Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of True Crime with Kendall Rea. Thank you so very much for joining me today. And if you're new to my show, welcome. I'm so happy to have you here and make sure to click subscribe or follow so that you never miss an upload of mine. Now, whether you have been there or not, I'm sure plenty of us can just picture California's highway one. The incredibly scenic views are almost too beautiful to be real. With the Pacific Ocean on one side and California's mountainous coastline on the other, there's a good reason that people choose to take the long way when driving up the coast. But in the case that we're going to be talking about today, highway one really loses its magic. In today's episode, we're going to be talking about the very bizarre and frustrating disappearance of Aureli Garcia, who vanished from that very same coast. That is if you believe she even made it that far. Now, Aureli's case desperately needs more attention and I'm really hoping. In fact, I know that my audience is going to come together and support her family. Also, my team over at Higher Hope is actively reaching out to her family to offer them a hope grant. We're very eager to see if there's any way that we can support them. However, that looks. And if you're curious about the work that we do through Higher Hope, I would love for you to check out our monthly newsletter. It'll be linked below. You can subscribe to it and you can receive updates on exactly what we're doing. And you can also of course follow us on socials, which is higherhope.org. I would so very much appreciate a follow. That's definitely the best way to keep up to date with our grantees, especially if you've ever wondered what happens after these episodes go live, where we have been able to offer a hope grant. Your support of Mile Higher Media and the Higher Hope Foundation means the world to us. We've been able to do so much with it. We're going on two years now and I'm incredibly proud of it. And you know, it's not lost on me that you all make it possible. Before getting into this episode, I just wanted to thank you all for listening to and supporting my show and also any of the Mile Higher Media shows. Your support makes it possible for us to continue funding grants through My Foundation Higher Hope, which supports victims of violent crimes, their families, and like-minded nonprofits. And with that, I want to start out by telling you more about Aureli. So Aureli Garcia was born on July 22nd, 1997 in Salinas, California. And she was the youngest of seven siblings. And among her siblings, she was especially close with two of her big sisters, Ellie and Veronica. And I just have to say, these two young women have done a phenomenal job of advocating for their baby sister. It's truly beautiful to see. And through their interviews, I was able to learn a lot about Aureli. And they've just really, you know, made her personality shine and done their best to make sure that as many people know her story and are aware of her case as possible. On top of having what sounds like a heart of just pure gold, they describe her as a very bubbly, fun, funny person who was always quick to laugh. According to her sister, Veronica, quote, "It doesn't matter what type of day you're having. If you see her, Ellie, you know you're going to be laughing." They've also shared that she was the most selfless person they know. And she always went out of her way to help others. And one thing that I just had to note was that Aureli loved Starbucks. I mean, she really kept them in business, you could say. She was there every single day, pretty much, according to her family. And oftentimes she would get the pink drink, which is, you know, a classic, so good. And she would just get whatever she was in the mood for that day. It was really part of her routine. But if there is one thing that she loved more than Starbucks, it was her car. And just cars in general. After she graduated from Salinas High School, she began training at the Center for Employment in Automotive Mechanics. And after completing that program, she worked in Watsonville for My Chevrolet and then ended up getting a job at my niece son. And then she ended up transferring back to My Chevrolet this time in Salinas, where she worked as a service advisor. And it's funny. It sounds like she didn't love this most recent job much at first, but then over time just ended up loving it. And her co-workers loved her too. I mean, really just adored her. They described her as the happy one. You could definitely say that working in and around cars just brought her a lot of joy, a lot of fulfillment. It was something that was really a passion of hers. And here's a clip of her sister's talking about her job history a little bit more. She was working here and there. She's always worked her whole life. And then she went to see Teen San Jose. I don't know if you guys know about the Center for Employment Training in San Jose. Okay. Okay. Yeah. So we went there. She went for Automatic Mechanics. Oh, wow. Yeah. She loves cars. She's really into cars. Classic cars are more of the muscle cars now. I think the muscle cars. Yeah. Yeah. And after that, she got a job at the, I think she worked in Watsonville for a bit actually. Oh, it was? Yeah. She worked in Watsonville for a bit and she worked in Watsonville for a bit and then after that, she got transferred to Celine. No, actually she didn't get transferred. She looked for a job here in town and she started working at my niece son and she was there for quite a few years. And then she got transferred like a couple years ago to my Chevrolet. But she hated at first. She hated that job at first. She wanted to go back to my niece son, but like after she loved it and like she didn't want to go back because I'm guessing like they were short staffed or something like that. So they moved her to my Chevrolet illegal. When the manager wanted her back to my niece son, like she didn't want to go back there. And so she stayed. Was she working in sales or like a lot of times? She is a service advisor. Service advisor? Service advisor. Yeah. Now, in her spare time, she devoted a bunch of time and energy into fixing up her 2013 Honda Accord, which she made a ton of modifications to now, I don't know much about cars, but I'm going to do my best to explain what she had done to it. She had it wrapped in this super vibrant, really shiny red color, almost like a candy apple red, in my opinion. She also had the windows tinted and she put in one of those suspension systems where you could raise or lower the body of the car. And that actually becomes very important to remember later on. So keep that in mind. But another thing that she was just super involved in was her local car club and car shows. I mean, her car was really her baby and getting to be part of the community and show it off brought her a lot of joy. She attended a lot of those kinds of events and really seemed to be a big part of that community. However, for as much as she loved working with cars and she truly did, she was starting to transition into a new career. In 2022, she had been taking online classes at a community college in order to become an ultrasound technician and it honestly sounds like she had a ton on her plate. But from how her sisters talk about her, it really actually seemed to thrive in a busy environment. There were actually several points in her young adult life where she was juggling multiple jobs, it just had a lot on her plate in general, but she always had been very routine oriented and organized and able to juggle it all. But I really want to drive it home that she followed a very strict daily routine. And because of that routine, her sisters realized very quickly that something had to have been wrong, when on September 22nd, 2022, a rally did not show up for work. I have always been a creative person. I always struggled with math growing up and most creative people I know struggled with numbers. And that's why dealing with my finances has never been easy for me. That is until I started using rocket money, it completely changed the game for me. Now, I feel like my finances aren't overwhelming. It's not something that I dread dealing with or dread looking at. I'm able to get a quick view of my full financial picture in a way that makes sense to my brain. Nowadays, I have so many different subscriptions running all the time and it's so nice to be able to see them all in one place and cancel any that I don't want anymore with just a few taps with rocket money. 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See thicker, stronger, faster growing hair with less shedding in just three or six months. Right now neutrophil is offering our listeners $10 off your first month's subscription and free shipping. Visit neutropole.com and enter promo code Kendal Ray. Let me just set the scene for you a little bit more here. At some point, the exact timing isn't totally clear, but her parents split up. And after this, Aurelie ended up moving into a two-bedroom apartment with her mom, Blanca, right there in Salinas. And on a typical week, she would wake up. She would leave for the gym around 5.30 a.m., then she would work out, of course, shower, and get dressed for work at the gym, and then go right to my Chevrolet from there. And both her job and her gym were located within 10 minutes of her apartment. So very convenient wasn't like there was a long commute by any means. However, on September 22nd, her sister Ellie was very surprised to have gotten a phone call from one of her sister's co-workers, saying that she never made it in. Aurelie was a very reliable person, but also a very reliable employee. And if she was ever, you know, missing a shift or running late for work, she always notified someone first. It was not like her to just no call no shout like that. So then Ellie reached out to Veronica to ask if she had hurt from her. And she actually had, at 6.56 a.m., Aurelie had texted Veronica, saying, "Good morning, smiley face. I miss you and my baby. Love you." And just FYI, the baby that she's referring to is Veronica's son, who is Aurelie's godson. And when that text came in that morning, Veronica was actually still sleeping, and so she didn't see the message until she woke up a few hours later at 8.53 a.m. and she replied with, "Hi, lovey. Miss you too." And so does Guppie. Love you. However, Veronica didn't realize at the time that when she responded to her sister, it didn't actually deliver. And of course, this is something that happens to all of us. This actually just happened to me yesterday. You know, I sent off a text to someone and then didn't actually make sure that it had gone through and never realized that it didn't until later on, and then I sent it. You know, sometimes it's because lack of service or the person you're texting doesn't have service or their phone is off or I don't know. Something happens. Either way though, that's what happened to Veronica's message and it wasn't until later on when Ellie called her that she realized that the message hadn't gone through. So when Veronica had told her that she had spoken to her really, she went into her phone to look at the message and that's when she realized that it didn't actually reach her. So they both start frantically texting her and calling her, but nothing was going through. Veronica's message is red. Love you. Are you okay? And then in all caps. Answer your phone. Love you. Answer your phone. Are Ellie. Please answer your phone. Call me. Please. Love you. Can you please answer? Love you. Where are you? Are you in danger? Are you safe? Are you alone? The panic in those text messages is God wrenching. Trying to reach out to your loved one, not knowing where they are, worried that something had happened to them and in this case, something horrible was going on. And I just have to commend these two sisters for jumping into action so quickly under that type of stress. So they ended up deciding to meet over at Arelly and her mom's apartment and see if she had left anything there to indicate where she may be. But everything appeared to be exactly in order, nothing out of the ordinary. And even their mom said the night before was completely normal. So Veronica then did something super smart. She logged in to find my iPhone, which is when they saw something shocking. Arelly's phone wasn't even in the selenis, instead it pinged in big sir, which is an hour away. And this was surprising and concerning for two big reasons, I mean, for starters, as we've already been over, they knew that she had worked that day and she was not the type to bail last minute. And second, Arelly was really good about updating them if she ever went somewhere or had a change of plans. She was just constantly in touch with her family and very responsible like that. And Veronica has said quote, she would always tell us pretty much where she was going to be at. So it was very unlike her to disappear out of nowhere. So at that point, they decide to divide and conquer. Arelly and her husband got into their car and drove to the location where Arelly's phone pinged. Meanwhile, Veronica and her husband drove to the selenis police department where they immediately filed a missing person's report. And honestly, her car wasn't that hard to find. As arelly and her husband were approaching the little sir river bridge, they spotted her bright red Honda pulled off on a roadside turnout. And for my audio only listeners, I'm sure you can kind of imagine what I'm talking about. It's a wide shoulder area big enough for a few cars to pull over. Kind of a scenic viewpoint where people would pull off to the side of the road and stop take pictures. All of that. However, and this is important, it wasn't like a main stopping area. There were several spots along highway one and big sir where you can pull over and park and go hiking or take pictures or walk down to the shore, whatever it is. But this was not one of those spots. There was no trail or beach access nearby. And that's why it was so strange to Ellie right away that her sister was nowhere to be found. And she also found it strange the way that her sister's car was parked. Because like I mentioned earlier, Arelly had installed one of those air suspension systems in her Honda so that it could raise and lower the body of the car. And I guess any time that she parked the car, she always had it completely lowered. And this was new to me, but I found out that this is called slamming the car. Because this was something that Arelly always did. And that wasn't how she found it. I found the location for her phone. Me and my husband went to search for it and it said it was a big suit. So we got there and passed in the bridge on a little river. I think it's big secret, big secret, big secret, big secret, yeah around there. The car was parked, it was locked with her belongings inside. And she was not there obviously. The way it was parked, it was not usually how she leaves it. So it was kind of weird. It was straight. It was very good. But you normally goes back. Oh she backs into where it was parked. And she has like the air bags, sorry, she has like the air bags, I don't know what it's called like the air bags where her car kind of like lifts it in. So she usually puts, doesn't matter where every time she parts, she brings it down, which I hate everybody. It's so low, but the car was up like, it makes us feel like it wasn't her driving if that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. So that was really strange to them. And then also the car was locked, which isn't that strange, but unfortunate because she wasn't able to get inside. And on top of that, neither Ellie or her husband could get any cell reception to Veronica. So they had to drive 10 minutes up the road in order to go and reach them. However, by the time they got a hold of her and explain what they had found and made it back to their car, the police had actually already arrived. After Veronica reported a rally missing to the Selenis Police Department, they contacted the Monterey County Sheriff's Office who dispatched officers to the scene. And unfortunately, when they did open her car door, everyone only became more concerned. And that's because a rally's phone, her keys, her wallet were all left inside the car. And some sources even report that her keys were actually in the ignition. I haven't been able to get clarity on that, but that's what a lot of the reporting says. And her phone was also reportedly an airplane mode. the leader. detective on her case has gone on to share that there was no immediate signs of foul play in or around her vehicle. However, her sister did note that the driver's seat was pushed back further than a rally would have had it. A rally was only 5.5 and it was pushed back as if someone else had been behind the wheel, which is very scary to think about, and also incredibly suspicious. Also, Veronica and Ellie have no clue as to why their sister would have possibly driven out to Big Sur, especially in the early morning on a day where she was supposed to be working. She had reportedly gone hiking there in the past, but if that was her plan, they believed that she would have told someone, and also wouldn't have just randomly done that on a day that she was scheduled to work, and also a search and rescue team, which was deployed that night, found nothing to indicate that she had gone walking around that area. By the time the search and rescue team got there, the sun had already gone down, so they brought out one of those drones with infrared technology and couldn't find her or any sign of her in a radius of four miles north or four miles south. Then the following day, additional search efforts continued with the help of drones, airplanes, helicopters, regular search dogs, cadaver dogs, and all of those efforts also turned up empty. Detectives also reached out to local hospitals and other police departments to see if there was a record of her, but that turned up no leaves. I'm sure some of you are thinking, which is totally reasonable, what about the possibility of the water? Could she have fallen off a cliff? Could she have possibly even jumped? But detectives do not believe that was the case, and that's really important to note. Big Sur definitely does have a lot of steep cliffs where people accidentally or even intentionally go off the edge, but a senior detective on the case said that the area where her car was found was not a major cliffside. There was no fall risk and they do not believe that this is a case where a rally intentionally did something to herself. And instead, they've classified her as an at-risk missing person. And I know I literally just said this, but I think it's really important to just emphasize once again that nobody in her life can understand what reason she would have had to go to Big Sur that morning. They don't know what she possibly could have been doing there, or if she could have been meeting someone, they don't know who she would have been possibly meeting, or what could have possibly led her there. Now, it's also important to note that she was dating someone at the time, a guy named Marcello, but I do want to clarify some things about him. So he was a photographer, and the two of them met at a car show that a rally went to, and they had only very recently started seeing each other. It wasn't anything super serious, at least not yet. Maybe it was going to turn into that eventually. I don't know, but he lived in Napa two hours north of Salinas. And so that distance alone didn't give them that much time together. And from what I've been able to gather, it seems like her family wasn't aware of him until after all of this happened. And her sisters have explained that that is not super surprising to them at all. They explained that in a Hispanic household, oftentimes, if you bring someone around the family, you're going to get questions like, are you getting married? That's going to start pretty quickly. And therefore, a rally not bringing around someone who she was super serious, whether anything wasn't a red flag to them at all. And I also want to mention, he has been questioned by police, and he has not considered a person of interest. But anyway, as the search for a rally really kicked off, the Salinas Police Department found something pretty significant. And it was security footage from outside of her apartment on the morning that she disappeared. For my audio only listeners, we are currently looking at a clip of a rally leaving her apartment on that morning that she went missing. She goes down a staircase. She gets into her red Honda and then drives out a view of the camera. Nothing out of the usual and nobody is seen following behind her. As I mentioned earlier, one of the modifications that a rally had made to her car was tinting the windows. Now, unfortunately, that does mean that we're not able to see if anyone was waiting for her inside the car. Doesn't mean that the footage is useless, though. It actually tells us quite a bit, if we think hard enough. For starters, the time stamp on the video shows that it was 5.34 in the morning. However, basically, all of the reporting on this case, including what has been shared by her family, says that she really left at 6.34 in the morning. Now, I can't tell you how many cases over the years I've covered where the security footage time stamp was wrong. It's very common and it's very easy for that to happen. It could be daylight savings time or it just wasn't accurate, you know, many different things can explain that. So that doesn't surprise me or concern me in any way. And for the sake of this episode, I'm going to assume, especially because that's what her family says that she left at 6.34. And this is significant because that timing doesn't make sense with a rally's normal routine. When I came home from the hospital, my parents had cats. All the way through my childhood, my parents had cats. I rescued my first cat when I was 16 years old and then my husband and I, when we were in college, rescued three more cats. I will have cats my entire life. And my cats mean the world to me. And that's why I want to feed them the best food possible. And for years, I was giving my cats pretty mediocre food. I figured getting some wet food into their diet was better than none, but they were so picky and only wanted the worst quality food out there. 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If you have an iPhone, head to ladder.fit/tcr and take a quick quiz to find your perfect ladder plan, then use my link to get a free seven day trial with no credit card and $10 off your first month if you join. In that footage, you can see that she's wearing a black hoodie, black leggings, presumably just clothes that she would go to the gym. But anytime she went to the gym, she left between five and five thirty a.m. That gave her enough time to work out, shower, and get ready for work, which she started at seven thirty a.m. So if she left a at 6.30. Her sisters say that she wouldn't have had time to get all of that done and get to work on time. And as we know, she was always punctual. We also know that she wasn't obviously on her way to work early because that's not what she wore to work. So where was she going? That is one of the many questions in this case that we still have not found answers to. So what do you guys know about the last day? Was she on the way to work or was there anything strange about during that last day that everything was strange the last day? Yes. So she usually goes to work like around 7.30. Sometimes she works at the gym like 5.30 in the morning. But she takes, I was telling Louise, like obviously, you know, as a girl, you shower, you get ready for work. So she would get ready at the gym to go straight to work. But that would be early, like 5 in the morning. The day she went missing, it was like 6.30. So you're not going to be able to work out your whole hour and get ready and then go to work. Like she had like an hour to work out, get ready and then go to work. It makes no sense. So I mean, everything from that day is weird. She got a call from the manager saying like your sister's not at work. So then she called me and that day was super weird. It was literally like out of the movie. Like ever since that day, it's been like out of the movie because it doesn't feel real. Like once you look back and look at that day and you play it, it's kind of like that. It was just a little off. For sure. So she was on her way to work though. She was supposed to work. That's what we think. I mean, her, what she was wearing wasn't her work attire. She wasn't wearing work clothes. She was wearing leggings and like a little yoga zip up. And where was she headed to to work where? My Chevy. My Chevy. My Chevy. Yeah. But when Selena's or was it a woman? No, Selena. So it makes no sense if she was getting ready to the gym at six. What time was she planning to go to work? You know? And what's very frustrating, but also legally understandable is the police haven't shared what if anything they have uncovered when forensically examining her phone. And remember, it was found in her car. So they had a possession of her phone from the beginning and same with her car as well. And that was towed and forensically examined and detectives have not released if they uncovered anything to suggest what may have happened or if anyone else who shouldn't have been in there was inside. And another thing we don't know is if her car had any electronic data, that would be useful. So not having all that information leaves us with just tons of unanswered questions and a lot of frustration. Now, it was eight 2013 Honda Accord, as I've explained. So it didn't have the most up-to-date technology. And I would imagine there had to have been some type of internal system that might be able to trace her movements. I would hope so for 2013. Although I guess if it did, that's not something that they would necessarily release to the public, right? Although it's important to note that they have confirmed what the family was saying that the seat was pushed back. And like I said, that is incredibly significant. And they've also confirmed that Arelly has not logged into anything or used her bank account since the day she disappeared, which is obviously very concerning. And yes, people do question if maybe she was meeting up with someone, but unfortunately I don't think we'll get those answers until we know what was on her phone. Even if that was the case, though, her sisters don't believe that she would have planned to meet up with someone and then not return. If she did intentionally go there, which is a stretch to believe in the first place, Veronica and Ellie genuinely believe that she would have had every intention of coming home. Now, something that I was personally curious about from the beginning when looking into this case was if any other cameras detected Arelly's car on the way to Big Sur. And the answer is yes, the footage has not been released to the public, but detectives say they found footage of what they believe to be Arelly's car passing the Carmel Highlands General Store around 730 AM, which is the time that she was supposed to have been at work. And based on this footage, they believe her car reached the location it was found in Big Sur between 750 and 845 AM. And just FYI, that store is about a 25-minute drive from the spot where her car was found. And the problem with this footage is the same problem as the footage that we talked about earlier, because her car windows are so tinted, it's impossible to see who was driving, at least as far as we're aware. And here's where I have more questions. I feel that there had to have been plenty of traffic cams between her apartment and where her car was found. And I did some digging, and it sounds like there might not actually be that many on Highway 1, especially near Big Sur. But I would have to imagine that she would have passed at least a handful, if not more, before her car reached that destination. And I'm just confused because it sounds like detectives haven't found any other footage, unless they haven't released that information. But you would think the fact that they talked about the general store footage, you would hope, I guess, that they would have mentioned other footage as well, if that was the case. So it's just strange to me that no other cameras would have picked up her very recognizable car. Well, actually, I take that back there. It was one other camera that captured her car that day, and this is wild. Just listen to this. Okay. So on the day, a rally disappeared after her car was abandoned in Big Sur, a Google Maps Street View car just happened to drive by her parked Honda. And you can literally see it on Google Maps to this day if you look it up. Her bright red 2013 Honda cord is parked in that shoulder area. And notably, there are two other cars parked behind her, a white SUV and a silver sedan. And the Google Maps car reportedly took this image around noon. And in the image, once again, her windows were too tinted to see if anyone was in the car, but you can see passengers in the other two cars. I will say those individuals were tracked down and spoken to. And unfortunately, they did not see anything of value. I guess they were just tourists, and they even offered to fully cooperate hand over all of the images they took that day. But everything that they turned over to police didn't end up offering any useful information. I just think the odds of that happening in general are really insane. Now, speaking of detectives talking to people, Brian Johnson, who is the commander of the Seleness Police Department, has shared that they have interviewed 62 people over the course of their investigation. And he says they're continually speaking with everyone they can, but so far, no persons of interest or suspects have been identified. That is a father of Arella Garcia, a Seleness woman who has been missing for more than two months. This video shows the last time Arella was seen leaving her apartment around 6.30 in the morning on September 22nd. She was supposed to go to work, but never made it. Instead, police found her car in Big Sur near the Little Sur River. Her phone and car keys were locked in the car, but there was no sign of Arella. We had the Monterey County Sheriff's Office search and rescue team help us out. We had helicopters, we had airplanes, we had drones, all searching the Big Sur area, looking in the area with the search and rescue team dogs at that time also. Still nothing came up and they searched for two days. Police have checked Arella's bank account activity, phone records, contacted hospitals and local police departments, but say they have no leads or any evidence of foul play. What they do have is a message for her family. I would tell the family that we're searching hard, we're working, we understand that the sadness that you're feeling and of course we want to find her just as much as you do. We're investigating at the best that we can with the resources that we have, trying to find any sort of indication of where she might be and I know the holiday seasons coming up and we're hoping for the best. Now the first holiday season without Arella was incredibly hard on her family as you can imagine and although they initially felt that the case was being handled well and they were being helped by law enforcement, they since have changed on that. They now feel that the transparency and effort has really diminished, which is very disappointing to hear. In November of that year, they even ended up having a small protest outside of the Salinas Police Department because they feel like not enough was being done about her case and to find her and since then they've held a handful of marches and rallies in March of 2023, a group of community activists actually organized a protest where several dozen people came in support of Arella and her family and family and friends of missing Salinas woman Arella Garcia are planning to march tomorrow to help bring justice to their loved one. Organizers are asking attendees to wear red and white in honor of quote our stolen sister. The march will start at the Milpa headquarters at 339 Melody Lane and end at the Salinas City council chambers who will be meeting seeing tomorrow at 4.30 p.m. family and friends say they plan to speak during public comment. Aureli went missing on September 22nd of last year. The only notable clues were that her car and phone were abandoned in Big Sur. Before we were told by police to, you know, keep everything to ourselves and try to keep it. You know, they're doing their job and, but at this point, we're not staying quite anymore and I think we're just tired of being in that shadow. "Milba says they will support the family as they march adding that the family feels. Police aren't putting enough attention to Aureli's disappearance." That took place on March 7th and that's where friends, family and community members spoke out about the answers they feel they deserve. Aureli's niece, Alma, was one of many who spoke out and she said in part, "Why has she not been found?" Aureli deserves to be found and brought back to her family. She is the third person of color to go missing in Salinas since 2022. We want answers. Aureli could be your daughter, your sister and your mom. In my case, my aunt. Her sister and dad spoke out as well, asking for the city to dedicate more resources to her disappearance and I did learn that the Salinas Police Chief spoke to the city council and asked for there to be more hiring incentives for the police department. It just sounds like they're pretty understaffed and spread incredibly thin. However, they have assured Aureli's family that anytime a tip comes in, it is being addressed with high priority. I can absolutely understand from her family's point of view that that just doesn't feel like the case. I mean, people just don't disappear out of thin air. There is literally no indication and no evidence that we know of at least to suggest that Aureli had just parked her car and walked away, meaning someone saw or someone did something to her and there are answers out there. And like I've mentioned, this is something that law enforcement definitely agrees with. And I do understand it's a very delicate balance in law enforcement to keep information close to the vest to protect the integrity of the case and the investigation. But in this day and age, there needs to be some sort of solution so that families like Aureli's don't just feel left in the dark. Veronica has said it's been like a scary movie since the day it happened. Like it's just been a nightmare. And Ellie has said we pray every night she comes home. They both have shared that their mom has really struggled since Aureli went missing. And I mean, how could she not? This is absolutely devastating. It's every parent's worst nightmare and understandably it's taken a big toll on her health and just their family as a whole. Her mother Blanca has said this anguish of not knowing is killing me. It kills me not to know where my daughter Aureli is. And ultimately they feel like a lot of their suggestions have been dismissed. And that's a big reason why they have become so vocal in the news. And of course, I agree that it's incredibly important to keep those in power accountable and make sure that this case doesn't fall by the wayside, like it does for so many other cases. When you think of cash up, you probably think of it as a way to send and receive money. But cash up is so much more than that. Now, I have been a cash up user for like six years, possibly longer, and I've always had such a great experience with it. It's so much more than just a safe way to send and receive money. With the cash up card, you can unlock a ton of perks without all the hidden fees. You can enjoy benefits like exclusive early access to nationwide concert pre-sales, Kendrick Lamar and Sabrina Carbender to name a couple of recent examples that I love. Plus discounts on everyday purchases and popular brands that you're probably already spending money on. Add your card to your digital wallet to make your money moves easier. It also adds security to your money by declining suspicious card transactions and sending you a notification to make sure that payment is really you. If your card is ever lost or stolen, you can lock it with just one tap or right in the app. Now, that is personally my favorite feature about it because the amount of times I've had to cancel cards, thinking I lost them when in reality, they're like under my car seat or somewhere around the house, the fact that I can just lock it and make sure I've actually lost it before I cancel the card is so nice. New cash up customers can earn $10 if they use the code cash up 10 in their profile at sign-up and send $5 to a friend within 14 days. Terms apply. Download cash up today and make your money work for you. Visit our link in bio. Cash up is a financial services platform, not a bank, banking services provided by cash apps, bank partners, prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank, member FDIC, cash up visa, debit flex cards issued by Sutton Bank. Member FDIC and the Bancorp Bank NA pursuant to a license from Visa, USA, ANC, C Terms and Conditions for Sutton prepaid card, Sutton Debit Flex Card and Bancorp Debit Flex Card. Cash up green features, savings, direct deposit, roundups, overdraft coverage, and discounts provided by Cash up, a blocking brand. Visit cash.app/legal/podcast for full disclosures. I listen to this podcast that Ellie and Veronica were on and they talked about how in those early days they wanted to search the area themselves but police basically shut them down. I guess there is private property nearby, some type of ranch, I think, and they were told that it's already been looked into and that they couldn't go there. And I think that's a prime example of their just not being enough transparency. I think maybe if they had been included in that search or given more details, at least just even something that would have given them a little bit more peace of mind and feeling of some sort of control of the situation and a situation where you feel completely out of control. But just being told, nope, we searched that, don't go there, it can be really frustrating. This family has just been through so much and I know I sound like a broken record. I say this all the time in these episodes, but not knowing what happened to your loved one, not knowing where they could be if they are alive can just eat you up in a way that if you haven't experienced it, none of us can really understand. From speaking and spending time with so many families over the years, I've learned from what they have said that oftentimes it feels like there's never truly closure in violent crime. But what I have learned from the people that I've worked with is there seems to be a lot of peace and some closure in just knowing. And so many of these families like Arellies have experienced issues with the law enforcement. It's incredibly common, it's the majority of the cases that I cover, especially because those are the ones that need the coverage the most that aren't getting enough help and they feel kind of just left in the dark. In some of those cases, it's even more of a frustrating situation where law enforcement has been completely uncooperative. Or in this case, though, their efforts have slowed to what feels like a stop, which is also just infuriating. However, their family is doing everything they can to keep up the momentum and keep Arellies face and name and story out there. In the last almost four years since you went missing, Arellies loved ones have continued with the marches and rallies and they've also held vigils on the anniversary and just done whatever they can to keep her name in the news. There's been a website made Arelligarcia.com, which I will of course have linked for you in the show notes or description box of this episode. And on that website, you can get updates on what they're doing and there's also a link to their GoFundMe. They are raising funds to increase the cash reward, which is currently at $10,000 and they're also raising money for search efforts, which can get very expensive. And like I said in the beginning of this episode, my team and I over at Higher Hope have reached out to their family to offer them a hope grant. And we're able to fund a variety of things that I think could be helpful to them. We can fund things like private investigators or billboards or really any search-related needs that they may have among so much more. And of course, I will be linking their GoFundMe as well if you guys would like to help. If any of you are in the position to be able to do so, I'm sure they would highly appreciate your donation. Also I wanted to mention her friends created an Instagram account, which I would love for you to give a follow. Let's show them some support you guys. Maybe even leave a comment. You know, that goes a long way with families. The account is "Bring a Relly Home" underscore and her name is spelled A-R-E-L-I-E. And I will also of course have that linked in the description box and show notes. I wish so badly that after four years, almost four years, I had more information I could share with you guys on this case. But that's really where things stand as of today. But before wrapping up today's episode, I did think it would be beneficial to walk through some of the theories in this case that have been floating online, and I'm curious to hear your opinion on these. And there was also another case that happened in Salinas right around the same time, which is eerily similar to a Relly's. And I think you should know about it, so we're going to go over that. But as far as theories go, one that really caught my eye was the idea that she may have been stopped. or targeted specifically because of her car. I mean, it's no secret that Aurelie drove that bright red Honda and she constantly posted pictures of it on her Instagram and took it to car shows as well. And because of that, a lot of people have theorized that maybe she caught someone's attention and that person may have been following her. And after all, her car is definitely hard to miss. But what that theory just doesn't answer though is how her car got to Big Sur. And there are just so many questions. The fact that her seat was pushed back and the car wasn't slammed would suggest that someone else may have been driving it, right? I mean, it seems like a very likely possibility to me. And so at what point did that person get in the car? And were they led in the car? Or did they force themselves in the car? Is it possible that whoever was driving the car last didn't even have Aurelie in the car with them? And if someone else was driving it, then how did they get out of Big Sur? I mean, presumably they would have needed additional transportation to get off the highway, right? So there's another theory that I've read that suggests that multiple people were involved. Like maybe there was a possible getaway driver. And I'm sure a lot of you are already thinking this. Yes, human trafficking has been brought up as a possibility in this case. And then another theory is that a really maybe pulled off to the side of the road where her car was found to help someone, maybe someone faking car troubles, and then she was kidnapped. But what's difficult about this theory, though, is it would mean she intentionally drove out to Big Sur. And like I've said, her family just really doesn't think she had any reason to go there that morning. It just does not make sense with her routine and her personality. And I personally just keep going back to her car seat being pushed back and the car not being lowered. That just screams that someone else was driving it. The problem I keep running into, though, is I can't wrap my mind around. I cannot understand how or when that person would have gotten into the car. Now, the last theory I did want to mention, although it's definitely more of a stretch and it's pretty much been disproven, but I feel it's important to bring this up 'cause there's been a lot of talk around it. But it's the idea that there was a serial killer in Salinas. And I say this because only five weeks before Arelly went missing, another young woman named Kaylee Gamal disappeared from the same area. In fact, weirdly enough, the two of them only lived a few blocks from one another. So let me tell you a little bit about Kaylee's case. On August 17th, 2022, around 5.30 pm, 20-year-old Kaylee Gamil told her mom, Jennifer, that she was headed out for a few hours with a friend. Like Arelly, Kaylee also lived with her mom and Jennifer only had one major rule for her, and that was if you're out past 11 pm, call me and let me know you're safe and if you're coming home. Well, Kaylee's phone happened to be broken at the time and her mom already knew that, but she also knew that her daughter would always find a way to reach her. However, that night, Jennifer left just for a few hours and she was very surprised when she came home and her daughter wasn't there. She tried not to overthink it, but she woke up the next day and she still wasn't there and that's when she began to panic. So Jennifer officially reported her missing on August 19th and had already begun reaching out to Kaylee's friends to see if anyone had heard from her, but nobody had. And the friend that she told her mom she was seeing that night said that he knew nothing. In fact, the two of them didn't actually have plans that evening. And so for the next two weeks, she looked for her daughter in absolute agony only to find out on August 30th that she had been found. An officer came to her door that day to say that her body had been spotted by someone in Big Sur on the coast. And yes, on paper, these two cases have a lot of similarities. Both Kaylee and Arelly are beautiful young women. They're both women of color, both lived in Salinas and both ended up one way or another in Big Sur. Now Kaylee's body was found 200 yards from the road about a mile away from Dolan Creek and more than 30 miles south of Arelly's car. That being said, detectives on both cases have come out to say that they don't believe that there is a connection and even Kaylee's mom agrees that she doesn't feel there is a connection, but does say that both cases deserve equal attention. Her daughter's case is still unsolved and is still being investigated as a homicide. And there is reportedly a significant amount of evidence in her case, but that evidence has been kept quiet. At the end of the day though, both of these cases deserve justice and both of their families deserve some type of closure and that starts with answers. Arelly's family has shared over the years that they are holding out hope that she's alive. And like I said, at the beginning of this episode, I think there is a possibility that that's the case. And despite what appears to be a lack of progress in the case, the Salinas police department has said that they are still actively pursuing the case. They just need more tips and leads to work off of. So my hope with covering her case and bringing this information to all of you is obviously to spread the word even further. And I am really quite shocked that her case hasn't been picked up by more true crime podcasts and channels and just even big production. I think it's really important that we continue to share her name, share her story and get her photo out there. Arelly is between five foot five and five foot six. She has 150 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She has a chest dermal piercing and was last seen wearing a black hoodie, black leggings. Her hair was tied in a bun. And there is a $10,000 reward for information. And anyone who has information can call Edwin Cruz at the Salinas police department at 831-758-7398. Or you can call anonymously at 831-775-4222. That is going to be it for today's episode, you guys. Thank you so, so, so very much for taking the time to listen to Arelly and Kaley's stories. It just means a lot to their families. I know it does. And, you know, you can never give up hope. Stay safe out there. (upbeat music)