February 21, 2025 • 55 mins
Reina Carolina Morales Rojas was last seen on Saturday, November 26, 2022 when she left her apartment in her East Boston neighborhood. She was seen getting into a vehicle that was headed to Somerville - reportedly to a friend's house. She is believed to have entered that building on Alston St. That is the extent of what we know. But we didn't know it until she was missing for 45 days. The Boston Police Department would eventually acknowledge their obvious negligence in notifying the public. There was no urgency. Critical time was lost.
With insights from Marcela García, the first journalist to report on Reina's case, we navigate the emotional toll on Reina's family and the systemic shortcomings in media coverage and police responses that hinder the search for justice.
The initial lack of response to her case, both from the police and the media, is a factor in why it took time for her disappearance to gain wider notice. Reina Carolina had only been in the Boston area for a short time and did not speak English, which may have presented additional challenges in her disappearance. Another missing persons case in the region had taken up the air in the room.
Marcela García, Associate Editor and columnist for The Boston Globe, covers a wide range of topics, from public education and immigration policy to social inequities and the Latinx community in Boston and beyond.
Marcela García
Boston Globe report on her visit to El Salvador: A heartbreaking visit to the hometown of a missing Boston woman
Women's Media Center
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Annngelle Wood (00:00):
Well, hello, my name is Anngelle Wood and this
is Crime of the Truest Kind.
In Massachusetts, there arecurrently 214 missing persons
(00:26):
cases listed in NamUs, theNational Missing and
Unidentified Persons System.
This is why I will continue totalk about families sharing
their DNA with the hope that amissing loved one is found and
can be connected to their family.
This is about a missing womannamed Reina Carolina Morales .
(00:48):
She disappeared on Saturday,November 26, 2022.
The public was not alerted toher disappearance.
It wasn't until January 12,2023, when the Boston police
shared Reina Carolina'sdisappearance with the public.
Nearly two months, 45 days,pretty late to find anyone who
(01:11):
may have seen or heard somethingthat could aid in the search
for her.
If you look at the BostonPolice Department page about
Reina, it says she went toAustin Street in Somerville.
That's off Broadway.
All other reports say AlstonStreet, which is behind McGrath
Highway.
For those of you familiar withthe area, it is a distance of
(01:35):
about a mile, but, moreimportantly, it's vital
information to a missingperson's investigation.
Reina Carolina Morales Rojas.
Carolina, or Reina Carolina.
She left El Salvador for Bostonin May 2022, just a few months
(01:59):
prior to her disappearance.
She was 41, mother to twoteenage children and looking for
a better way.
Undocumented, she came to theUS alone with the dream of
bringing her children here tolive Marcela Garcia of the
Boston Globe, who has beenfollowing Raina's story since
(02:20):
first learning of herdisappearance.
Like the rest of us, shetraveled to Santa Ana, a
neighborhood once controlled bygangs and said to be one of the
most dangerous areas in all ofSanta Ana.
Reina reportedly paid a coyote,the term for a person or persons
who get paid large sums ofmoney to smuggle people across
(02:42):
borders, namely the Mexico-USborder.
I read one account of a polleroslang for the person you ask to
get you across to the UnitedStates.
It's slang for people smugglerA coyote, according to this
frontline report I read, coyotesrun along the hills and the
deserts.
You don't call someone comingacross in a car a coyote.
(03:05):
Now, there are a number of waysto get someone across the
border.
Border agents take payoffs andwhen Americans got caught in the
Piero game, nothing happened.
So that's why American citizensare usually the ones doing the
job.
Oh, there's a whole lot ofexploitation to go around and
it's always far more complex,and it is always far more
(03:30):
complex than anyone is going totell you on the news or in a
stump speech.
The cost $10,000.
A debt Reina reportedly repaidwithin a few months of arriving
in the States.
I don't know how quickly youcould save up $10,000.
It might take more than a fewmonths.
(03:51):
She met someone who wassubletting a room in a basement
apartment on Bennington Streetin East Boston Rent $1,200,
according to the Boston Globe.
I looked at rentals in Eastieand some of those new
developments are ridiculous.
But gentrification is anotherstory.
For another time Raina workedhard two and three jobs.
(04:12):
She had to pay that coyote debt.
She often worked overtimepreparing meals for airlines at
a catering company near LoganAirport.
Her roommate, francisco Magana,who Marcella spoke to for her
reporting, said that sometimesRaina would go see her boyfriend
but she would always come backhome.
Raina told him she was goingout that night but did not say
(04:34):
where or who she would be seeing.
We would later learn that Rainawas seen on security camera
footage leaving her apartment.
The little we do know about herdisappearance is that she was
seen getting into a silvervehicle on Bennington Street in
East Boston with the destinationof Alston Street in Somerville
(04:55):
A ride share I don't know whichcompany and I don't know if the
driver was located and everquestioned.
It was Thanksgiving weekend,located and ever questioned.
It was Thanksgiving weekend,saturday, november 26, 2022.
Always a quieter time in andaround the city as students are
often cleared out for theholiday break.
She reportedly did make it toSomerville and went inside that
(05:17):
apartment.
It's a definite triple-deckerarea.
Reina was wearing dark-coloredon sandals, leggings, a dark
colored shirt, a gray zip fronthoodie, knit hat and was
carrying a black backpack.
(05:37):
She was carrying at least twocell phones, both of which were
turned off right after midnighton November 27, 2022.
And that's where it ends.
Raina is reported missing onMonday, november 28, two days
after she was last seen andafter she spoke with her family.
(05:57):
She always spoke to her family,especially her two children,
justin, who was 14 at the time,and Kimberling 16.
It took the Boston PoliceDepartment 45 days to share the
news of her disappearance.
In an interview with PBSNewsHour, boston Police Deputy
(06:19):
Superintendent Victor Evans wasasked about it and called it a
misstep.
That happened.
He said the police departmentowns it and it shouldn't have
happened.
He also admitted that it is notstandard protocol for an alert
(06:41):
to go out for a missing personsix weeks after they have been
reported.
At the time of this publicannouncement, the local news was
giving minute-by-minute reportsof the missing mother from
Cohasset named Ana Walsh,herself a Serbian immigrant who
made a career in commercial realestate.
She did deserve that kind ofurgency and, as we have learned,
her husband is charged with hermurder and for discarding her
(07:05):
remains.
He is in jail, with the trialto begin later this year.
Raina had immigrated from ElSalvador hoping to provide more
support for her two childrenback home.
After not responding to anycalls or messages, Reina's
sister Alicia contacted herlandlord or messages.
(07:26):
Reina's sister Alicia contactedher landlord, who filed a
report with the Boston PoliceDepartment on November 28,.
Two days after she was seen,Women's Media Center reported on
her disappearance and the lackof attention on her case.
The piece dated June 22, 2024,which is my birthday, and
written by Mariana MartinezBarba.
She writes Reina is one of thethousands of Latinas who go
(07:50):
missing every year, hissituation made all the more
dangerous by police and newsmedia often failing to respond
with the urgency needed.
The first 24 to 48 hours arecritical in terms of finding a
missing person.
People can respond if they didin fact see something, but if
time flies, memories get blurredand people forget about things.
(08:14):
That's according to CarolLiebler, a communications
professor at Syracuse UniversitySyracuse, you mean Syracuse.
Her research focuses on how themedia treats cases of missing
women.
When a white woman in her 40sgoes missing in Massachusetts,
there are at least 23 storiespublished.
For Latinas or women of color,this is just eight stories.
(08:39):
This is according to acomparative tool called RU
Pressworthy, developed by theColumbia Journalism Review.
The late journalist Gwen Ifillcoined the term Missing Woman
Syndrome to describe the newsmedia's focus on missing white
women and dismissal of black andbrown women who have
(09:00):
disappeared.
We saw it with the Gabby Petitocase, a young woman who
disappeared and was eventuallylocated with help from web
sleuths, almost detectives andYouTubies.
But let me be clear.
I believe that all missingpeople deserve to be searched
for White, blonde women,salvadoran immigrants, drug
(09:22):
abusers, runaways, peoplestruggling with mental health
issues and, yes, sex workers.
As an advocate, I advocate forall people, not just those who
look like me or sound like me.
I talk about all of these thingswith my guest, marcela Garcia,
boston Globe columnist, who, inAugust 2023, traveled to El
(09:46):
Salvador and wrote about herjourney to Reina's hometown and
where her family still lives.
It is one of the largest citiesin El Salvador.
It was run by gangs and hadbeen crime-ridden as a result.
I don't know what came first,the crime or the gangs, but the
(10:08):
poverty is obvious Run downmakeshift homes and discarded
junk line the dirt roads.
Marcela Garcia has written afew pieces about Reina Carolina.
On that trip she took to ElSalvador, she met and spoke with
Reina's family.
It was, as you would imagine,incredibly emotional.
We talk about that experienceand what she learned about Reina
(10:31):
Carolina and her life.
In June of 2024, she wrote abouther two teenage children being
eligible for what's called a Uvisa.
This visa provides humanitarianrelief while helping police and
other authorities investigateand prosecute crimes.
Domestic violence, humantrafficking, involuntary
(10:52):
servitude there is a long listof qualifiers.
Abduction tops the list.
The U visa is a non-immigrantlegal status for people who have
been victims of certain crimes.
Its purpose is to allow victimswithout lawful status to report
crimes to law enforcementwithout fear of reprisal, such
as deportation.
(11:13):
What the status is?
Well, we'll try to find out.
Coming up.
I talk to Marcela Garcia Pleasesupport crime of the truest
kinds, and there are a number ofways that you can do that.
You can listen to the show.
You can tell your friends aboutit.
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(11:34):
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(11:55):
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to AdvocacyCon, which happens atthe end of March in
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There's Patreon Four tiersstarting at just one dollar.
Thank you, superstar.
Ep Lisa McColgan.
Information atcrimeofthetruestkindcom.
(12:15):
Thank you, I appreciate yourtime.
I appreciate the coverage andattention that you have given to
this case.
I don't see a lot about hercase or people like her, so it's
really important for me to talkabout this and speak to someone
(12:37):
like you, marcella, whotraveled to her hometown to talk
to her family.
Hometown to talk to her family.
We need more of that.
I totally agree.
Marcela Garcia (12:50):
Tell me how that trip came to be for you.
Well, first of all, I appreciateyour attention to this case
because the more time passes forme it's harder to find new,
fresh angles.
To write about this as a news.
As a columnist, I always haveto sort of find a new angle.
I can't always just be sayingday number or whatever of or
(13:12):
missing I wish I could, but therealities of this news business
is, and there's competing topicsthat it's always hard to like.
But, trust me, that case livesin the back of my head like it's
.
It's just has stayed with mefor these two years.
In fact, just this week markedthe two-year anniversary of the
first time I wrote about it.
She went missing in november of2022 and then I wrote about her
(13:40):
disappearance.
I was the first one in the sortof quote unquote mainstream
media to write about that, tobring it to light in January of
2023.
This week I was just thinkingabout that that it's been two
years since I first wrote abouther disappearance.
The trip came to be.
(14:00):
I obviously try to write thatyear, that first year in 2023, I
tried to write as much as Icould.
But as I've written about thistopic before in the context of
these cases I've written.
Or, as I said before, it's justnever been so clear to me that
(14:23):
us, in the news media, we takemost of our cues from the police
, and so if the police findsomething, the police publishes
something.
If the police does an update,that's what the media follows.
And so it was sort of up to meto come up with like, okay now,
what are we going to?
What do I want to say aboutthis?
How can I keep this alive?
And so my editor actually wasthe one who pushed me to go.
(14:45):
In all fairness and honesty, hewas like, why don't you just go
?
Because I was very sort ofintent of telling the story of
who she is as a person, how shedecided to come in, and I
realized to come here.
I realized that I couldn't tellthat story without actually
going to that place, to herhometown, to her home country,
(15:13):
because she has no family here.
She still has no family here,and so it's not like I could
interview her daughter or herson here, her sister.
They were all there and, mindyou, I had been in touch with
them via WhatsApp, via phone, inconstant communication, but
it's very different when you'rethere face to face, and so my
editor was the one who gave methe green light and pushed me to
go.
And when he, when he brought itup, I was like, absolutely I'm
(15:36):
going to go and and I try to goearlier that year than when I
went.
But and I've actually nevertalked about this before, but at
the time I think again it was Iwent in August of that year.
I tried to go a couple monthsbefore, but I couldn't find it
enough.
(15:57):
I had some contacts, somepeople in the news media that
worked in El Salvador, but ElSalvador is a very unstable
country, if you will, and atthat time there was some
violence and I was sort ofadvised not to go, and so I
waited and then finally theopportunity came up to go in
August, and so it was.
(16:17):
It was eyeopening in many ways.
It was very obviously emotional.
I didn't think I was going tobe so affected personally, to be
honest, but I was the firsttime that I visited the family.
When I met the mom, oh my God,I had to go to the bathroom to
cry.
(16:37):
So it's a very harrowing caseand to this day we don't know
what happened.
We don't know, nobody knowswhat happened to her.
Annngelle Wood (16:45):
Thankfully for your reporting.
In the little bit that we'velearned from the Boston Police
Department, the little that weknow is that she took a car, I
believe a ride share servicefrom East.
Boston to somewhere inSomerville to visit a friend.
Marcela Garcia (17:02):
Yeah.
Annngelle Wood (17:02):
And no one saw her ever again after she got out
of that car.
Marcela Garcia (17:08):
Correct, that's the official word.
To this day, I have not foundanybody else who has seen
anything.
That was the last time she, oryou know, going into that place
was the last time she was seen,I believe and I again I'm not
100% sure but I believe she wasseen going in but not out when
(17:28):
she was dropped off.
The central aspect of this caseto me is that there was a big
gap between she was reportedmissing and the time the police
publicized her disappearance.
That doesn't mean that thepolice wasn't doing anything to
locate her, but we don't knowwhat they did or what they
(17:49):
didn't do, what they have said,which is very rare.
They have admitted.
They have said we should havepublicized her disappearance
earlier.
Annngelle Wood (18:00):
Yeah, because we know how this goes.
We know that those first 24, 48hours are so critical in any
case like this Exactly.
There's so many things thatbother me about this case,
Marcella, in large part that shehas no family or friends here.
She has nobody here in the USto advocate for her.
Marcela Garcia (18:22):
Right.
Annngelle Wood (18:22):
I probably can't articulate it, because it
angers me that there's thisyoung woman who is new to the US
.
She's been here for all of sixmonths, she's working very hard
and she disappears off the faceof the earth and there's no
concern.
Marcela Garcia (18:39):
You hit the nail on the head.
Those 24 hours, 48 hours afterdisappearance are critical,
because someone could have beenon the lookout, someone could
have been oh, wait a minute,that's the woman that you know
the area.
Right, people who live inSomerville would have been
alerted to the fact that therewas a woman missing, and that
(18:59):
could have made the wholedifference.
Instead, more than a monthpassed before the police said,
hey, there's a woman missing.
And I think about this all thetime.
What you just said.
What if there had been themother, the sister, the daughter
here banging on the policedoors every day?
Right, instead, it was thesister who left her on devices.
(19:23):
She was just calling on thephone the police department.
That just doesn't amount to.
They should have paid attentionto her period, end of story.
But we know that, sadly, itshouldn't take more than that,
but it does, it definitely does.
Annngelle Wood (19:39):
Were you able to locate anybody here in East
Boston where she was living atthe time.
Marcela Garcia (19:45):
I did talk to an interview, basically her
roommate, one of the two peoplewho reported her missing, this
older man who, basically ReinaCarolina, was renting a room
from him and he was verysurprised when he didn't show up
the next day.
He was in contact with ReinaCarolina's sister and he went to
(20:09):
report her missing to thepolice station.
That following day, the Monday,he disappeared.
Everything happened on aSaturday night the Saturday
night after Thanksgiving 2022.
And Monday he was reportedmissing.
There was a police report filedand then nothing happened Again
.
It's just hard to pinpointexactly what wasn't being done
(20:30):
if the police wasn't eventhinking of posting a flyer with
missing woman, right.
And so to me, the heart of thatcase is that whole month and
change that happened.
Mind you, angel, that time herein Massachusetts, our news
coverage and what I mean, ournews coverage, I mean the whole
(20:53):
state was consumed by news ofanother woman's disappearance.
I know exactly who you'retalking, yes, and so this case
completely took over the news.
It made even national news,right, this woman in a wealthier
part of the state was missing,and it ended up being that her
(21:14):
husband was charged with hermurder, and this is a guy.
I think he's in custody orsomething.
I don't know, maybe he's out ofbail, I don't actually know.
He's in custody, he'll go totrial.
Annngelle Wood (21:25):
I don't know if they've set a trial date, but it
should be in 2020.
Marcela Garcia (21:29):
But the way this case consumed everything.
It was everything people weretalking about, because this
woman's disappearance happenedover New Year's, I believe.
And so meanwhile there was thiswoman from East Boston, an
immigrant, who had been missingsince Thanksgiving, and not only
the media didn't know, like youknow what it was paying
(21:50):
attention to this.
There was this family inInstadter who was like screaming
and clamoring.
I mean, when you think aboutthe frustration, the pain, the
sheer frustration of of being solike far away, and your loved
one like I, you and her sistercouldn't get on a plane because
(22:10):
she didn't have a visa and sootherwise she would have been
here.
So it was just one thing afteranother that sort of prevented
this case from progressing Rightand possibly even incompetent.
You know like this is.
This is very real.
Annngelle Wood (22:29):
So when you went to your hometown.
What did you learn?
Tell me about her.
She has two children.
Marcela Garcia (22:35):
Yes, she has two children a young daughter who
must be like 16 or 17 by now,and a younger son.
I mean, what I learned was Iwanted to learn everything about
her, who she was as a person.
You know, what did she like?
What did she do?
Like her previous jobs?
Her friends and the family wasvery generous in that they
opened their home to me, butthey also called all of
(22:59):
Carolina's friends Like I.
I spoke to a couple of of herfriends, a former boss of her.
She was someone who worked inlaw enforcement.
It's it was a municipal I meanthis is another irony of the
case where she worked in lawenforcement in her home country.
There's no real analog to whatthat police force is here's kind
(23:20):
of like a municipal, very sortof low key law enforcement force
.
It's just, it doesn't, you know, it doesn't have a lot of
powers.
But think about, I mean, the wayit was described to me was like
a sort of glorified, you know,security guard body, right, that
that guarded public places likestadiums and parks and that,
(23:42):
and she, she would ride in alittle motorbike and she loved
having her motorbike, littlemotorbike, and she loved having
her motorbike and you know, shewas a very, very happy person
with an incredible sense ofhumor and charisma, like this
was something that struck me asreally, really powerful, that
she had this joy to live, likeshe just had, you know, just the
(24:04):
grace that she was a happyperson.
She was the one always bringingthe party to everywhere, right,
everyone she went, she broughtthe party with her I think
that's how someone said it Likeshe would be up for anything any
day.
Like I spoke to her, to herneighbors and the neighbors were
like you know, she was the onewho would be like, let's have a
(24:25):
barbecue today and a randomThursday, right, and then she
would just put everythingtogether and we'd be telling
jokes.
The other thing that struck meabout her family is that the
sister and the mom they're veryreligious and Reina Carolina was
always very.
She kind of wanted to bereligious, but on her own terms,
(24:45):
if that makes any sense.
Annngelle Wood (24:47):
Spirituality over religion.
Marcela Garcia (24:48):
Yes, and so she would be like very funny about
the way her family, the way theywould be religious, you know,
going to church all the time anddressing a certain way, and
Reina Carolina would be like, no, I don't want to dress that way
, like I want to do my own thing.
She has an amazing style.
(25:09):
Yes, right, you can tell thatfrom the photograph that she was
someone who paid attention toher, you know, to the way she
presented herself, right, andthe way she presents to the
world.
And so, knowing that about her,it wasn't perhaps a surprise
that she would decide one day tocome here, because she really
wanted, she really had dreams.
(25:31):
She had, you know, wants anddreams for her children.
She wanted to give them a reallife and a real shot at life.
She wanted them to go tocollege, she wanted, you know,
to have a home, she wanted tobuild a home for them, et cetera
.
So she decided to come here tohave better economic
opportunities.
(25:52):
And then, the thing that I didfind out when I was there, I
mean all this, this picture ofwho she was, starts to fill in,
right, like all the colors, allthe nuances, all the shades that
you know they, they started tocome into focus for me when I
started talking to everyonebecause, remember, I told you
that I met a former boss of her.
(26:12):
He told me that and again, thisis secondhand, right, I
couldn't entirely confirm it,but the boss told me that at the
time when, when Reina Carolinadecides to come to the U?
S, he was having some issueswith a couple of colleagues at
work in this sort of lawenforcement body that she was
working for.
She had had a couple ofincidents where two different
(26:36):
men had sort of harassed her,you know, basically escalated
sexual harassment, and so thatalso played into her decision to
leave.
And it was very delicate theway she put it to me because she
told me not in front ofeverybody, like she told me
separately, like I think ReinaCarolina was dealing with this
(26:57):
and she and I were in touch evenafter she left, and she told me
all this that you know shetried to also denounce these
people and he went nowhere.
And so it's all these things,these multifaceted things, that
a person who decides toimmigrate, to leave their home
country, faces.
And sometimes, when we think ofimmigrants and why they leave,
(27:19):
we just sort of see onedimension oh, she wanted to have
a better job or she wanted tomake more money, when in reality
it's a combination, it's sortof a constellation of things in
someone's environment that youknow pushes you basically to
leave.
And so that's one aspect, orone more dimension that I
(27:40):
learned about her.
It was so sad to talk to thechildren.
I mean, imagine having yourmother, you know, taking away
like that, and the not knowingtoo I wrote about this a couple
of times just the not knowing,because you can find closure.
I mean, obviously you neverreally recover from such a
terrible loss, right?
Your mother, your sister, youjust need kind of some closure.
(28:04):
What happened to her?
Where's her body?
Can we have a funeral?
Can we say goodbye to her?
Where's her body?
Can we have a funeral?
Can we say goodbye to her?
So that was very tough.
Annngelle Wood (28:11):
There's so many things that come from this.
You know she's in the US forsix months.
She goes missing.
I imagine there's a lot ofanger and disappointment and a
lot of negative feelings thather family's going to have about
the US.
Now this is something thatshould not be swept under the
(28:33):
rug.
This is something that shouldnot be forgotten about.
We shouldn't shrug this off asoh well, just somebody from
somewhere else that didn't knowwhat she was doing.
I don't feel that way at alland unfortunately, I think
there's a fair amount of peoplewho want to look the other way
about these things.
And you know, you have thesetwo children who are getting
closer to adulthood and theirmother's no longer here.
I always try to hold out forthat, for missing people.
(28:55):
She could be somewhere.
We can use every scenario.
She lost her memory, she's beentaken by someone, she's a litany
of things, right, yeah, sothese are the things that I
don't want to stop talking about, because she could be here, she
could be somewhere she doesn'tknow the US.
I don't know how well she couldspeak English, how well she
(29:15):
could communicate Right Evenback home, if she left home the
last straw at home in herworkplace was.
She's being harassed on allsides and she has no protections
.
Well, maybe that was a decidingfactor for her to eventually
(29:36):
make that decision to come hereand give it a go in the US.
There's some information and Iwant to be very mindful of your
time and I appreciate youspending time with me.
There's some information that Iwould respectfully ask for you
to pass on to her family.
When dealing with these kindsof situations, unclaimed and
unresolved, I would ask, howeverit works for her family and I
(29:59):
don't know.
I'd even be willing to to helpthem with this, but share their
DNA and put it in the U Sdatabase database in the event
that Reina Carolina is foundsomewhere in some way.
Marcela Garcia (30:13):
I need to double check this, but I believe the
Middlesex District Attorney'sOffice was working on that with
them, because the good thingabout Reina Carolina's case is
that it also has attracted theattention of several local
immigrant advocates and there'sa group, a legal health group,
(30:34):
that is working with the familyto get the son and the daughter
basically what are called the Uvisa, the category visa.
Yeah, so they are working onthat.
In that process.
I think they also were talkingabout the DNA, but that's
actually a really good point andI will ask them because I
(30:56):
remember there was talk aboutthat at the time and so I just
need to follow up with them onthat, because that's a really
good point.
It is critical, obviously, youknow, with DNA, the technology,
it will be easy to.
I mean, again, if that were thecase, right, I totally agree
that that the hope, and, becauseher family is very religious, I
(31:19):
think that they, they really,they really try to hold on, to
hope that she is somewhere, thatthat she will be found, uh,
eventually.
And I I'm not necessarily uh, II guess by nature I'm much more
cynical and and I I think aboutall the time what, what could
have happened to her where couldshe be?
(31:41):
And I and I go back and forth.
Maybe she's being held, maybeshe, you know, she was hurt,
maybe this and that.
But it's true, like even evenover there, talking to the
family and friends, what youwere saying earlier about their,
their view of the united states, they, they were saying, like
this is the type of thing thathappens in this country, not in
(32:02):
the us, like they have a verysort of glorified, idealized
version of the united states.
You know, we are, you know thecountry, right, like we, we are
a world power and and for animmigrant like reina carolina to
go missing, it for for ourpolice forces not to be able to
(32:23):
find her after all this time, itjust sends a very depressing
message to her family andfriends, right?
Annngelle Wood (32:31):
I worry for our immigrant population, for a lot
of people who don't look like me, my entry into advocacy is only
going to accelerate in the newyear ahead, and I can only
imagine how truly scary it isfor people who didn't grow up
the way they did.
Marcela Garcia (32:48):
The fear, the panic, the intimidation among
you can just feel it inimmigrant communities.
I'm right now working onsomething to that effect.
It's just very, very sad.
I don't know if you heard orsaw, but there was another woman
missing in East Boston inDecember, an older woman.
(33:09):
I guess she was considered asenior, and you know how when a
senior person is missing or anelderly person is missing or
someone with a form ofdisability or who may be
exhibiting signs of dementia orAlzheimer's, you know that
triggers sort of a differentresponse depending on the police
department.
(33:29):
And so she went missing and herfamily was looking for her.
I wrote a column about itbecause I also felt, angel, that
he was just not being given thesame sort of attention that he
should in terms of the media, interms of the media, and
(33:49):
unfortunately her body was foundunder a bridge in Chelsea and
East Boston.
It was so sad because thiswoman, elba Portillo, it
appeared that she was exhibitingearly signs of dementia and it
appeared that the police wasdoing you know what they were
supposed to be doing, but I alsodidn't get the sense from her
family that they were happy.
I mean to be fair, but I alsodidn't get the sense from her
(34:09):
family that they were happy.
I mean to be fair to the police, angela, and I think I want to.
I always want to be fair to allparties, right, or stakeholders
.
I guess no loved one of amissing person is ever going to
be happy, I guess, with thepolice response, or they're
never going to feel that it'senough.
Like you just want to deployevery single like law
enforcement agent.
(34:30):
Right, like that's, that'ssomething to be said, right,
like I get it.
But at the same time, thefamily of this woman rest in
peace.
The daughter was saying to me.
You know, it just felt likethey were asking me the same
questions all over again.
It just felt like they were notlooking where they were
supposed to be looking at, andso, and I felt that, like I felt
I was like I cannot believethis again, right, and so again,
(34:54):
the case ended up being, youknow, a very tragic one because
of the outcome, but still it'sjust so frustrating.
Annngelle Wood (35:03):
There's that missing piece, that sense of
urgency that we don't see.
There's not a balance ofurgency.
We've seen it in so many cases.
We can go back to somethingthat's probably fresher on
people's memory.
When Gabby Petito went missing,the internet exploded and, to
(35:23):
her family's credit, theyrecognize that and, to her
family's credit, they areworking to advocate for women of
color, for people inmarginalized communities,
because they saw exactly whathappened.
Gabby Petito was the onlyperson, the only woman in the
world, who went missing at thattime and it's like look people,
there's so much else going on.
(35:44):
Please share some of thisenergy into finding some of
these other people and givingsome of these other people some
attention.
Here in Massachusetts, where Ilive, I have teamed up with some
other advocates like myself.
We have established a coalitionfor families of missing and
murdered loved ones.
For families like this, becauseI speak to families, you know.
(36:07):
An example of that is thisyoung woman named Charlene
Roseman, who's from Everett.
She she disappeared.
This is going back a number ofyears.
She disappeared.
Police weren't very helpfulsaying things like oh, she's an
adult, she'll be back.
No, her family knows her.
They were absolutely worriedbecause she didn't come home.
This was a very responsibleyoung woman, 23, going out to
(36:28):
look for a car.
I said all that to say that herfamily was lost.
They didn't get any kind ofsupport.
What family knows what to dowhen their loved one goes
missing?
Marcela Garcia (36:37):
Right.
Annngelle Wood (36:38):
Nobody does.
There's no playbook.
Marcela Garcia (36:40):
Everyone is new to that role and you're so
vulnerable as a family memberand this is the part that always
kills me, angel that familyknows best.
Right, like, people are alwayssaying, no, this is not what she
would do, and police tend todismiss those feelings, as you
know, like, why wouldn't youlisten to the people who know
(37:02):
the missing one best?
They would know, right Like,this isn't the behavior that is
typical, it's just mind blowing.
And again, I'm not trainingthese procedures or anything,
but to me that just seems verycommon sense, right, it's just
common sense.
What were the things that shewas known for doing?
(37:22):
If this isn't well, then youknow, get to work.
Annngelle Wood (37:25):
Absolutely, and this is one of the many reasons
why we're working.
We have a my colleagues hosthave been hosting a missing
person stay at the state house.
Now that we've formed this wecall it MPAC is the the, you
know, sort of initializedversion of it.
We're working on reaching outto families and this is
something that I'm going toinformation I'm going to pass on
(37:47):
to you that I hope you canconnect us with this immigrant
community so we can work withthem and include them in this
work that we're trying to do.
Marcela Garcia (37:58):
Of course, of course, absolutely yeah,
anything I can do, you know, tohelp because it's just.
I feel like this is somethingthat is going to keep happening
in immigrant communities morenow more than ever, need the
help of you know, largeradvocacy network need the
support of larger advocacynetworks when something like
(38:20):
this happens.
Annngelle Wood (38:21):
I want them to have some kind of resources
where they can reach out tosomeone and, even if it's you
know, help making flyers anddesigning flyers and printing
out flyers and helping peoplepass them out.
I understand that.
You know everybody has varyingdegrees of skill level in this,
not everybody knows how to makea flyer.
Not everybody knows how todistribute a flyer.
(38:42):
Correct Step one, basic Makesure that this missing person
has been recorded by the localpolice.
So there is a point of contact,as I've learned I'm still
learning through this wholeadvocacy process.
I worked in rock and roll radiofor 20 years Mozilla, so you
know this is new to me, but youknow.
(39:03):
This is where my heart is.
This is where I want to be now.
I want to help.
I want to be one of the helpers, right?
So there are these things thathappen where no idea what to do.
They have no idea where to go.
They have no idea what to do,even if we could help soften
that and point them in adirection to where you know
they're not.
(39:24):
Families aren't puttingthemselves in, and I learned
this happened.
Families say you know, my, mybrother's missing.
Here's my phone number, Call me.
No, I want to protect familiesfrom people who are going to
then call them and try to scamthem.
Well, I have, but you need togive me.
You know these things happenand it sounds and I make this
(39:45):
joke at not at the expense ofany of these families or victims
, but I make this joke.
It's like.
It's like primetime TV.
You see it in, but this is reallife.
These people don't choose this.
They don't want this andthey're lost and they want
somebody somewhere to help them.
Just listen to them and say myloved one is missing.
(40:05):
Who's listening to me?
Marcela Garcia (40:07):
Who's hearing?
Annngelle Wood (40:08):
me who might be able to help me or point me in a
direction where I can try toget some help, because we know
the police it taxpayers money.
Marcela Garcia (40:18):
I mean, this is it.
That's that's the other thingthat we tend to forget that we
are the ones paying for thatservice.
It's a basic function, right ofsociety, and if you cannot
trust that your policedepartment is going to be there
when you need them, you know whocan you trust?
It's depressing to think thatthat's the case and I struggle a
(40:39):
lot because I do want to befair, because there are good
police departments, there aregood police men.
You know, in the aggregate, and, and taken together, all these
cases paint a different picture,right like I mean what you were
saying earlier about gabbypetito.
I mean, the thing that I cannever forget and I will never
forget about that case is thatwhile the whole country was
looking for Gabby Petito andwhile all these other police
(41:01):
departments were looking for her, other bodies were found of
people missing that nobody waslooking for.
I mean, is that what we like?
Are there bodies everywherethat people are not looking for?
They're just forgotten?
I mean it's insane that that'swhat this has come to.
It blows my mind I wonder allthe time what would have
(41:22):
happened with Elena Carolina'scase if the police had been
paying attention or doing morediligent work earlier, faster,
sooner.
Annngelle Wood (41:32):
Knocking on doors because we don't know
where she went in some of them.
We don't know where she wasgoing.
We don't know what she wasdoing.
Was there a job she was goingto?
You know, I understand she hadsome cell phones.
Who did she speak to Aside fromher family?
Who was she havingcommunication with?
Where was she working duringher time here in the US?
(41:53):
These are all questions thatremain unanswered.
Marcela Garcia (41:56):
Yeah, no, it's a great injustice and, like I
said, angela, I think about itall the time and I wish I'm
always looking, like I said inthe beginning, when you and I
started talking I always thinkof, like what is a new angle,
what is a fresh way or approachthat I can write about this, to
sort of remind people.
This has also made impact onreaders' minds, like, from time
(42:20):
to time I get you know randomreader emails saying whatever
happened to this woman that youwere writing about.
It's very striking to me thatpeople you know some people are
paying attention.
I know that some of them arepaying attention and it's kind
of heartwarming but also like,oh, it's tragic all around right
that people have to wonder whathappens to someone who went
(42:41):
missing months ago, months andmonths and months ago, and so
I'm always kind of looking forthat and hopefully I'll make it
work soon enough to be able towrite about her again.
I don't need to have an update.
I mean I'll obviously reach outto the police, but I've always
wondered.
I mean I don't know if this issomething that you know, but,
like in the context of RainaCarolina's case, I've always
(43:01):
wondered when does when?
Is the case considered cold bythe police.
Is there a certain sort oftrustful that has to be met, or
is there a certain time,deadline or period of time that
has to happen?
Does it vary by policedepartment?
Like I've always wondered, atwhat point does that become a
full case?
Annngelle Wood (43:21):
Well, they'll tell you.
Depending on the department andwhere they are, they'll tell
you oh, we're still workingleads, or there's no new
information, but it's still anopen case and obviously you know
these are the answers they giveyou when you try to get any
kind of information.
Marcela Garcia (43:37):
Absolutely, you try to get any case files or
whatever they're like.
Annngelle Wood (43:40):
oh, it's a still open case.
Marcela Garcia (43:43):
We can't share anything.
Annngelle Wood (43:43):
It varies from police department to police
department, from county tocounty, state to state.
It depends on how much or howlittle work that they put into
it versus, probably, how much ofthat they want to reveal to
who's asking.
Marcela Garcia (43:59):
Yeah, exactly, to my understanding the last
time I spoke with Alicia,probably how much of that they
want to reveal to who's asking?
Yeah, exactly Exactly.
And to my understanding thelast time I spoke with Alicia,
carolina's sister, you know theydo hear from time to time from
the detective, from the maindetective, but not to hear any
meaningful update.
It's just like to stay in touchand I guess, but it's mostly
Alicia who initiates the contactand it's like very, very harsh
(44:24):
and I don't believe that anymeaningful information is ever
given to her.
And whenever she asks for verysort of pointed questions what
happened to this?
What about her this?
I feel like at some point therewas a big question about what
happened to her cell phone andsomebody else's cell phone.
Like apparently the person whoshe was meeting with that night
was a former boyfriend ofCarolina.
(44:46):
Apparently that person wasinterviewed or questioned by the
police.
Alicia had questions about whatabout that person's cell phone
and she never really could get areal answer from them.
She also was in touch withSpanish speaker victims
advocates from the middle sexDA's office but never really
(45:07):
thought oh, this person is asuspect, or we believe this,
this, this and this happened, orthis is what we're pursuing.
I always ask them can you giveme a sense of how many people
you question?
Show me a measure of yourinvestigation?
But of course you know that'slike asking the wall.
They would never say.
And, like you said, they alwayssay oh, it's an open
(45:27):
investigation, we can't comment,which of course it's nothing
that prevents them fromrevealing any information.
They just don't want to sayanything or reveal anything.
Annngelle Wood (45:37):
Very likely they recognize that.
Well, you said it.
They could have notified thepublic even just in Somerville
and East Boston.
Yeah, and let them know.
Be on the lookout.
Missing woman.
Here's what we believe shelooks like now.
We know that right now she'sthis size, this weight, and the
(45:57):
most recent photograph, as Iunderstand it, her hair was very
long at the time long and darkat the time that wouldn't have
cost them anything to just saythat to the public.
But for whatever reason, theyjust made the decision that it
wasn't important enough.
Marcela Garcia (46:12):
Yeah, to let anybody know Just blows my mind
Like how does a case like thatjust sort of falls through the
cracks?
How does that happen?
And what trust do I have, orwhat confidence do I have in the
police that that's not going tohappen or that it hasn't
happened in other instances whenI have an issue, when I am
(46:33):
willing that's never going tohappen.
But what if I am the victim ofa crime?
Am I going to trust the policein that way?
That just sends a verytroubling message to the whole
community, not just theimmigrant community, is it?
Does someone have to be whiteand wealthy and blonde to?
Does a person's family have tobe local for the police to do
something?
It's just so unfair and unjust.
(46:54):
It's a grave injustice.
Annngelle Wood (46:57):
Right it is.
And you know you have herfamily and her two children,
which I read a bit about.
The U visas and her family, orat least her children, who are
nearing the age of adult.
Yeah, I would imagine theywould want to come here and see
(47:17):
what kind of work that they maybe able to do to find out
information about their mom.
Marcela Garcia (47:22):
A hundred percent for sure.
I mean, wouldn't you want to dothat?
I mean, it would be the onlything that I would think all the
time, like I want to go there.
And so, with the newadministration and with all
these things being threatened,like immigrant rights and just
the whole immigration systembeing completely overhauled in a
way that just makes it moreexclusionary and restrictive, I
(47:46):
just don't know what's going tohappen.
And so that was last year atsome point when the U visa thing
because there's several thingsthat have to happen for a U visa
to even be filed for, like youknow, the law enforcement
organization has to providedocumentation that the person or
the people the applicants havebeen victims of a crime, and
(48:08):
that took a while to happen.
And so I don't really knowwhere the application stands at
this point.
But I was under the impressionthat those visas have long, long
, long delays and there's just ahuge backlog, just like the
immigration system at large.
So maybe it's a long shot, andmore so at this point but we'll
see.
Annngelle Wood (48:26):
Well, my heart goes out to them because they're
just in this question mark thatlooms over them, Sadly.
This is what her family isdealing with.
This is what Marina Carolina'sfamily is dealing with this
question mark, this ambiguousloss.
My mother disappeared.
We have no idea what happened.
(48:47):
Is she?
Marcela Garcia (48:48):
alive.
Annngelle Wood (48:49):
Did someone harm her?
We don't know.
My friends, julie, who has amissing sister her sister, mara,
has been missing for 21 years.
Marcela Garcia (48:59):
Oh my God, it's haunting and that's a very
poignant way of putting it Anambiguous loss.
It's something I just don'twant to wish on anybody.
It's just how it becomes partof you.
I can't even imagine what thatmust be like.
My heart goes out to her too,and her family.
I tried to reach Alicia earlierthis week but we couldn't
(49:21):
connect.
I'll try it again.
Maybe she'll give me somethingto write about.
Maybe there's an update.
Annngelle Wood (49:28):
If you're able to learn as to whether there was
any continued conversation withthe family about sharing DNA
and getting it into the databasewhere law enforcement can
access that.
I mean the families have tosign on.
Marcela Garcia (49:42):
I see.
Annngelle Wood (49:43):
Right.
For a period of time peoplewere like I don't want to enter
my DNA because the police canjust go in and take it.
That's not the case now.
The laws are that you have tosubmit it to the databases where
law enforcement is allowed toget at it.
Yeah, we see it with.
You know a number of cases.
The Golden State Killer, whowas finally captured many years
(50:03):
ago, made big news because ofthe use of DNA and genetic
genealogy.
These are the kinds of thingsthat are going to solve these
cases, the scientific technologythat's going to finally lead
families to the answers thatthey have been longing for.
Marcela Garcia (50:22):
Hopefully, one can only wish.
Thank you, angel, for givingtime to this topic and to remind
me to keep digging and to justtry to keep it more out there.
Thank you for giving this time,and I'll definitely share this
with the family, even thoughthey don't speak English.
Annngelle Wood (50:39):
I want them to know, I would want them to know
that you are someone who'sputting Reina Carolina's case on
the spotlight Absolutely, and Iwill reach out to you with all
of the information about howwe're going forward with this
advocacy coalition, because youare a very important connection
to this community that we reallywant to have Anything I can do
(51:08):
really want to have Anything Ican do.
Many thanks to Marcela Garciaof the Boston Globe for covering
Raina's case.
I continue to follow her caseand will share any developments
that come up, and I do hopethere will be some.
After missteps with the BostonPolice Department notifying the
public about Reina'sdisappearance, there have been
some changes.
The Boston Police Departmentupdated its missing persons
(51:30):
protocol In May of 2023, theBoston Police Department quietly
revised the department'sprotocols around missing
children and persons.
This is, according to MarcelaGarcia's reporting in the Boston
Globe, a policy that was lastupdated in 1992.
New regulations include, amongother things, a redesigned
(51:52):
missing persons form to collectmore detailed information about
that missing person, but thereappears to be no mention of
ethnicity, including whetherthey use a language other than
English and, if so, which one.
And an expanded publicnotification section that
includes additional parties tocoordinate decision-making
(52:14):
around when to issue alerts.
Massachusetts Missing andMurdered Persons Advocacy
Coalition.
We are planning events in 2025.
We will be at the MassachusettsState Police Unresolved Cases
Unit and the Boston PoliceDepartment Cold Case Unit are
(52:35):
hosting another Missing PersonsDay, Saturday, March 1st in East
Boston at the Girls and BoysClub, which is just around the
corner from Bennington Street,the street that Reina Carolina
was living on.
And planned for the spring 2025, a Missing and Murdered Persons
(52:58):
Day at the Statehouse in Boston.
A Missing and Murdered Person'sDay at the State House in
Boston.
I will be at AdvocacyCon inIndianapolis at the end of March
.
Live show Thursday, March 13th,Off Cabot in Beverly.
Everything atCrimeOfTheTruestKindcom.
(53:25):
If you have information aboutany of these cases that I share
with you, you can email medirectly.
You can reach out to the localpolice department.
You can leave an anonymous tip.
Thank you for listening.
My name is Anngelle Wood.
This is Crime of the Truest Kind.
Massachusetts and New Englandcrime stories, regional history
and always advocacy focused.
(53:46):
If there is a case that youwould like me to know about or
information that you havelearned about a case, send me an
email Crimeofthetruestkind atgmailcom.
I do read my dms on socials.
(54:06):
I'm on just about everyplatform @ crime of the truest
kind and do follow the show.
Thank you to my hardcoresupporters.
I appreciate you a great dealand will be dropping a little
appreciation gift in yourmailbox.
All right, I must be going.
I know I say this at the end ofevery show and I mean it.
I was listening to anotherpodcast about a serial killer,
(54:29):
about BTK it's actually quitegood and he was almost obsessive
about teaching his youngdaughter about safety, making
sure the doors were alwayslocked.
Why?
Because he was a predator andby all means lock your goddamn
(54:52):
doors.
Well, hello, my name is Anngelle Wood and this
is Crime of the Truest Kind.
In Massachusetts, there arecurrently 214 missing persons
(00:26):
cases listed in NamUs, theNational Missing and
Unidentified Persons System.
This is why I will continue totalk about families sharing
their DNA with the hope that amissing loved one is found and
can be connected to their family.
This is about a missing womannamed Reina Carolina Morales .
(00:48):
She disappeared on Saturday,November 26, 2022.
The public was not alerted toher disappearance.
It wasn't until January 12,2023, when the Boston police
shared Reina Carolina'sdisappearance with the public.
Nearly two months, 45 days,pretty late to find anyone who
(01:11):
may have seen or heard somethingthat could aid in the search
for her.
If you look at the BostonPolice Department page about
Reina, it says she went toAustin Street in Somerville.
That's off Broadway.
All other reports say AlstonStreet, which is behind McGrath
Highway.
For those of you familiar withthe area, it is a distance of
(01:35):
about a mile, but, moreimportantly, it's vital
information to a missingperson's investigation.
Reina Carolina Morales Rojas.
Carolina, or Reina Carolina.
She left El Salvador for Bostonin May 2022, just a few months
(01:59):
prior to her disappearance.
She was 41, mother to twoteenage children and looking for
a better way.
Undocumented, she came to theUS alone with the dream of
bringing her children here tolive Marcela Garcia of the
Boston Globe, who has beenfollowing Raina's story since
(02:20):
first learning of herdisappearance.
Like the rest of us, shetraveled to Santa Ana, a
neighborhood once controlled bygangs and said to be one of the
most dangerous areas in all ofSanta Ana.
Reina reportedly paid a coyote,the term for a person or persons
who get paid large sums ofmoney to smuggle people across
(02:42):
borders, namely the Mexico-USborder.
I read one account of a polleroslang for the person you ask to
get you across to the UnitedStates.
It's slang for people smugglerA coyote, according to this
frontline report I read, coyotesrun along the hills and the
deserts.
You don't call someone comingacross in a car a coyote.
(03:05):
Now, there are a number of waysto get someone across the
border.
Border agents take payoffs andwhen Americans got caught in the
Piero game, nothing happened.
So that's why American citizensare usually the ones doing the
job.
Oh, there's a whole lot ofexploitation to go around and
it's always far more complex,and it is always far more
(03:30):
complex than anyone is going totell you on the news or in a
stump speech.
The cost $10,000.
A debt Reina reportedly repaidwithin a few months of arriving
in the States.
I don't know how quickly youcould save up $10,000.
It might take more than a fewmonths.
(03:51):
She met someone who wassubletting a room in a basement
apartment on Bennington Streetin East Boston Rent $1,200,
according to the Boston Globe.
I looked at rentals in Eastieand some of those new
developments are ridiculous.
But gentrification is anotherstory.
For another time Raina workedhard two and three jobs.
(04:12):
She had to pay that coyote debt.
She often worked overtimepreparing meals for airlines at
a catering company near LoganAirport.
Her roommate, francisco Magana,who Marcella spoke to for her
reporting, said that sometimesRaina would go see her boyfriend
but she would always come backhome.
Raina told him she was goingout that night but did not say
(04:34):
where or who she would be seeing.
We would later learn that Rainawas seen on security camera
footage leaving her apartment.
The little we do know about herdisappearance is that she was
seen getting into a silvervehicle on Bennington Street in
East Boston with the destinationof Alston Street in Somerville
(04:55):
A ride share I don't know whichcompany and I don't know if the
driver was located and everquestioned.
It was Thanksgiving weekend,located and ever questioned.
It was Thanksgiving weekend,saturday, november 26, 2022.
Always a quieter time in andaround the city as students are
often cleared out for theholiday break.
She reportedly did make it toSomerville and went inside that
(05:17):
apartment.
It's a definite triple-deckerarea.
Reina was wearing dark-coloredon sandals, leggings, a dark
colored shirt, a gray zip fronthoodie, knit hat and was
carrying a black backpack.
(05:37):
She was carrying at least twocell phones, both of which were
turned off right after midnighton November 27, 2022.
And that's where it ends.
Raina is reported missing onMonday, november 28, two days
after she was last seen andafter she spoke with her family.
(05:57):
She always spoke to her family,especially her two children,
justin, who was 14 at the time,and Kimberling 16.
It took the Boston PoliceDepartment 45 days to share the
news of her disappearance.
In an interview with PBSNewsHour, boston Police Deputy
(06:19):
Superintendent Victor Evans wasasked about it and called it a
misstep.
That happened.
He said the police departmentowns it and it shouldn't have
happened.
He also admitted that it is notstandard protocol for an alert
(06:41):
to go out for a missing personsix weeks after they have been
reported.
At the time of this publicannouncement, the local news was
giving minute-by-minute reportsof the missing mother from
Cohasset named Ana Walsh,herself a Serbian immigrant who
made a career in commercial realestate.
She did deserve that kind ofurgency and, as we have learned,
her husband is charged with hermurder and for discarding her
(07:05):
remains.
He is in jail, with the trialto begin later this year.
Raina had immigrated from ElSalvador hoping to provide more
support for her two childrenback home.
After not responding to anycalls or messages, Reina's
sister Alicia contacted herlandlord or messages.
(07:26):
Reina's sister Alicia contactedher landlord, who filed a
report with the Boston PoliceDepartment on November 28,.
Two days after she was seen,Women's Media Center reported on
her disappearance and the lackof attention on her case.
The piece dated June 22, 2024,which is my birthday, and
written by Mariana MartinezBarba.
She writes Reina is one of thethousands of Latinas who go
(07:50):
missing every year, hissituation made all the more
dangerous by police and newsmedia often failing to respond
with the urgency needed.
The first 24 to 48 hours arecritical in terms of finding a
missing person.
People can respond if they didin fact see something, but if
time flies, memories get blurredand people forget about things.
(08:14):
That's according to CarolLiebler, a communications
professor at Syracuse UniversitySyracuse, you mean Syracuse.
Her research focuses on how themedia treats cases of missing
women.
When a white woman in her 40sgoes missing in Massachusetts,
there are at least 23 storiespublished.
For Latinas or women of color,this is just eight stories.
(08:39):
This is according to acomparative tool called RU
Pressworthy, developed by theColumbia Journalism Review.
The late journalist Gwen Ifillcoined the term Missing Woman
Syndrome to describe the newsmedia's focus on missing white
women and dismissal of black andbrown women who have
(09:00):
disappeared.
We saw it with the Gabby Petitocase, a young woman who
disappeared and was eventuallylocated with help from web
sleuths, almost detectives andYouTubies.
But let me be clear.
I believe that all missingpeople deserve to be searched
for White, blonde women,salvadoran immigrants, drug
(09:22):
abusers, runaways, peoplestruggling with mental health
issues and, yes, sex workers.
As an advocate, I advocate forall people, not just those who
look like me or sound like me.
I talk about all of these thingswith my guest, marcela Garcia,
boston Globe columnist, who, inAugust 2023, traveled to El
(09:46):
Salvador and wrote about herjourney to Reina's hometown and
where her family still lives.
It is one of the largest citiesin El Salvador.
It was run by gangs and hadbeen crime-ridden as a result.
I don't know what came first,the crime or the gangs, but the
(10:08):
poverty is obvious Run downmakeshift homes and discarded
junk line the dirt roads.
Marcela Garcia has written afew pieces about Reina Carolina.
On that trip she took to ElSalvador, she met and spoke with
Reina's family.
It was, as you would imagine,incredibly emotional.
We talk about that experienceand what she learned about Reina
(10:31):
Carolina and her life.
In June of 2024, she wrote abouther two teenage children being
eligible for what's called a Uvisa.
This visa provides humanitarianrelief while helping police and
other authorities investigateand prosecute crimes.
Domestic violence, humantrafficking, involuntary
(10:52):
servitude there is a long listof qualifiers.
Abduction tops the list.
The U visa is a non-immigrantlegal status for people who have
been victims of certain crimes.
Its purpose is to allow victimswithout lawful status to report
crimes to law enforcementwithout fear of reprisal, such
as deportation.
(11:13):
What the status is?
Well, we'll try to find out.
Coming up.
I talk to Marcela Garcia Pleasesupport crime of the truest
kinds, and there are a number ofways that you can do that.
You can listen to the show.
You can tell your friends aboutit.
You can share it on socialmedia.
(11:34):
You can drop it in the Facebookgroups that you post in or on
Reddit.
You can leave a five-starrating and review on Apple
Podcasts.
You can come to a live showNext live show Thursday, march
13th Off Cabot in Beverly,massachusetts.
You can drop a tip in the jar.
(11:55):
You will be giving the dogs abone and you will help send me
to AdvocacyCon, which happens atthe end of March in
Indianapolis.
There's Patreon Four tiersstarting at just one dollar.
Thank you, superstar.
Ep Lisa McColgan.
Information atcrimeofthetruestkindcom.
(12:15):
Thank you, I appreciate yourtime.
I appreciate the coverage andattention that you have given to
this case.
I don't see a lot about hercase or people like her, so it's
really important for me to talkabout this and speak to someone
(12:37):
like you, marcella, whotraveled to her hometown to talk
to her family.
Hometown to talk to her family.
We need more of that.
I totally agree.
Marcela Garcia (12:50):
Tell me how that trip came to be for you.
Well, first of all, I appreciateyour attention to this case
because the more time passes forme it's harder to find new,
fresh angles.
To write about this as a news.
As a columnist, I always haveto sort of find a new angle.
I can't always just be sayingday number or whatever of or
(13:12):
missing I wish I could, but therealities of this news business
is, and there's competing topicsthat it's always hard to like.
But, trust me, that case livesin the back of my head like it's
.
It's just has stayed with mefor these two years.
In fact, just this week markedthe two-year anniversary of the
first time I wrote about it.
She went missing in november of2022 and then I wrote about her
(13:40):
disappearance.
I was the first one in the sortof quote unquote mainstream
media to write about that, tobring it to light in January of
2023.
This week I was just thinkingabout that that it's been two
years since I first wrote abouther disappearance.
The trip came to be.
(14:00):
I obviously try to write thatyear, that first year in 2023, I
tried to write as much as Icould.
But as I've written about thistopic before in the context of
these cases I've written.
Or, as I said before, it's justnever been so clear to me that
(14:23):
us, in the news media, we takemost of our cues from the police
, and so if the police findsomething, the police publishes
something.
If the police does an update,that's what the media follows.
And so it was sort of up to meto come up with like, okay now,
what are we going to?
What do I want to say aboutthis?
How can I keep this alive?
And so my editor actually wasthe one who pushed me to go.
(14:45):
In all fairness and honesty, hewas like, why don't you just go
?
Because I was very sort ofintent of telling the story of
who she is as a person, how shedecided to come in, and I
realized to come here.
I realized that I couldn't tellthat story without actually
going to that place, to herhometown, to her home country,
(15:13):
because she has no family here.
She still has no family here,and so it's not like I could
interview her daughter or herson here, her sister.
They were all there and, mindyou, I had been in touch with
them via WhatsApp, via phone, inconstant communication, but
it's very different when you'rethere face to face, and so my
editor was the one who gave methe green light and pushed me to
go.
And when he, when he brought itup, I was like, absolutely I'm
(15:36):
going to go and and I try to goearlier that year than when I
went.
But and I've actually nevertalked about this before, but at
the time I think again it was Iwent in August of that year.
I tried to go a couple monthsbefore, but I couldn't find it
enough.
(15:57):
I had some contacts, somepeople in the news media that
worked in El Salvador, but ElSalvador is a very unstable
country, if you will, and atthat time there was some
violence and I was sort ofadvised not to go, and so I
waited and then finally theopportunity came up to go in
August, and so it was.
(16:17):
It was eyeopening in many ways.
It was very obviously emotional.
I didn't think I was going tobe so affected personally, to be
honest, but I was the firsttime that I visited the family.
When I met the mom, oh my God,I had to go to the bathroom to
cry.
(16:37):
So it's a very harrowing caseand to this day we don't know
what happened.
We don't know, nobody knowswhat happened to her.
Annngelle Wood (16:45):
Thankfully for your reporting.
In the little bit that we'velearned from the Boston Police
Department, the little that weknow is that she took a car, I
believe a ride share servicefrom East.
Boston to somewhere inSomerville to visit a friend.
Marcela Garcia (17:02):
Yeah.
Annngelle Wood (17:02):
And no one saw her ever again after she got out
of that car.
Marcela Garcia (17:08):
Correct, that's the official word.
To this day, I have not foundanybody else who has seen
anything.
That was the last time she, oryou know, going into that place
was the last time she was seen,I believe and I again I'm not
100% sure but I believe she wasseen going in but not out when
(17:28):
she was dropped off.
The central aspect of this caseto me is that there was a big
gap between she was reportedmissing and the time the police
publicized her disappearance.
That doesn't mean that thepolice wasn't doing anything to
locate her, but we don't knowwhat they did or what they
(17:49):
didn't do, what they have said,which is very rare.
They have admitted.
They have said we should havepublicized her disappearance
earlier.
Annngelle Wood (18:00):
Yeah, because we know how this goes.
We know that those first 24, 48hours are so critical in any
case like this Exactly.
There's so many things thatbother me about this case,
Marcella, in large part that shehas no family or friends here.
She has nobody here in the USto advocate for her.
Marcela Garcia (18:22):
Right.
Annngelle Wood (18:22):
I probably can't articulate it, because it
angers me that there's thisyoung woman who is new to the US
.
She's been here for all of sixmonths, she's working very hard
and she disappears off the faceof the earth and there's no
concern.
Marcela Garcia (18:39):
You hit the nail on the head.
Those 24 hours, 48 hours afterdisappearance are critical,
because someone could have beenon the lookout, someone could
have been oh, wait a minute,that's the woman that you know
the area.
Right, people who live inSomerville would have been
alerted to the fact that therewas a woman missing, and that
(18:59):
could have made the wholedifference.
Instead, more than a monthpassed before the police said,
hey, there's a woman missing.
And I think about this all thetime.
What you just said.
What if there had been themother, the sister, the daughter
here banging on the policedoors every day?
Right, instead, it was thesister who left her on devices.
(19:23):
She was just calling on thephone the police department.
That just doesn't amount to.
They should have paid attentionto her period, end of story.
But we know that, sadly, itshouldn't take more than that,
but it does, it definitely does.
Annngelle Wood (19:39):
Were you able to locate anybody here in East
Boston where she was living atthe time.
Marcela Garcia (19:45):
I did talk to an interview, basically her
roommate, one of the two peoplewho reported her missing, this
older man who, basically ReinaCarolina, was renting a room
from him and he was verysurprised when he didn't show up
the next day.
He was in contact with ReinaCarolina's sister and he went to
(20:09):
report her missing to thepolice station.
That following day, the Monday,he disappeared.
Everything happened on aSaturday night the Saturday
night after Thanksgiving 2022.
And Monday he was reportedmissing.
There was a police report filedand then nothing happened Again
.
It's just hard to pinpointexactly what wasn't being done
(20:30):
if the police wasn't eventhinking of posting a flyer with
missing woman, right.
And so to me, the heart of thatcase is that whole month and
change that happened.
Mind you, angel, that time herein Massachusetts, our news
coverage and what I mean, ournews coverage, I mean the whole
(20:53):
state was consumed by news ofanother woman's disappearance.
I know exactly who you'retalking, yes, and so this case
completely took over the news.
It made even national news,right, this woman in a wealthier
part of the state was missing,and it ended up being that her
(21:14):
husband was charged with hermurder, and this is a guy.
I think he's in custody orsomething.
I don't know, maybe he's out ofbail, I don't actually know.
He's in custody, he'll go totrial.
Annngelle Wood (21:25):
I don't know if they've set a trial date, but it
should be in 2020.
Marcela Garcia (21:29):
But the way this case consumed everything.
It was everything people weretalking about, because this
woman's disappearance happenedover New Year's, I believe.
And so meanwhile there was thiswoman from East Boston, an
immigrant, who had been missingsince Thanksgiving, and not only
the media didn't know, like youknow what it was paying
(21:50):
attention to this.
There was this family inInstadter who was like screaming
and clamoring.
I mean, when you think aboutthe frustration, the pain, the
sheer frustration of of being solike far away, and your loved
one like I, you and her sistercouldn't get on a plane because
(22:10):
she didn't have a visa and sootherwise she would have been
here.
So it was just one thing afteranother that sort of prevented
this case from progressing Rightand possibly even incompetent.
You know like this is.
This is very real.
Annngelle Wood (22:29):
So when you went to your hometown.
What did you learn?
Tell me about her.
She has two children.
Marcela Garcia (22:35):
Yes, she has two children a young daughter who
must be like 16 or 17 by now,and a younger son.
I mean, what I learned was Iwanted to learn everything about
her, who she was as a person.
You know, what did she like?
What did she do?
Like her previous jobs?
Her friends and the family wasvery generous in that they
opened their home to me, butthey also called all of
(22:59):
Carolina's friends Like I.
I spoke to a couple of of herfriends, a former boss of her.
She was someone who worked inlaw enforcement.
It's it was a municipal I meanthis is another irony of the
case where she worked in lawenforcement in her home country.
There's no real analog to whatthat police force is here's kind
(23:20):
of like a municipal, very sortof low key law enforcement force
.
It's just, it doesn't, you know, it doesn't have a lot of
powers.
But think about, I mean, the wayit was described to me was like
a sort of glorified, you know,security guard body, right, that
that guarded public places likestadiums and parks and that,
(23:42):
and she, she would ride in alittle motorbike and she loved
having her motorbike, littlemotorbike, and she loved having
her motorbike and you know, shewas a very, very happy person
with an incredible sense ofhumor and charisma, like this
was something that struck me asreally, really powerful, that
she had this joy to live, likeshe just had, you know, just the
(24:04):
grace that she was a happyperson.
She was the one always bringingthe party to everywhere, right,
everyone she went, she broughtthe party with her I think
that's how someone said it Likeshe would be up for anything any
day.
Like I spoke to her, to herneighbors and the neighbors were
like you know, she was the onewho would be like, let's have a
(24:25):
barbecue today and a randomThursday, right, and then she
would just put everythingtogether and we'd be telling
jokes.
The other thing that struck meabout her family is that the
sister and the mom they're veryreligious and Reina Carolina was
always very.
She kind of wanted to bereligious, but on her own terms,
(24:45):
if that makes any sense.
Annngelle Wood (24:47):
Spirituality over religion.
Marcela Garcia (24:48):
Yes, and so she would be like very funny about
the way her family, the way theywould be religious, you know,
going to church all the time anddressing a certain way, and
Reina Carolina would be like, no, I don't want to dress that way
, like I want to do my own thing.
She has an amazing style.
(25:09):
Yes, right, you can tell thatfrom the photograph that she was
someone who paid attention toher, you know, to the way she
presented herself, right, andthe way she presents to the
world.
And so, knowing that about her,it wasn't perhaps a surprise
that she would decide one day tocome here, because she really
wanted, she really had dreams.
(25:31):
She had, you know, wants anddreams for her children.
She wanted to give them a reallife and a real shot at life.
She wanted them to go tocollege, she wanted, you know,
to have a home, she wanted tobuild a home for them, et cetera
.
So she decided to come here tohave better economic
opportunities.
(25:52):
And then, the thing that I didfind out when I was there, I
mean all this, this picture ofwho she was, starts to fill in,
right, like all the colors, allthe nuances, all the shades that
you know they, they started tocome into focus for me when I
started talking to everyonebecause, remember, I told you
that I met a former boss of her.
(26:12):
He told me that and again, thisis secondhand, right, I
couldn't entirely confirm it,but the boss told me that at the
time when, when Reina Carolinadecides to come to the U?
S, he was having some issueswith a couple of colleagues at
work in this sort of lawenforcement body that she was
working for.
She had had a couple ofincidents where two different
(26:36):
men had sort of harassed her,you know, basically escalated
sexual harassment, and so thatalso played into her decision to
leave.
And it was very delicate theway she put it to me because she
told me not in front ofeverybody, like she told me
separately, like I think ReinaCarolina was dealing with this
(26:57):
and she and I were in touch evenafter she left, and she told me
all this that you know shetried to also denounce these
people and he went nowhere.
And so it's all these things,these multifaceted things, that
a person who decides toimmigrate, to leave their home
country, faces.
And sometimes, when we think ofimmigrants and why they leave,
(27:19):
we just sort of see onedimension oh, she wanted to have
a better job or she wanted tomake more money, when in reality
it's a combination, it's sortof a constellation of things in
someone's environment that youknow pushes you basically to
leave.
And so that's one aspect, orone more dimension that I
(27:40):
learned about her.
It was so sad to talk to thechildren.
I mean, imagine having yourmother, you know, taking away
like that, and the not knowingtoo I wrote about this a couple
of times just the not knowing,because you can find closure.
I mean, obviously you neverreally recover from such a
terrible loss, right?
Your mother, your sister, youjust need kind of some closure.
(28:04):
What happened to her?
Where's her body?
Can we have a funeral?
Can we say goodbye to her?
Where's her body?
Can we have a funeral?
Can we say goodbye to her?
So that was very tough.
Annngelle Wood (28:11):
There's so many things that come from this.
You know she's in the US forsix months.
She goes missing.
I imagine there's a lot ofanger and disappointment and a
lot of negative feelings thather family's going to have about
the US.
Now this is something thatshould not be swept under the
(28:33):
rug.
This is something that shouldnot be forgotten about.
We shouldn't shrug this off asoh well, just somebody from
somewhere else that didn't knowwhat she was doing.
I don't feel that way at alland unfortunately, I think
there's a fair amount of peoplewho want to look the other way
about these things.
And you know, you have thesetwo children who are getting
closer to adulthood and theirmother's no longer here.
I always try to hold out forthat, for missing people.
(28:55):
She could be somewhere.
We can use every scenario.
She lost her memory, she's beentaken by someone, she's a litany
of things, right, yeah, sothese are the things that I
don't want to stop talking about, because she could be here, she
could be somewhere she doesn'tknow the US.
I don't know how well she couldspeak English, how well she
(29:15):
could communicate Right Evenback home, if she left home the
last straw at home in herworkplace was.
She's being harassed on allsides and she has no protections
.
Well, maybe that was a decidingfactor for her to eventually
(29:36):
make that decision to come hereand give it a go in the US.
There's some information and Iwant to be very mindful of your
time and I appreciate youspending time with me.
There's some information that Iwould respectfully ask for you
to pass on to her family.
When dealing with these kindsof situations, unclaimed and
unresolved, I would ask, howeverit works for her family and I
(29:59):
don't know.
I'd even be willing to to helpthem with this, but share their
DNA and put it in the U Sdatabase database in the event
that Reina Carolina is foundsomewhere in some way.
Marcela Garcia (30:13):
I need to double check this, but I believe the
Middlesex District Attorney'sOffice was working on that with
them, because the good thingabout Reina Carolina's case is
that it also has attracted theattention of several local
immigrant advocates and there'sa group, a legal health group,
(30:34):
that is working with the familyto get the son and the daughter
basically what are called the Uvisa, the category visa.
Yeah, so they are working onthat.
In that process.
I think they also were talkingabout the DNA, but that's
actually a really good point andI will ask them because I
(30:56):
remember there was talk aboutthat at the time and so I just
need to follow up with them onthat, because that's a really
good point.
It is critical, obviously, youknow, with DNA, the technology,
it will be easy to.
I mean, again, if that were thecase, right, I totally agree
that that the hope, and, becauseher family is very religious, I
(31:19):
think that they, they really,they really try to hold on, to
hope that she is somewhere, thatthat she will be found, uh,
eventually.
And I I'm not necessarily uh, II guess by nature I'm much more
cynical and and I I think aboutall the time what, what could
have happened to her where couldshe be?
(31:41):
And I and I go back and forth.
Maybe she's being held, maybeshe, you know, she was hurt,
maybe this and that.
But it's true, like even evenover there, talking to the
family and friends, what youwere saying earlier about their,
their view of the united states, they, they were saying, like
this is the type of thing thathappens in this country, not in
(32:02):
the us, like they have a verysort of glorified, idealized
version of the united states.
You know, we are, you know thecountry, right, like we, we are
a world power and and for animmigrant like reina carolina to
go missing, it for for ourpolice forces not to be able to
(32:23):
find her after all this time, itjust sends a very depressing
message to her family andfriends, right?
Annngelle Wood (32:31):
I worry for our immigrant population, for a lot
of people who don't look like me, my entry into advocacy is only
going to accelerate in the newyear ahead, and I can only
imagine how truly scary it isfor people who didn't grow up
the way they did.
Marcela Garcia (32:48):
The fear, the panic, the intimidation among
you can just feel it inimmigrant communities.
I'm right now working onsomething to that effect.
It's just very, very sad.
I don't know if you heard orsaw, but there was another woman
missing in East Boston inDecember, an older woman.
(33:09):
I guess she was considered asenior, and you know how when a
senior person is missing or anelderly person is missing or
someone with a form ofdisability or who may be
exhibiting signs of dementia orAlzheimer's, you know that
triggers sort of a differentresponse depending on the police
department.
(33:29):
And so she went missing and herfamily was looking for her.
I wrote a column about itbecause I also felt, angel, that
he was just not being given thesame sort of attention that he
should in terms of the media, interms of the media, and
(33:49):
unfortunately her body was foundunder a bridge in Chelsea and
East Boston.
It was so sad because thiswoman, elba Portillo, it
appeared that she was exhibitingearly signs of dementia and it
appeared that the police wasdoing you know what they were
supposed to be doing, but I alsodidn't get the sense from her
family that they were happy.
I mean to be fair, but I alsodidn't get the sense from her
(34:09):
family that they were happy.
I mean to be fair to the police, angela, and I think I want to.
I always want to be fair to allparties, right, or stakeholders
.
I guess no loved one of amissing person is ever going to
be happy, I guess, with thepolice response, or they're
never going to feel that it'senough.
Like you just want to deployevery single like law
enforcement agent.
(34:30):
Right, like that's, that'ssomething to be said, right,
like I get it.
But at the same time, thefamily of this woman rest in
peace.
The daughter was saying to me.
You know, it just felt likethey were asking me the same
questions all over again.
It just felt like they were notlooking where they were
supposed to be looking at, andso, and I felt that, like I felt
I was like I cannot believethis again, right, and so again,
(34:54):
the case ended up being, youknow, a very tragic one because
of the outcome, but still it'sjust so frustrating.
Annngelle Wood (35:03):
There's that missing piece, that sense of
urgency that we don't see.
There's not a balance ofurgency.
We've seen it in so many cases.
We can go back to somethingthat's probably fresher on
people's memory.
When Gabby Petito went missing,the internet exploded and, to
(35:23):
her family's credit, theyrecognize that and, to her
family's credit, they areworking to advocate for women of
color, for people inmarginalized communities,
because they saw exactly whathappened.
Gabby Petito was the onlyperson, the only woman in the
world, who went missing at thattime and it's like look people,
there's so much else going on.
(35:44):
Please share some of thisenergy into finding some of
these other people and givingsome of these other people some
attention.
Here in Massachusetts, where Ilive, I have teamed up with some
other advocates like myself.
We have established a coalitionfor families of missing and
murdered loved ones.
For families like this, becauseI speak to families, you know.
(36:07):
An example of that is thisyoung woman named Charlene
Roseman, who's from Everett.
She she disappeared.
This is going back a number ofyears.
She disappeared.
Police weren't very helpfulsaying things like oh, she's an
adult, she'll be back.
No, her family knows her.
They were absolutely worriedbecause she didn't come home.
This was a very responsibleyoung woman, 23, going out to
(36:28):
look for a car.
I said all that to say that herfamily was lost.
They didn't get any kind ofsupport.
What family knows what to dowhen their loved one goes
missing?
Marcela Garcia (36:37):
Right.
Annngelle Wood (36:38):
Nobody does.
There's no playbook.
Marcela Garcia (36:40):
Everyone is new to that role and you're so
vulnerable as a family memberand this is the part that always
kills me, angel that familyknows best.
Right, like, people are alwayssaying, no, this is not what she
would do, and police tend todismiss those feelings, as you
know, like, why wouldn't youlisten to the people who know
(37:02):
the missing one best?
They would know, right Like,this isn't the behavior that is
typical, it's just mind blowing.
And again, I'm not trainingthese procedures or anything,
but to me that just seems verycommon sense, right, it's just
common sense.
What were the things that shewas known for doing?
(37:22):
If this isn't well, then youknow, get to work.
Annngelle Wood (37:25):
Absolutely, and this is one of the many reasons
why we're working.
We have a my colleagues hosthave been hosting a missing
person stay at the state house.
Now that we've formed this wecall it MPAC is the the, you
know, sort of initializedversion of it.
We're working on reaching outto families and this is
something that I'm going toinformation I'm going to pass on
(37:47):
to you that I hope you canconnect us with this immigrant
community so we can work withthem and include them in this
work that we're trying to do.
Marcela Garcia (37:58):
Of course, of course, absolutely yeah,
anything I can do, you know, tohelp because it's just.
I feel like this is somethingthat is going to keep happening
in immigrant communities morenow more than ever, need the
help of you know, largeradvocacy network need the
support of larger advocacynetworks when something like
(38:20):
this happens.
Annngelle Wood (38:21):
I want them to have some kind of resources
where they can reach out tosomeone and, even if it's you
know, help making flyers anddesigning flyers and printing
out flyers and helping peoplepass them out.
I understand that.
You know everybody has varyingdegrees of skill level in this,
not everybody knows how to makea flyer.
Not everybody knows how todistribute a flyer.
(38:42):
Correct Step one, basic Makesure that this missing person
has been recorded by the localpolice.
So there is a point of contact,as I've learned I'm still
learning through this wholeadvocacy process.
I worked in rock and roll radiofor 20 years Mozilla, so you
know this is new to me, but youknow.
(39:03):
This is where my heart is.
This is where I want to be now.
I want to help.
I want to be one of the helpers, right?
So there are these things thathappen where no idea what to do.
They have no idea where to go.
They have no idea what to do,even if we could help soften
that and point them in adirection to where you know
they're not.
(39:24):
Families aren't puttingthemselves in, and I learned
this happened.
Families say you know, my, mybrother's missing.
Here's my phone number, Call me.
No, I want to protect familiesfrom people who are going to
then call them and try to scamthem.
Well, I have, but you need togive me.
You know these things happenand it sounds and I make this
(39:45):
joke at not at the expense ofany of these families or victims
, but I make this joke.
It's like.
It's like primetime TV.
You see it in, but this is reallife.
These people don't choose this.
They don't want this andthey're lost and they want
somebody somewhere to help them.
Just listen to them and say myloved one is missing.
(40:05):
Who's listening to me?
Marcela Garcia (40:07):
Who's hearing?
Annngelle Wood (40:08):
me who might be able to help me or point me in a
direction where I can try toget some help, because we know
the police it taxpayers money.
Marcela Garcia (40:18):
I mean, this is it.
That's that's the other thingthat we tend to forget that we
are the ones paying for thatservice.
It's a basic function, right ofsociety, and if you cannot
trust that your policedepartment is going to be there
when you need them, you know whocan you trust?
It's depressing to think thatthat's the case and I struggle a
(40:39):
lot because I do want to befair, because there are good
police departments, there aregood police men.
You know, in the aggregate, and, and taken together, all these
cases paint a different picture,right like I mean what you were
saying earlier about gabbypetito.
I mean, the thing that I cannever forget and I will never
forget about that case is thatwhile the whole country was
looking for Gabby Petito andwhile all these other police
(41:01):
departments were looking for her, other bodies were found of
people missing that nobody waslooking for.
I mean, is that what we like?
Are there bodies everywherethat people are not looking for?
They're just forgotten?
I mean it's insane that that'swhat this has come to.
It blows my mind I wonder allthe time what would have
(41:22):
happened with Elena Carolina'scase if the police had been
paying attention or doing morediligent work earlier, faster,
sooner.
Annngelle Wood (41:32):
Knocking on doors because we don't know
where she went in some of them.
We don't know where she wasgoing.
We don't know what she wasdoing.
Was there a job she was goingto?
You know, I understand she hadsome cell phones.
Who did she speak to Aside fromher family?
Who was she havingcommunication with?
Where was she working duringher time here in the US?
(41:53):
These are all questions thatremain unanswered.
Marcela Garcia (41:56):
Yeah, no, it's a great injustice and, like I
said, angela, I think about itall the time and I wish I'm
always looking, like I said inthe beginning, when you and I
started talking I always thinkof, like what is a new angle,
what is a fresh way or approachthat I can write about this, to
sort of remind people.
This has also made impact onreaders' minds, like, from time
(42:20):
to time I get you know randomreader emails saying whatever
happened to this woman that youwere writing about.
It's very striking to me thatpeople you know some people are
paying attention.
I know that some of them arepaying attention and it's kind
of heartwarming but also like,oh, it's tragic all around right
that people have to wonder whathappens to someone who went
(42:41):
missing months ago, months andmonths and months ago, and so
I'm always kind of looking forthat and hopefully I'll make it
work soon enough to be able towrite about her again.
I don't need to have an update.
I mean I'll obviously reach outto the police, but I've always
wondered.
I mean I don't know if this issomething that you know, but,
like in the context of RainaCarolina's case, I've always
(43:01):
wondered when does when?
Is the case considered cold bythe police.
Is there a certain sort oftrustful that has to be met, or
is there a certain time,deadline or period of time that
has to happen?
Does it vary by policedepartment?
Like I've always wondered, atwhat point does that become a
full case?
Annngelle Wood (43:21):
Well, they'll tell you.
Depending on the department andwhere they are, they'll tell
you oh, we're still workingleads, or there's no new
information, but it's still anopen case and obviously you know
these are the answers they giveyou when you try to get any
kind of information.
Marcela Garcia (43:37):
Absolutely, you try to get any case files or
whatever they're like.
Annngelle Wood (43:40):
oh, it's a still open case.
Marcela Garcia (43:43):
We can't share anything.
Annngelle Wood (43:43):
It varies from police department to police
department, from county tocounty, state to state.
It depends on how much or howlittle work that they put into
it versus, probably, how much ofthat they want to reveal to
who's asking.
Marcela Garcia (43:59):
Yeah, exactly, to my understanding the last
time I spoke with Alicia,probably how much of that they
want to reveal to who's asking?
Yeah, exactly Exactly.
And to my understanding thelast time I spoke with Alicia,
carolina's sister, you know theydo hear from time to time from
the detective, from the maindetective, but not to hear any
meaningful update.
It's just like to stay in touchand I guess, but it's mostly
Alicia who initiates the contactand it's like very, very harsh
(44:24):
and I don't believe that anymeaningful information is ever
given to her.
And whenever she asks for verysort of pointed questions what
happened to this?
What about her this?
I feel like at some point therewas a big question about what
happened to her cell phone andsomebody else's cell phone.
Like apparently the person whoshe was meeting with that night
was a former boyfriend ofCarolina.
(44:46):
Apparently that person wasinterviewed or questioned by the
police.
Alicia had questions about whatabout that person's cell phone
and she never really could get areal answer from them.
She also was in touch withSpanish speaker victims
advocates from the middle sexDA's office but never really
(45:07):
thought oh, this person is asuspect, or we believe this,
this, this and this happened, orthis is what we're pursuing.
I always ask them can you giveme a sense of how many people
you question?
Show me a measure of yourinvestigation?
But of course you know that'slike asking the wall.
They would never say.
And, like you said, they alwayssay oh, it's an open
(45:27):
investigation, we can't comment,which of course it's nothing
that prevents them fromrevealing any information.
They just don't want to sayanything or reveal anything.
Annngelle Wood (45:37):
Very likely they recognize that.
Well, you said it.
They could have notified thepublic even just in Somerville
and East Boston.
Yeah, and let them know.
Be on the lookout.
Missing woman.
Here's what we believe shelooks like now.
We know that right now she'sthis size, this weight, and the
(45:57):
most recent photograph, as Iunderstand it, her hair was very
long at the time long and darkat the time that wouldn't have
cost them anything to just saythat to the public.
But for whatever reason, theyjust made the decision that it
wasn't important enough.
Marcela Garcia (46:12):
Yeah, to let anybody know Just blows my mind
Like how does a case like thatjust sort of falls through the
cracks?
How does that happen?
And what trust do I have, orwhat confidence do I have in the
police that that's not going tohappen or that it hasn't
happened in other instances whenI have an issue, when I am
(46:33):
willing that's never going tohappen.
But what if I am the victim ofa crime?
Am I going to trust the policein that way?
That just sends a verytroubling message to the whole
community, not just theimmigrant community, is it?
Does someone have to be whiteand wealthy and blonde to?
Does a person's family have tobe local for the police to do
something?
It's just so unfair and unjust.
(46:54):
It's a grave injustice.
Annngelle Wood (46:57):
Right it is.
And you know you have herfamily and her two children,
which I read a bit about.
The U visas and her family, orat least her children, who are
nearing the age of adult.
Yeah, I would imagine theywould want to come here and see
(47:17):
what kind of work that they maybe able to do to find out
information about their mom.
Marcela Garcia (47:22):
A hundred percent for sure.
I mean, wouldn't you want to dothat?
I mean, it would be the onlything that I would think all the
time, like I want to go there.
And so, with the newadministration and with all
these things being threatened,like immigrant rights and just
the whole immigration systembeing completely overhauled in a
way that just makes it moreexclusionary and restrictive, I
(47:46):
just don't know what's going tohappen.
And so that was last year atsome point when the U visa thing
because there's several thingsthat have to happen for a U visa
to even be filed for, like youknow, the law enforcement
organization has to providedocumentation that the person or
the people the applicants havebeen victims of a crime, and
(48:08):
that took a while to happen.
And so I don't really knowwhere the application stands at
this point.
But I was under the impressionthat those visas have long, long
, long delays and there's just ahuge backlog, just like the
immigration system at large.
So maybe it's a long shot, andmore so at this point but we'll
see.
Annngelle Wood (48:26):
Well, my heart goes out to them because they're
just in this question mark thatlooms over them, Sadly.
This is what her family isdealing with.
This is what Marina Carolina'sfamily is dealing with this
question mark, this ambiguousloss.
My mother disappeared.
We have no idea what happened.
(48:47):
Is she?
Marcela Garcia (48:48):
alive.
Annngelle Wood (48:49):
Did someone harm her?
We don't know.
My friends, julie, who has amissing sister her sister, mara,
has been missing for 21 years.
Marcela Garcia (48:59):
Oh my God, it's haunting and that's a very
poignant way of putting it Anambiguous loss.
It's something I just don'twant to wish on anybody.
It's just how it becomes partof you.
I can't even imagine what thatmust be like.
My heart goes out to her too,and her family.
I tried to reach Alicia earlierthis week but we couldn't
(49:21):
connect.
I'll try it again.
Maybe she'll give me somethingto write about.
Maybe there's an update.
Annngelle Wood (49:28):
If you're able to learn as to whether there was
any continued conversation withthe family about sharing DNA
and getting it into the databasewhere law enforcement can
access that.
I mean the families have tosign on.
Marcela Garcia (49:42):
I see.
Annngelle Wood (49:43):
Right.
For a period of time peoplewere like I don't want to enter
my DNA because the police canjust go in and take it.
That's not the case now.
The laws are that you have tosubmit it to the databases where
law enforcement is allowed toget at it.
Yeah, we see it with.
You know a number of cases.
The Golden State Killer, whowas finally captured many years
(50:03):
ago, made big news because ofthe use of DNA and genetic
genealogy.
These are the kinds of thingsthat are going to solve these
cases, the scientific technologythat's going to finally lead
families to the answers thatthey have been longing for.
Marcela Garcia (50:22):
Hopefully, one can only wish.
Thank you, angel, for givingtime to this topic and to remind
me to keep digging and to justtry to keep it more out there.
Thank you for giving this time,and I'll definitely share this
with the family, even thoughthey don't speak English.
Annngelle Wood (50:39):
I want them to know, I would want them to know
that you are someone who'sputting Reina Carolina's case on
the spotlight Absolutely, and Iwill reach out to you with all
of the information about howwe're going forward with this
advocacy coalition, because youare a very important connection
to this community that we reallywant to have Anything I can do
(51:08):
really want to have Anything Ican do.
Many thanks to Marcela Garciaof the Boston Globe for covering
Raina's case.
I continue to follow her caseand will share any developments
that come up, and I do hopethere will be some.
After missteps with the BostonPolice Department notifying the
public about Reina'sdisappearance, there have been
some changes.
The Boston Police Departmentupdated its missing persons
(51:30):
protocol In May of 2023, theBoston Police Department quietly
revised the department'sprotocols around missing
children and persons.
This is, according to MarcelaGarcia's reporting in the Boston
Globe, a policy that was lastupdated in 1992.
New regulations include, amongother things, a redesigned
(51:52):
missing persons form to collectmore detailed information about
that missing person, but thereappears to be no mention of
ethnicity, including whetherthey use a language other than
English and, if so, which one.
And an expanded publicnotification section that
includes additional parties tocoordinate decision-making
(52:14):
around when to issue alerts.
Massachusetts Missing andMurdered Persons Advocacy
Coalition.
We are planning events in 2025.
We will be at the MassachusettsState Police Unresolved Cases
Unit and the Boston PoliceDepartment Cold Case Unit are
(52:35):
hosting another Missing PersonsDay, Saturday, March 1st in East
Boston at the Girls and BoysClub, which is just around the
corner from Bennington Street,the street that Reina Carolina
was living on.
And planned for the spring 2025, a Missing and Murdered Persons
(52:58):
Day at the Statehouse in Boston.
A Missing and Murdered Person'sDay at the State House in
Boston.
I will be at AdvocacyCon inIndianapolis at the end of March
.
Live show Thursday, March 13th,Off Cabot in Beverly.
Everything atCrimeOfTheTruestKindcom.
(53:25):
If you have information aboutany of these cases that I share
with you, you can email medirectly.
You can reach out to the localpolice department.
You can leave an anonymous tip.
Thank you for listening.
My name is Anngelle Wood.
This is Crime of the Truest Kind.
Massachusetts and New Englandcrime stories, regional history
and always advocacy focused.
(53:46):
If there is a case that youwould like me to know about or
information that you havelearned about a case, send me an
email Crimeofthetruestkind atgmailcom.
I do read my dms on socials.
(54:06):
I'm on just about everyplatform @ crime of the truest
kind and do follow the show.
Thank you to my hardcoresupporters.
I appreciate you a great dealand will be dropping a little
appreciation gift in yourmailbox.
All right, I must be going.
I know I say this at the end ofevery show and I mean it.
I was listening to anotherpodcast about a serial killer,
(54:29):
about BTK it's actually quitegood and he was almost obsessive
about teaching his youngdaughter about safety, making
sure the doors were alwayslocked.
Why?
Because he was a predator andby all means lock your goddamn
(54:52):
doors.
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