Texas authorities searching for a 19-year-old girl missing on Christmas Eve have released grainy dashcam video they believe showed her walking down the street blocks from her home.
The short video shows a man whose clothes match those worn by Camila Mendoza Olmos when she was last seen leaving her home in northwest Bexar County just before 7 a.m. on December 24.
“If it is indeed him, we’ve got a good direction of flight,” Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar told reporters at a news conference Monday.
“We’re sharing that information, that video, with all of you in the hopes that someone may have collected a similar video by now,” Salazar said.
Olmos was last seen wearing a baby-blue and black hoodie, baby-blue pajama bottoms and white shoes, the sheriff’s department said in a post on social media.
The Sheriff’s Department previously said it was reviewing video recorded by a neighbor’s doorbell camera. In that clip, a man believed to be Olmos is seen searching for an unknown object in his car.
Salazar told reporters at the press conference that investigators had found “indications of suicidal thoughts by this young woman in the past” as well as “some depression issues.”
But “What young person hasn’t faced depression at some point? We can’t necessarily afford to just say: ‘Oh, OK, it is what it is,'” Salazar said.
“We have to consider all possibilities, from intentional disappearance to the possibility of self-harm to the possibility that someone may have taken her,” Salazar said.
The FBI field office in San Antonio confirmed Monday that it was used by the Sheriff’s Office to help the investigation “by providing resources and expertise, including digital forensic analysis.”
“We will continue to work closely with the (Sheriff’s Office) to determine if any federal violations exist and to support their ongoing investigation,” an FBI San Antonio spokesperson said in an email.
Authorities believe Olmos left her home on foot. “The only items he had on him were his car keys and possibly his driver’s license,” the sheriff’s office said. said in a post on Facebook,
Camila’s mother, Nancy Olmos, told the Sheriff’s Office that her daughter usually goes out for a morning walk. She became worried when Camila did not return after her normal period.
“She’s not the kind of person” to leave the house suddenly, Nancy Olmos told NBC News, adding that the family found Camila’s turned off cellphone in her room.
in an interview with NBC affiliate WOAI In San Antonio, Camila’s father said he was “devastated” but was trying to rely on his religious faith.
“It keeps me going,” Alfonso Mendoza told the station. “I broke down many times. I still break down when I get home, but I know prayers are keeping me going.”
He said he was praying for the safe return of his daughter.
“If she’s there listening,” he said, “Daddy loves her.”
