Nine people are reported missing every single day in San Antonio.
Over the course of reporting on our Missing in San Antonio series, we found that in some cases there were delays before law enforcement even started to investigate.
We talked to missing persons advocates and local officials and got tips on how best to report a missing loved one.
First, call 9-1-1 and file a police report for a missing person.
As soon as you discover your loved one is missing you can file a report. There is no required waiting period. Don’t delay. You can do it immediately when communication with that individual has stopped and you feel that something is wrong.
Your case could be handled by the San Antonio Police Department or by the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office based on where the person went missing.
Missing in San Antonio is a multi-part series by the San Antonio Report on people who go missing and the people who work to find them.
Read the first story that reveals just how many go missing here.
Read the second story, in which we share the stories of eight local missing persons cases here.
Share your stories with us through this form.
Other municipalities, like Balcones Heights, Olmos Park, Leon Valley or Castle Hills, don’t have a designated missing persons unit, but assign police officers or detectives who investigate other crimes to missing persons cases within its unit.
It took Valerie Mendoza three times to report her daughter Katelyn Vara missing in August. Finally, 16 days after her first attempt, she went to the West Side police substation and refused to leave until getting a case number for the report.
Be prepared with identifying information and photos.
Law enforcement will need to know basic information about the person who is missing, including hair color, eye color, any tattoos, eyeglasses, moles or piercings. Details on the date, time, location or circumstances of how the person went missing, what they were wearing, what they were doing and names or descriptions of people they were with is also useful.
Share information that could help the investigation.
Going missing isn’t a crime, but it can be if the person was taken against their will. Be sure to share plans the person had or things they did to prepare for the future with the investigating agency.
It’s also helpful to share anything they may have said about disappearing or whether there’s a history of abuse. Bianca Carrasco, who was last seen on May 1, 2016, made a comment to a coworker about going missing after disclosing plans to leave her husband, according to her sister, Jovanna Burney.
In Kassandra Gonzalez‘s case, she was in the middle of a custody battle for her kids at the time she went missing on Aug. 11, 2023.
If anyone has access to the missing person’s location or activity for example through a smartphone app such as FindMy, it could help. Law enforcement could access records if the missing person is on the same phone plan or bank account.
In the case of Suzanne Clark Simpson, who was last seen Oct. 6, her 20-year-old daughter was able to share detailed information about her mother’s last known location with law enforcement, contradicting information they were told by the suspect. Records also revealed the service on Simpson’s phone was suspended at the request of the subscriber.
Communicate any diagnosed medical condition or disability.
If your loved one needs a prescribed medicine every day, this could change how the case is labeled and prioritized.
What happens next? It depends.
The Missing Persons Unit will search for the missing person by calling local hospitals and services for homeless communities first.
If the missing person is a juvenile, anyone involved in keeping the child away from their parents or caregivers could be with can be charged with harboring a runaway, which is a Class A misdemeanor.
Once a missing persons report is filed, that information is filed with the Texas Crime Information Center (TCIC) and the National Crime Information Center (NCIC). Those systems help law enforcement agencies know when someone is missing.
Ask police if the missing person is eligible for an alert. Families can’t request a statewide alert, but law enforcement can, if the person meets certain requirements. For example, law enforcement can request an AMBER Alert when it poses a credible threat to the child’s safety and health. Read about specific statewide alerts here.
Request law enforcement generate a missing persons flyer.
The public will only know your loved one is missing if you get the word out. Ask law enforcement if they can make a missing persons flyer and post on the agency’s social media account.
Contacting news organizations about your missing loved one could help get the news out, but the media is often not able to publicize every case it receives.
Be persistent, but patient.
It can be frustrating for families when law enforcement isn’t able to give frequent updates on their missing loved one.
“The squeaky wheel gets the grease,” says retired SAPD homicide detective Mark Duke. “It could help get attention or get the case assigned to a detective, but people are people and sometimes they get their feelings hurt, and it could cause issues.”
Duke says it can also be hard on the detectives and agents working the cases.
“The reason why detectives are detectives is because they want to solve crimes. They want to keep the public safe, they want to put the bad guy in jail. But sometimes when you have 20 cases on your desk, you have to triage them and ask which one you have the best chance of solving. Because if you just do a little bit of work on all of them, you’re not going to solve any of them.”
More resources
There are nonprofit organizations with resources to help the families of missing people find their loved ones and advocate for them.
Search and Support San Antonio, which offers search, rescue, discovery services and advocates for the families of missing persons and unsolved homicides. They generate missing persons posters, campaign all year long for different cases, and talk to people on the street about your missing loved one.
Search and Rescue SATX organizes search and rescue services with its volunteers and shares missing persons flyers on social media and on its website for families who seek help.
Project Absentis also helps search for missing people. Its retired and former FBI and law enforcement agents tackle cases, look for evidence and assist families of missing people.
