Jennifer Melissa Gonzalez went missing on June 13, 2023, police said. (Image of Jennifer Gonzalez: Pasadena Police Department; screenshot of her mother: KHOU)
When a tow truck service found the SUV of a mother of six who mysteriously disappeared last week, there was a man’s shirt and pack of cigarettes inside — and the woman wasn’t a smoker, her family says.
Family members of Jennifer Melissa Gonzalez, 30, say that the missing woman doesn’t smoke, making the discovery of the cigarettes in her car particularly unusual, local CBS affiliate KHOU reported.
Aura Gonzalez, Jennifer Gonzalez’s mother, told the outlet in an interview translated from Spanish that she has called her daughter but has been met with silence, which she says is out of character.
Last seen by her 14-year-old son, Jennifer Gonzalez reportedly said she was going to Walmart, but her family later learned the business was closed at that time on June 13.
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“Her family last saw Jennifer on June 13th at 11:00 PM,” said cops in the Houston-area city of Pasadena, Texas. “Jennifer’s vehicle was captured on camera driving around the Pasadena/Houston area before a tow truck service located her vehicle on Friday, June 16th, on the 2000 [block] of Jefferson St. near downtown Houston.”
The discovery of the SUV happened 15 miles from her home, Pasadena police Sgt. Raul Granados told Law&Crime on Wednesday.
There is no evidence of foul play at this time, he said. Regarding the camera detail, he said that license plate camera systems in the area spotted Jennifer Gonzalez’s vehicle around the time she was reported missing. These images did not show who was driving, he said.
Jennifer Melissa Gonzalez went missing on June 13, 2023, police said. (Image: Pasadena Police Department)
Granados said the investigation is ongoing and that officials are reaching out to hospitals and jails in case she ended up at a facility, as well as speaking to more family members to better develop a timeline.
Granados declined to comment on the details of the KHOU report.
Aura Gonzalez says that Jennifer would never abandon her six children, who range in age from 1 to 14. She told KHOU that the children keep asking for their mother.
“I simply tell them ‘I can’t give you an answer right now but we’re doing everything possible so your mom can return home to you,”” she said.
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