A Texas teenager vanished under mysterious circumstances on Christmas Eve, leaving her best friend with a heartfelt farewell the day before.
Camila Mendoza Olmos, 19, was last captured on a neighbor’s security camera departing from her home in a San Antonio suburb at 6:58 a.m. on a Wednesday. Her sudden disappearance has ignited an extensive search effort.
Speaking about their last conversation, Olmos’s childhood confidante, Camila Estrella, recalled their plans to shop for a dress for an event with Olmos’s boyfriend’s family.
Estrella shared with the New York Post that Olmos’s final words were, “Bye Cami, I love you,” as they ended their call.
Estrella, who communicated with Olmos almost daily, described her as a person overflowing with affection.
Reflecting on the unexpected nature of Olmos’s disappearance, she expressed disbelief, saying, “This is so random, we never expected this.”
Olmos’s loved ones have issued urgent pleas for her to be found safe, with the area she vanished from in northwest Bexar County known by authorities as a human-trafficking corridor.
On the morning she vanished, surveillance video obtained by KENS showed Olmos standing near her vehicle with the lights on, while wearing only pajama shorts and a hoodie.
Camila Mendoza Olmos, 19, told a friend ‘I love you’ over the phone the day before she vanished on Christmas Eve, her best friend has revealed
Footage from a neighbor’s surveillance camera showed an individual believed to be Mendoza Olmos standing near her vehicle with the lights on at 7am on Christmas Eve, and she hasn’t been seen since
In the footage, Olmos appeared to search inside the car for an unidentified item, investigators said. Moments later, the footage ends.
Her car was still parked at home when she disappeared, leading authorities to believe she left the area on foot. She has not been seen since.
The mystery deepened when it was discovered that Olmos, a Northwest Vista Community College student, had left her phone on a bed in her home with no battery, which was found by her mother around three hours after she was last seen in surveillance footage.
Olmos’s family said she typically goes for a morning walk, but always takes her phone with her, and insisted that it is out of character for her to leave without telling them where she would go.
‘It’s just not Cami,’ her aunt Nancy Olmos said. ‘We knew something happened.’
Another close friend, Isabela, described Mendoza Olmos’s disappearance as ‘very out of the norm.’
‘It’s not like her. She’s always been the one to always stalk on us and like, “why aren’t you doing this?” [She would] make sure that her phone’s always charged,’ Isabela added to KSAT.
Authorities have not shared any evidence of foul play, but the circumstances including her abandoned phone, her sudden disappearance on foot, and the lack of any confirmed sightings have fueled growing concern
Olmos was described by her friends as ‘full of love’
Surveillance footage shows an individual believed to be Camila near her vehicle shortly before she vanished. Pictured, the family car near where she was last seen
Estrella told 4News that she has been left confounded by the situation, and said she fears the investigation could stall if Olmos is not found soon, as the surveillance footage offers few clues over where she may have gone.
‘It showed that she was opening the back of her car,’ Estrella explained.
‘As a ring camera, it stops when it stops detecting motion, that’s all we saw of her just opening the back of her car door… we have nothing to trace her with. We have nothing.’
Police have deployed scent-tracking dogs during the ongoing search, but so far they have failed to find the 19-year-old.
Officials said in a missing person report issued during the search that Olmos is considered ‘possibly endangered.’
Deputies described Mendoza Olmos as 5ft 4in tall, weighing about 110 pounds.
She was last seen wearing a baby blue and black hoodie, baby blue pajama bottoms, and white shoes, and authorities urged anyone with information on her whereabouts to contact police.
Her mother, Rosario Olmos, said she went searching for her daughter, believing she would find her walking as she had many times before
Family and friends searched nearby areas on Christmas Day but found no sign of the girl
Authorities have not shared any evidence of foul play, but the circumstances, including her abandoned phone, her sudden disappearance on foot, and the lack of any confirmed sightings, have fueled growing concern.
The missing woman’s mother, Rosario Olmos, told KENS that she and her daughter had been sleeping in the same bed early Christmas Eve morning when she felt Mendoza Olmos get up.
About 90 minutes later, Olmos awoke and realized her daughter was gone.
‘I called her cell phone, but the cell phone was there on the bed, and it was turned off,’ Olmos said.
‘I put it to charge and went out to look for her. I thought I would find her like other times, walking, and we would come home together.’
After checking with the teen’s boyfriend and her father, both of whom said they had not seen her, Olmos contacted the sheriff’s office to report her daughter missing.
Family members and friends spent Christmas Day searching the area around the home, but found no sign of the 19-year-old.
‘It is not normal for her to disappear,’ Olmos said, adding that she usually knows where her daughter is at all times.
‘I only ask God to please bring her back home,’ she said. ‘Bring her back to me.’
As the search stretched into Christmas Day, Mendoza Olmos’s aunt Nancy Olmos issued an emotional public plea online, urging people to share information and pray for the teenager’s safe return.
‘Please help me and my family continue to share this,’ Nancy Olmos wrote. ‘We are still searching for my sweet angel, my niece, Camila Mendoza Olmos, 19 years old.’
She added that her niece had recently been baptized and was deeply religious.
‘She loves God with all her heart, and we are desperately looking for her,’ she wrote.
Acknowledging the timing of the disappearance on one of the year’s most sacred holidays, Olmos appealed directly to families celebrating together.
‘I know many of you are gathered with your children and loved ones this Christmas, opening presents and celebrating together,’ she wrote.
‘As a sister in Christ, I am humbly asking for one special gift this year — in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ please help us by sharing these posts and, most importantly, by lifting Camila up in your prayers.
‘We believe in God’s protection, and we have faith that Camila will come home,’ she added. ‘Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.’
