Family of missing Provo woman hasn't given up hope


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PROVO — "They haven't found her yet?" a passing motorist asks out his window, glancing at the picture of the young, dark-haired woman.

"No, not yet," replies one member of the slowly marching crowd.

A month has come and gone since Elizabeth Elena Laguna-Salgado, 26, walked out of the downtown center where she was studying, disappearing without a trace in the middle of the day. She had come from her home in Chiapas, Mexico, just a few weeks before.

Now, alongside the Nomen Global Language Center's banners advertising "Learn English in Utah" are missing persons fliers.

More than 50 volunteers, including many members of Laguna-Salgado's family, carried the missing woman's picture through downtown Provo on Saturday, past the school where she studied and down the street where she walked, in hopes of keeping her case from being forgotten.

"Traveling for Memorial Day? Watch for Elena," read posters decorated with hearts.

Among the crowd were the missing woman's mother and father, accepting embraces from friends and strangers and giving thanks for prayers offered on their daughter's behalf.

"My heart, the heart of a mother, is grateful to all of you," Libertad Edith Salgado-Figueroa told the group in Spanish. "I have hope that Elizabeth Elena is alive and our Heavenly Father is going to help us find her."

Unread messages

Elizabeth Laguna-Salgado had talked to her older sister every day since coming to Utah. The two are very close, Sara Laguna-Salgado said, answering questions from the family's home in Mexico.

The two used messaging apps to stay in touch and had been chatting back and forth on April 16, the day she disappeared.


My heart, the heart of a mother, is grateful to all of you. I have hope that Elizabeth Elena is alive and our Heavenly Father is going to help us find her.

–Libertad Edith Salgado-Figueroa, Elena's mother


"I love you. What are you doing?" Sara Laguna-Salgado asked her sister.

"I just left school," she responded about 2:30 p.m.

Just over 30 minutes passed before Sara Laguna-Salgado saw the message and responded, "Cool. Have you arrived?"

The app, which indicates whether a message has been read, shows that Elizabeth Laguna-Salgado never got her sister's message.

"I've missed her very much since she went to Provo, Utah, to study English," Sara Laguna-Salgado said. "Knowing that she didn't answer me breaks my soul and heart. It hurts so much not knowing anything about my sister."

Elizabeth Laguna-Salgado is one of seven children, four daughters and three sons that make up the tight-knit family, all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Two of her brothers accompanied their parents to Utah while the rest wait in Mexico, sharing messages on social media and waiting for any news.

The separation is taxing on them all.

"We all watch social media on our phones and computers every day because it is the only connection we have," Sara Laguna-Salgado said. "We can't do anything else."

Photo credit: Chris Samuels/Deseret News

Running out of time

As he walks among the crowd, Julio Cesar Laguna-Ozuna marvels at the number of people who help search for his daughter each day. They walk the streets, hang fliers, post online and pray.

"People have seen that we're searching, though we're not from here, we're 'Chiapanecos,' but the people here have helped us," Laguna-Ozuna said.

The family was granted humanitarian entry into the United States to look for their daughter, but the 14 days they were allowed have passed. Now they are petitioning for an extension, a process that could take up to five months. But in the meantime they are allowed to stay and search.

They desperately hope news of their daughter will surface before their time is up.

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Salgado-Figueroa calls the wait "constant anguish" for her family, thrown into uncertainty without their caring daughter.

"She is a spiritual girl with so much love for others," the mother said.

She lights up whenever she describes her daughter, who recently returned from serving an LDS mission in Mexico. Some of the most recent photos of Elizabeth Laguna-Salgado show her smiling and wearing her missionary name tag.

The family is also running out of money, with both parents committed to the search in Provo and unable to work. In response, members of the volunteer group that has built up around the family have set up a website, findelizabeth.org, to collect donations as well we disseminate updates about events.

"We have all stopped working," said Salgado-Figueroa, including her two brothers who live in Utah. "Since we got here we have not stopped one moment looking for Elizabeth Elena, from the moment we wake up until the moment we go to sleep."

In the meantime, the missing woman's father knows that time is slipping away. He believes his daughter is being held against her will, and he prays that her captors will either release her or make a mistake that allows her to escape.

Photo credit: Chris Samuels/Deseret News

Keeping case alive

As Provo Police Chief John King approaches the grieving parents, who are wearing matching T-shirts with their daughter's picture, he greets them with a hug. He arrived in uniform Saturday to see the group off on their march.

"I can't imagine how frustrating this is for the family, because it's frustrating for us as professionals working the case," King said. "It re-energizes us here seeing the community come together. I know I gain strength from talking to the family, and the officers do too. We're all from families. It touches home."


It re-energizes us here seeing the community come together. I know I gain strength from talking to the family, and the officers do too. We're all from families. It touches home.

–John King, Provo Police Chief


King called the investigation a top priority for his department.

Provo police have received and followed up on more than 120 tips since Elizabeth Laguna-Salgado was last seen, King said. Nothing has provided a clear picture, however, of where the woman might be.

"Like any case, some (tips) have been very promising and have seemed very worthwhile, and then they'll just fall off the board," the chief said. "We've made progress in the investigation, we just haven't had that successful conclusion, which is where we find Elena."

King also hopes that Utahns will keep the woman in their minds as they go about their holiday weekend, calling in any tips that may lead police to new information.

"They may not have seen Elena, but what they'll do is they'll hear information at a party or something, someone will make a comment, and that comment may lead to significant track for the investigation," King said.

Until then, he hopes community members will continue to think of Elizabeth Laguna-Salgado and her family.

"This is a very caring community," he said. "This is how we work to solve cases. It really is a community cooperative effort."

Contributing: Sandra Yi

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