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SALT LAKE CITY — The FBI has named a man who was living in Kaysville as the suspect in the disappearance of Ogden teen Elizabeth Gonzalez and her two young cousins, Soxfia Mailen Moreno Zamora and Regina Moreno Zamora.
Antonio Moreno is Elizabeth's uncle and the biological father of Sofia Mailen, 6, and Regina, 4. The three girls went missing on June 30 in Mexico City, where Elizabeth was visiting her grandmother, after entering a taxi.
"Surveillance video shows (Elizabeth) walking with her two cousins, who are Mexican citizens, and all three getting into a taxi. The FBI believes Elizabeth was manipulated by an adult male, allegedly Moreno, to get into that taxi. We believe all four are traveling together," the FBI said in a statement Friday, issued by the agency's field office in Salt Lake City.
The FBI is looking for Moreno, 31, as well as the three girls and asks the public to contact the FBI in Salt Lake City with any pertinent information at 801-579-1400. Tips can also be submitted at tips.fbi.gov. The agency believes the three girls are in danger and still in Mexico.
Elizabeth's mother, Alma Soreque of Ogden, told media on Wednesday that she had spoken with her daughter earlier in the day she went missing. Later that day, Elizabeth, 14, went with her two young cousins to a neighborhood store in the Azcapotzalco section of Mexico City, where her grandma lives, to get a soda — the last time the three were seen. Elizabeth, who finished seventh grade at Roy Junior High last May, had traveled alone to Mexico City on June 15 to visit her grandmother, Soreque's mother, and was to remain there until Aug. 7.
The disappearance of Elizabeth has been devastating for Soreque. Alma Delia Zamora Vega, the mother of Sofia Mailen and Regina, told KSL-TV before the FBI press release Friday that she has been similarly impacted.
"I feel devastated. I feel sick because I don't know where my daughters are. I don't know who they're with," she said in an interview. The store the three girls visited is located on a street corner near the home of Elizabeth's grandma, Zamora Vega said.
Surveillance video obtained by KSL-TV shows Elizabeth and her cousins walking hand-in-hand from the store. At one point, Elizabeth seems to be talking on her cellphone. A separate video stream shows the three getting in the taxi, according to the FBI, and Zamora Vega described it: "A car stops, a taxi, a person gets out, a man, and gets them into the car and then it goes."
Friday's FBI statement says Moreno had been living in Kaysville for the past three years.
"On June 30, 2024, Moreno abruptly traveled to Mexico City, Mexico, and allegedly took the three girls without their mothers' permission. Relatives have not seen or heard from them since. We believe the girls are in danger and still in Mexico," the FBI said.
As Elizabeth is a U.S. citizen, the FBI is directly involved in the investigation into her disappearance, working with their Mexican counterparts. As Sofia Mailen and Regina are Mexican, Mexican officials are taking the lead in the probe into their whereabouts though U.S. officials are assisting.
Contributing: Garna Mejia
