Ten-year-old Bianca Lebron of Bridgeport, Connecticut, vanished in 2001 after getting into a van driven by an unknown Hispanic male. She has never been seen again.
About the Case
On November 7, 2001, Bianca Lebron, 10, arrived at Elias Howe School in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to begin a full day of classes. While waiting outside to go in, a man called out to her from a van. He was described as Hispanic, 20-30 years old, and stood 5’8″ – 5’11”. Bianca told a teacher and her friends that she was going shopping with her uncle.
A witness saw Bianca at 8:30 a.m. getting into an older model two-tone brown van with tinted windows. She has not been seen since.
Bianca’s mother, Carmelita Torres, assumed her daughter had attended the school that day and then went to a friend’s house afterward. When Bianca failed to return home by 8:30 p.m., Carmelita called the police and reported her missing.
According to Carmelita, Bianca did not have any uncles. Therefore, the man in the van was not related to her.
In 2002, police questioned 20-year-old Jason Lara (who also went by the last name Gonzalez), but he denied any involvement in her disappearance. It is worth noting here that one of Jason’s friends drove a van similar to the one mentioned above, according to The Charley Project.
Bianca’s family said someone had seen her kissing Jason before vanishing and referred to him as her boyfriend. However, Jason’s girlfriend at the time said these were false allegations the Lebron family were claiming due to a feud between them and Lara.
In 2009, law enforcement searched a local Bridgeport park for Bianca’s remains, but they did not find anything.
Carmelita declared her daughter dead so she could file a lawsuit against the school. However, Carmelita believes her daughter may still be alive.
It’s been almost 15 years since Bianca LeBron vanished, and no arrests have been made in her case.
True Crime Diva’s Thoughts
Bianca knew the van driver because she was comfortable enough to get in the van and willingly go with this man. I think Jason Lara makes the most sense, and he fits the description of the man seen in the van. However, in my opinion, he does not resemble the composite sketch. Lara had a bit of a criminal background, mostly burglary and forgery, a far cry from child abduction and possibly murder. But maybe he became obsessed with Bianca.
I did not find anything on any sightings of Bianca or the van after she left the school. Bridgeport is a decent size town, so maybe the van just went unnoticed.
What I don’t get is when Bianca told the teacher she was going shopping with her uncle, why didn’t the school verify this with her mother first? Why did the teacher just let Bianca walk away? Hello, she was about to get into a creeper van! If that teacher had insisted Bianca stayed at school until officials could verify this with Carmelita, she would be here today. This teacher was suspended afterward. Go figure.
Bianca referred to this man as her “uncle,” and he wasn’t, says that she was hiding who he was. But why? If this was Lara, and she believed he was her boyfriend, then she would have referred to him as her boyfriend to her friends. Maybe not to her teacher, but definitely to her friends. Yet she didn’t, so I find that a bit interesting.
There is a Facebook page set up for Bianca, but the last entry was posted in 2015.
7 comments
I just started following this story…and I think this is very off…whoever the guy was she most definitely know him…I think the family should be question anytime your daughter don’t come straight home from school…and a secret boyfriend…yall need to dig more into this story because something is not adding up… I’m studying criminal justice now and I can say only two things can be the out come of this situation either she dead are lock up in someone house are basement being brain wash by whoever this person and if it is the Lara guy and he have a girlfriend she may have something to do with also because her boyfriend was attracted to a younger girl you guys have to sit and think of the unthinkable….I read that it is a non family abduction ok fine but you still need to dig deep down into the family situation a 10 year old kissing a 20 and family don’t do anything but pass words…not only that…that probably didn’t even happen they have you thinking that to throw you off…the girl probably still be in some body home in that town…I wish I was on this case…the first thing I would do is read over all the files…then I would go back to the crime scene…I don’t care what nobody say whoever the detective are on this case probably are some very good ones but I guarantee you that they miss something and it probably be the Littles things I promise and I would start the investigation all over again 16 years later i would investigate every family member I would even go to Florida for the members you left i would even investigate the grandmother mother friends everybody all over again and I’m not going to say why but that’s what I would do…if this case is not solve by the time I earn my degree would go to bridgeport connecticut and fine some answer…people always thinking that a person is dead true but they have girls boys came up missing and was found years later like the three girls was still in there neighborhood in their neighbors basements this is a small town and I live in a very big city so who the detective is on this case need to do their homework goodnight
If the parents never gave permission then sue the pants off the school NO CHILD should leave any facility without parent’s consent. Plus schools should have pics of all supposed relatives that may pick up child.
First off Bianca didn’t tell the teacher *mr. Memolli* that she was going to the mall with her uncle she told me and another friend she was going to the mall and she wanted us to go with her she asked our teacher can she go to the front to see her uncle and that’s what we told the cops, he was a real nice teacher and love to joke so when he told us to go with her to the front to make sure she come back that was him joking but little did he know she really wasn’t coming back, she kept asking us to go with her to the mall, we declined and she got in the van she did seem a little scared but at the time I thought nothing of it, I feel bad for our former teacher and her family because she really didn’t have to go we were all close friends she could have told us if that was her bf or a friend I feel like we was entirely too close to be keeping secrets, her mom didn’t call the cops right away because she knew that we always hung out but at the same time weren’t even teens yet so idk why her mom waited until almost 9 to start looking for her, I think about Bianca all the time and pray that she’s okay but in the back of my mind I believe she was killed because there are no signs of her what so ever, I pray that one day they find out who the man is that took her and he pay for what he did
That bothered me too…why her mom waited until almost 9 to look for her. There’s no way I’d let my 10 yr old have so much independence that they would be going anywhere after school without me taking them there…let alone without me knowing for sure.
I’m so sorry you have to live with being the last to have seen her. I hope you and your friends have found peace in that and that Bianca also has peace wherever she is.
I hope and pray Bianca is found she and my oldest are the same age I don’t think I could live if it were my child ..I can only imagine the pain her mother feels day to day ..I wonder how convenient was it for the Lara guy to leave a month after Bianca was taken and what boggles my mind is that Bianca was 10 yrs old how could her family say her secret boyfriend was Lara sounds like pedophilia to me! But aside from all I’m no expert or detective I pray she is found safe and brought home
It baffles me that her mother wasn’t concerned when her daughter didn’t come home from school and just assumed she was at a friends. I would never let hours go by without knowing exactly where my young child was. It makes me question what Bianca’s home life was like
Me neither! I think it’s only natural in this case to question the home life. Something is a little off in this case, I think.