16-year-old Texas teen, Monica Carrasco disappeared on October 1, 2003 from the home of her relatives. She has never been found.
About the Monica Carrasco Case
Moncia Carrasco, 16, was last seen by her aunt and uncle around 11:00 p.m. on October 1, 2003 at 3701 County Road 323 in Balmorhea, Texas. Monica was staying with them following an argument with her mother.
Around 1:30 a.m. Monica’s cousins checked on her and she was asleep in her bed. By 6:00 a.m., she had vanished. Monica left behind her personal belongings including clothes and shoes. However, her Bible was missing.
Police found no evidence of forced entry and Monica’s room was undisturbed.
Monica’s relatives said she was an avid runner and may have gotten up early to go running. However, she was still in her beige nightgown and did not have shoes on. The terrain is rugged with rocks, cacti, and thorns, so it is not an ideal place someone would run in without shoes.
Monica’s relatives also believe she may have become disoriented from her medications and wandered off.
Despite air and land searches, Monica Carrasco has never been found. Police searched the aunt and uncle’s home extensively but found no evidence of a crime. Monica’s uncle took and failed a polygraph test.
A few months before she disappeared, Monica was harassed by her school bus drive to the point she refused to ride the bus again. She did not report the abuse to authorities. Police interviewed him after she vanished and ruled him out as a suspect. It is unclear why he was ruled out.
In 2015, police reopened the case.
In 2000, Monica’s father passed away from bone cancer and she became severely depressed. She was hospitalized for depression and anorexia after she lost over 50 pounds. However, most people do not believe she took her own life, and her mother does not believe she ran away.
True Crime Diva’s Thoughts
Well, I think her aunt and uncle know more than they are saying. To suggest she may have gone running in her nightgown and bare feet is just plain ludicrous.
All we have about Monica Carrasco’s last moments are from her family. She went to bed at 11:00 and her cousins checked on her at 1:30. Why would they check on a 16-year-old? I thought that was a bit odd.
The last people who saw her alive are the same people who came up with the silly running theory and who offered up the “Monica may have been disoriented” theory. There’s no way an avid runner would run barefoot in a nightgown through rugged terrain.
Police found zero evidence a crime had been committed inside the aunt and uncle’s home. Okay, but did they check outside? What about any outdoor buildings? Vehicles? Maybe the crime was committed in an entirely different location. Maybe wherever her body is.
There is the possibility that someone known to her knocked on the outside entrance in her room after the cousins checked on her at 1:30, but who would that be? Did she have a boyfriend? Why did she take her Bible but nothing else? Why would she not put clothes on?
Another theory floating around is that Monica willingly left to meet a man she met on the internet. Where did this theory come from? Did police check computers in the home? A cell phone? Why did she leave in just her nightgown and no shoes? Makes no sense. I don’t buy this theory at all.
I don’t believe her depression had anything to do with her disappearance. Someone on Websleuths suggested that this was probably what led to her demise and she might have committed suicide. Well, where’s the body? This user also suggested she could have been sleepwalking and someone picked her up. This is a legit theory if she had previously walked in her sleep.
Did she just go for a little walk and the wrong person drove by and picked her up? Maybe, but why would you take a walk without shoes on your feet?
What is the significance of the missing Bible, if any? Well, from what I understand she was very religious and often prayed. Perhaps she knew she was in danger and took the Bible for comfort.
Balmorhea is a very small town in West Texas and not too far from Mexico. So, I think whoever took her also knew her. She could have been taken in to Mexico but I’m betting on the aunt and/or uncle. The family was the last to see her before she vanished, and the uncle failed a polygraph. And let’s not forget the theories they threw out to police. So if they are responsible, what was the motive? Maybe the uncle was a pervert. Maybe an argument escalated.
What do you think happened to Monica Cassandra Carrasco?