26 Year Old Elizabeth Elena Laguna-Salgado Missing Since 4/16/15 in Provo, UT (Update: Unknown If Body in Suitcase Is Missing Utah Woman)(Update: Body Found Not Elizabeth Elena Laguna-Salgado)

26 year old Elizabeth Elena Laguna-Salgado has been missing since April 16, 2015 in Provo, Utah. She was last seen walking home Thursday, April 16 from the Nomen Global Language School at 384 W. Center St.; however, failed to report to work last week or return to her Provo apartment. The police have stated that Salgado’s phone has been turned off and there hasn’t been any credit card activity since Thursday.

Laguna-Salgado, 26, was last seen walking home April 16 from the Nomen Global Language School at 384 W. Center St. Police are asking the public to be on the lookout for the woman, who failed to report to work last week or return to her Provo apartment.

Laguna-Salgado is a returned Mormon missionary who has only been living in the area for about a month, Villalobos said. Family members told police they have not been able to make contact with her.

Her only relative in the area is an uncle, as her parents are in Mexico, according to the page.

“No ones knows where she is or even has a clue of where she could be,” a post to the page reads.

Laguna-Salgado is described as 5-foot-4 to 5-foot-5, 120-130 pounds, with long black hair and brown eyes.

When last seen, she was wearing a denim jacket, blue jeans, black or brown knee-high boots, and was carrying a denim hand bag with red straps.

 

UPDATE I: Volunteers search Provo River area for missing woman.

On Thursday friends, family and complete strangers came together in Provo to search for 26-year-old Elizabeth Elena Laguna Salgado.  She has been missing since Thursday, April 16th.

“This is really really hard for me because I live very close to here I never thought it was going to happen here.  Never,” said Rudemberdh Salgado, Elizabeth’s Uncle.

Volunteers scour the banks and crouch under bridges along the Provo River, hoping to find any signs of Salgado.

UPDATE II: Uncle fears Provo woman was taken against her will.

Provo police and family members were ramping up efforts Thursday to find a missing woman, and her uncle fears she was taken against her will.

“I believe somebody took her by force,” Rudemberth Salgado said of his 26-year-old niece Elizabeth Elena Laguna Salgado.

Salgado said his niece isn’t the type of person to leave or lose contact with family, and she left important items behind.

“Her passport is in her apartment and all her stuff is in her apartment,” he said.

FACEBOOK – Provo Police Department: Elizabeth Elena Laguna-Salgado

Provo Police Department is requesting additional assistance from the public in the investigation of the missing person, Elizabeth Elena Laguna Salgado.

We have scheduled a volunteer search party for Saturday, April 25th at 09:00 a.m. We will meet at the Covey Center parking lot, 100 S 450 W. Any volunteers wishing to participate will be subject to a background check and will need to produce valid photo identification

UPDATE III: Elizabeth Elena Salgado Case: Unknown If Body in Suitcase Is Missing Utah Woman.

On Thursday night, a body that was too badly decomposed to immediately confirm its age or sex was found in a suitcase along Interstate 80 near the Saltair Resort on the shore of the Great Salt Lake.

A state transportation crew found human remains in a suitcase Thursday along a highway near Salt Lake City, Utah, authorities said, stressing that it was too early to know whether the remains were those of Elizabeth Elena Salgado, the Provo woman who’s been the subject of a national missing persons alert since last week.

The state Transportation Department said the crew was installing a cable barrier along Interstate 80 near the Saltair Resort on the shore of the Great Salt Lake when a worker spotted the suitcase about 2:45 p.m. (4:45 p.m. ET). The worker called the state Highway Patrol and discovered the body inside when the trooper arrived.

Police investigating body found in suitcase near Saltair.

Human remains were located in a suitcase along a freeway Thursday, the Utah Highway Patrol reported.

The remains were located by Utah Department of Transportation workers on I-80 near the Saltair resort just before 3 p.m. The large suitcase was reportedly in a ravine off of the shoulder and not visible from the road.

Provo police confirmed Thursday evening that they are working with investigators in the case, but did not know yet whether the body could be missing Provo woman Elizabeth “Elena” Laguna Salgado.

Provo Police Chief John King said his officers are working with investigators to gather more information.

“We don’t know much about the body’s age, gender or anything like that,” said UHP Lt. Jared Garcia. “We need to secure the evidence, process the crime scene, take care of that part of it.”

UPDATE IV: Body Found in Suit case not that of Missing Elizabeth Elena Laguna-Salgado.

Provo police determined the body was not Elizabeth “Elena” Laguna Salgado, who was last seen on April 16. The 26-year-old vanished while walking home from an afternoon class at the Nomen Global Language School in Provo, where she was studying English.

“All last night I couldn’t sleep thinking this was my daughter,” her father, Julio Laguna Ozuna, told Good4Utah. “We prayed and have been fasting, praying to our heavenly father. “I feel relieved and have new found strength to continue looking for my daughter.”

UPDATE V: Body Found in Suitcase in Utah Linked to Missing Vegas Woman, Susana Villalvazo.

There are signs the body found Thursday in a ravine along Interstate 80 is that of Susana Villalvazo, but investigators are awaiting test results before making a final determination, Lt. Justin Hoyal of Utah’s Unified Police Department said Saturday.

His department was contacted by Las Vegas police after the body was described as that of a middle-aged woman who had a mastectomy and a wrist tattoo of a pink breast cancer ribbon, Hoyal said. When the 46-year-old Villalvazo went missing last November, Las Vegas police said she was missing a breast and had a pink-ribbon tattoo on a wrist.

“Obviously, there are close similarities between the two. But we’ll have to wait until we get lab testing results for 100 percent certainty,” Hoyal told The Associated Press. “We’re hoping within the next several weeks to have that finalized.”

The body was so badly decomposed that investigators could need DNA testing or dental records to establish the identity, he added.

Villalvazo and her stepfather, Samuel Teran, 75, were reported missing under suspicious circumstances from their family’s Las Vegas home on Nov. 5. Two days later, Teran shot himself in the head after police stopped his SUV outside a fast-food restaurant in North Las Vegas. He later died in a hospital.

The two were believed to be traveling together in the SUV earlier, and family members said they did not get along.

Villalvazo’s cousin, Juan Villasenor, said he was surprised it took so long to find the body because the suitcase was dropped along a busy interstate.

UPDATE VI: Utah woman still missing 1 month after disappearance.

A month after Elizabeth Elena Laguna-Salgado disappeared while walking from school in downtown Provo to her apartment, her family is getting increasingly desperate to find the young woman.

So far, no trace of the 26-year-old has turned up despite searches by police and scores of volunteers, an offer of a $15,000 reward and pleas for information from Laguna-Salgado’s loved ones and others, including Elizabeth and Ed Smart.

In an email sent Wednesday, the missing woman’s sister, Sara Yazmin Laguna-Salgado, who lives in the family’s hometown of Chiapas, Mexico, said, “Please help us, the situation is killing us, we have so much pain.”

UPDATE VII: Provo Police Department (Facebook)

We would like to update the community on the search for Elizabeth Elena Laguna Salgado. The following is a list of investigative efforts that have been completed up to this point. It is important to note, that the following list is not all-inclusive as we cannot release all investigative measures without compromising some portion of the investigation. We would like the community to know however, that certain investigative measures were not listed below in order to preserve the integrity of the investigation and to protect Elena.

We have:

1. Obtained information on the Noman Language School, including classmates and instructors.
2. Interviewed students/instructors at the school.
3. Searched the route Elena took to and from school, (from 100 N 400 W to 1800 N 450 W) including homes, yards, and local business locations.
4. Searched the route for possible video systems.
5. Put up and passed out flyers along the same route.

[...]

30. The Provo Police Dept. has contacted and received assistance from the following agencies:
FBI
INS
Homeland Security
The Attorney General’s Office
Orem PD
Salt Lake City PD
DEA
UTA Police
Utah County Sheriff’s Office
Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office
Heber PD
US Marshalls Office
Utah County Attorney’s Office
Utah Highway Patrol
31. The Provo Crime analyst is currently working with the SIAC crime analyst network for the western US following intel and possible matches to this incident.
32. Currently there are 30 members of the Provo Police Department actively working this case. As of this date, over 3500 hours have been dedicated toward finding Elizabeth.
33. As of 5/13/15, the Provo Police Dept. has followed up on over 118 tips from concerned citizens.

If anyone has any information about Laguna-Salgado is asked to call Provo police at 801-852-6210.