A 19-year-old woman reported missing was allegedly on the way to meet her ex-boyfriend after she got off work, according to police in California, who found her car abandoned and on fire near a farm this weekend.
Melanie Stephanie Rios Camacho of Firebaugh, California, was last seen at her job at AutoZone on Gateway Drive in Madera around 10:15 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 24, according to the Madera County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities said Camacho’s mother contacted police that evening after her daughter failed to come home. Camacho had called her earlier that night and told her that she was going to visit a “friend’s” house after work, police said.
The Madera County Sheriff’s Office is asking the public for help finding Melanie Stephanie Rios Camacho, a 19-year-old California woman who was reported missing after she failed to come home Friday, Nov. 24, 2023. Police found her 2014 white Nissan Altima abandoned and on fire in Madera, California on Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023.
Camacho’s mother tried locating her daughter’s cellphone and tried calling her after she didn’t come home Friday night. The mother was unable to reach Camacho or ping the phone’s location.
Then, Camacho missed her Saturday morning shift at AutoZone, police said.
Detectives have reportedly learned Camacho was more specific about where she was going on Friday when she spoke to co-workers and another friend: she told them she was meeting her “ex-boyfriend,” Fresno ABC affiliate KFSN reported.
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The ex-boyfriend has not been identified.
Police say Camacho’s white 2014 Nissan Altima was found near a farm on Saturday near Avenue 14 and Road 8 in Madera. The vehicle was abandoned and aflame when police arrived.
Madera County Sheriff Tyson Pogue asked the public for help locating Camacho after she vanished.
“We know that 19-year-olds typically don’t unplug from the world and fall off the face of the earth,” Pogue told KFSN.
He also said there was no indication of problems at home and “for all intents and purposes, everything was going fine” in her life “until she didn’t show up” at home on Friday.
Anyone with leads or tips on Camacho’s disappearance should contact the Madera County Sheriff’s Office at 559-675-7770.
Camacho is 4-foot-11-inches tall and weighs 120 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes and wears braces on her teeth. When she was last seen Friday, police said she was wearing a gray shirt with the AutoZone logo and possibly a Nike sweater with a zipper. She was also wearing black pants.
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