This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
In the three months since Provo resident Elizabeth Elena Laguna-Salgado vanished, there has been no activity on her email and cell phone, no suspects or persons of interest identified and no evidence to indicate whether she left willingly or was abducted.
And despite thousands of police hours devoted to the case, no trace of the 26-year-old has shown up so far. Provo police have said there is nothing to indicate foul play but they are concerned because Laguna-Salgado typically was in touch with her family every day.
"What we have at this point is a mysterious disappearance," Provo police Lt. Brandon Post said Wednesday.
The investigation continues. Police recently administered polygraphs to two of Laguna-Salgado's uncles in Utah — Rosemberg Salgado, a California resident who says he has relocated to the state to help search for his niece, and Rudemberth Salgado — and also have excluded the men from police briefings on the disappearance.
Post said investigators encountered some "incongruences" in the investigation that have to be reconciled before the two can come to the briefings but he declined to give details. Police also have declined to release the lie-detector tests results.
Rosemberg Salgado said police always have to investigate the family in cases such as his niece's disappearance and the polygraphs were part of that process. He said he does not know what alleged incongruences led to the exclusion from the briefing.
"A lot of people are talking about things that are not true," Salgado said. "We haven't done anything wrong at all."
He added that he believes prayers will help in the search.
"I feel like prayer is very powerful and I feel like prayer will find my niece," Salgado said.
Laguna-Salgado was last seen at about 1:30 p.m. on April 16, walking home from the Nomen Global Language School at 384 W. Center St. to her apartment at 1800 N. 450 West. Since then, she has not shown up at class or her job as a waitress, police said. She does not own a car.
According to her relatives, Laguna-Salgado went on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in her native Mexico after getting a college degree and had come to Utah to study English. She was in Provo for less than a month before disappearing and had not yet learned the language.
Several days after the disappearance, the missing woman's family members, police, the Latin American Chamber of Commerce and others — including kidnapping survivor Elizabeth Smart and her father, Ed Smart — held a news conference asking for help locating Laguna-Salgado.
In response, hundreds of volunteers participated in searches, handed out fliers, spread the word about Laguna-Salgado on social media and donated printing services and reward money. A GoFundMe.com page, Find Elizabeth Elena Laguna Salgado, started to "assist in the search and to help the family join the efforts in Utah," raised $12,529.
Laguna-Salgado is described about 5 feet 4 inches tall, about 125 pounds, with long black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a denim jacket, blue jeans, black or brown knee-high boots, and was carrying a denim hand bag with red straps.
The Provo Police Department is offering a reward of $15,000 for information on the whereabouts of Laguna-Salgado. Anyone with information is asked to call the department at 801-852-6210.
Twitter: @PamelaMansonSLC