Police in Washington state want help locating a missing pregnant woman who seemingly disappeared just weeks after moving to the United States. Witnesses last saw Jackelin Perez, 21, on October 13. She and her husband recently immigrated to the US from Guatemala, and she speaks “limited English.” Perez was reportedly six weeks pregnant when she went missing.
According to a Facebook post from the Auburn Police Department, officials believe someone took Perez from her home under “duress.” Police do not believe this was a random kidnapping and have multiple leads, but there’s been no sign of Perez.
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Perez and her husband came to the US about a year ago.
KOMO reported that according to Auburn police, Perez and her unnamed husband came to the US about a year earlier, moving to Auburn four months ago, and the pair do not speak much English. Kolby Crossley, a police representative, told the news outlet that Perez’s disappearance does not appear to be random.
Her husband reportedly returned to the home about 20 minutes after his wife disappeared but didn’t report her missing until the following day, per KOMO.
Police believe someone kidnapped the young woman.
“From what we’ve gathered so far from our investigation, we just believe that this was a kidnapping and that it wasn’t random,” Crossley said. “But as to why we think that, we just can’t say right now at the point in this investigation.”
When asked whether police believed the kidnapping was targeted toward immigrants, he said, “It’s all part of our investigation.” Crossley added they have not ruled out any suspects, including Perez’s husband.
Crossley asked the public to keep an eye out for Perez.
He told KOMO that any information would help. “It could be something really small like you might have seen her on a bus,” Crossley explained. “Even if it’s just a glimpse and you don’t really know, just give us a call, a general location of where you saw the person and we can look into it.”
He added that even if something didn’t seem suspicious before but does now, it’s helpful to talk with the police.
“People are really scared to come forward, and we’re trying to protect them and we’re also trying to protect people who came forward and helped us so far,” he said.
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Police have shared a description of Perez.
She is 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 111 pounds. She reportedly has a scar on her left cheek, which is not visible in Perez’s photo, widely circulated on social media. Police believe she is around six weeks pregnant. Anyone with information should call the APD tip line at 253-288-7408.
