The mother of a missing teenager sadly repeated the words ‘so close to home’ as a body was discovered in the search for her daughter – who mysteriously disappeared after going for a walk on Christmas Eve.
A body resembling Camila Mendoza Olmos, 19, was found next to a firearm in a grassy area near the family’s home after a week-long search by authorities who feared she could be in ‘imminent danger.’
Police said they possibly found the girl in a patch of tall grass at Burnin’ Bush, a landscaping business that is located almost directly behind the Olmos’ family home in San Antonio.
A 9mm Luger pistol was also located nearby. The teen’s brother, Carlos, had reported the same type of weapon missing from their home shortly after Camila disappeared.
Although authorities have not yet conducted DNA tests to confirm the body is that of the missing teenager, a sheriff’s source told the Daily Mail the remains match the girl’s description.
Olmos’s mother, Rosario, has now been left in shock by the news, repeating the words, ‘So close to home,’ according to Frank Trevino, 69, a retired insurance salesman who has helped lead the search efforts for the missing teenager.
‘Her eyes were not there,’ Trevino told the Daily Mail, describing how Rosario was left staring at the wall.
A body was found Tuesday night in the search for missing Texas teenager Camila Mendoza Olmos, 19
Her mother, Rosario Olmos, was left shocked by the news and kept repeating the same four words as she stared at a wall inside her home
Bexar County sheriff’s deputies and the FBI located a body in a tall patch of grass
It was found at Burnin’ Bush, a landscaping business that is located almost directly behind the Olmos’ family home in San Antonio
It now remains unclear how the teenager may have died, as authorities said they hope the medical examiner will have answers within the coming days.
But Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar has said deputies do not believe foul play was involved, and are considering self-harm as a possibility.
‘We developed some information that there may have been some suicidal ideations on Camila’s part,’ the sheriff claimed.
‘Undiagnosed, as far as we can tell,’ he added. ‘It sounds like this was a young person going through a very tough time in her life, going through some emotional issues.’
Those who knew the aspiring orthodontist, however, are struggling to accept that Olmos may have taken her own life.
‘She would never do something like that her herself, to us,’ Olmos’ father, Alfonso Mendoza, told the Daily Mail. ‘She just wouldn’t. Not ever.’
‘People talk. But they don’t know my daughter like I do,’ she said, noting that Cami’s recent breakup was mutual and respectful.
‘It ended on good terms, in a lovely way,’ she said, and ‘wasn’t something she was depressed about.’
The now-grieving mother noted that Nathan had even been actively helping in the search for his ex.
Although authorities have not yet conducted DNA tests to confirm the body is that of the missing teenager, a sheriff’s source told the Daily Mail the remains match the girl’s description
The teen had been living with her mother, while attending classes at nearby Northwest Vista College, when she went missing on Christmas Eve
Video from a driver’s dashboard camera also showed someone meeting Olmos’ description walking alone northbound on Wildhorse Parkway, a few blocks from her home, last Wednesday morning
Olmos had last been seen on a neighbor’s surveillance camera leaving her San Antonio neighborhood just before 7am last Wednesday.
The footage, obtained by KENS5, showed Olmos near her car with the lights on, wearing only a hoodie and pajama shorts.
Investigators said the footage showed Olmos searching inside the car for an unidentified item before the video abruptly ends.
They said it was unclear what she was searching for, as police believe she took only her car keys and possibly her driver’s license when she left home.
Authorities noted that her car was still parked at the residence, suggesting she left on foot.
Video from a driver’s dashboard camera then showed someone meeting Olmos’ description walking alone northbound on Wildhorse Parkway, a few blocks from her home, just after 7am.
She had been living with her mother, while attending classes at nearby Northwest Vista College.
The teen’s sudden disappearance immediately prompted urgent pleas from her family, with authorities recognizing the area she vanished from as a human-trafficking corridor.
Olmos had dreamed of becoming an orthodontist. She is pictured posing with her friend Aisley Garcia
Surveillance footage obtained by KENS5, showed Olmos near her car with the lights on, wearing only a hoodie and pajama shorts just before 7am
Olmos’s family has said she normally takes morning walks, but always brings her phone, insisting it was out of character for her to leave without telling them where she was going.
But Olmos’ childhood friend Camila Estrella has also said their last conversation was a day before her disappearance, when they planned to go dress shopping for her boyfriend’s family event.
She told the New York Post that Olmos’ parting words that day were: ‘Bye Cami, I love you.’
The next morning, Rosario said she and her daughter were sleeping together and Camila got up about an hour and a half earlier than she did.
By then, Rosario told KENS 5, there were no signs of her daughter, except for her car.
‘I called her cell phone, but the cell phone was there on the bed and it was turned off,’ she recounted
‘I put it to charge and went out to look for her,’ Rosario added. ‘I thought I would find her like other times – walking – and we would come home together.’
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar has said deputies do not believe foul play was involved in Olmos’s death and are considering self-harm as a possibility
The teenager had left her car behind on the morning she disappeared
Her disappearance prompted urgent pleas from her family, with authorities recognizing the area she vanished from as a human-trafficking corridor (pictured: a map inside the Olmos home unfurled to show the surrounding area of the San Antonio family home)
As authorities then began investigating what may have happened to the teenager, Sheriff Salazar said the evidence suggested she was in ‘imminent danger.’
He told reporters he had made it a personal mission to ensure Olmos had not been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, which he said was a ‘concern’ despite Olmos being a US citizen.
Beyond that, investigators said all possibilities remained on the table, including scenarios in which she was kidnapped or fell victim to human trafficking.
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security immediately assisted with the desperate search, including monitoring border crossings and international travel.
Meanwhile, the sheriff’s office deployed drone teams, search dogs and cadets to continue scouring the area around Olmos’s suburban home.
Friends and volunteers also spent the week scouring nearby neighborhoods, vacant lots and creeks for the daughter Rosario called her ‘princess’ and her ‘dream.’
As those search efforts continued, extended family members from California and Mexico rushed to Rosario’s side.
She has since revealed that she was unable to sleep each night, wondering if her daughter was ‘out there somewhere hungry and cold in the late December wind and rain.’
As search efforts continued, extended family members from California and Mexico rushed to Rosario’s side
The break in the case finally came on Tuesday night, when sheriff’s deputies and FBI agents said they conducted a renewed search of the Burnin’ Bush, which they said is covered in dense brush
Bystanders are seen taking in the news that a body had been discovered
The break in the case finally came on Tuesday night, when sheriff’s deputies and FBI agents said they conducted a renewed search of the Burnin’ Bush, which they said is covered in dense brush.
At the time, Olmos’s family clung to hope, even as they acknowledged that the chances of finding her alive was growing slimmer each day.
‘I’m going to tell you something,’ her mother, Rosario told the Daily Mail Monday morning. ‘Giving up is not an option.’
But following the tragic discovery, friends and family were left sobbing inside their spacious two-story brick home.
‘It’s awful. So awful,’ said Trevino, a 25-year veteran of missing persons searches.
‘We knew this was a possibility, of course, but you hold out hope, not wanting to believe it,’ he said of the possibility that Olmos took her own life.
Lori Whitmire, a volunteer with a group called Search and Support San Antonio who has been coordinating searches for missing people for two years, also lamented that the devastating news ‘never gets any easier.’
‘On one hand, you’re relieved the family finally has some closure. But on the other, with an outcome like this, they will be haunted by what happened forever,’ she said.
If you or someone you know needs help, please call or text the confidential 24/7 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US on 988. There is also an online chat available at 988lifeline.org.
