HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Family and friends gathered Saturday to remember Laura Rodriguez-Trejo.
Trejo went missing on Sept. 24 after a night out in Harlingen. Her body was discovered earlier this week near the train tracks off Camelot Road.
Maria Sanchez, Trejo’s sister, said she’s had a hard time sleeping but is holding up as well as could be expected.
“It’s hard. It’s hard not knowing what happened to her, how she got out here if she felt any pain,” Sanchez said. “You know, what went through her mind, she was out here alone, it’s very, very difficult.”
Sanchez said she and her family searched for weeks to find her sister.
She said the family followed up on tips they received, hoping to locate Trejo.
“The first search was behind Garcia’s Lounge, where she was last seen alive, across the street, we did anywhere where there were reservoirs, where there was dumps, junkyards, stuff like that,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez said when her sister’s body was found, part of her was relieved. She said she didn’t want to go years, not knowing where her sister was.
Now, she said, she was angry and wanted to know what happened. Sanchez said, “So now that’s what’s consuming us right now, is getting justice for her. Finding out who did this to her.”
Yvonne Rodriguez-Escobedo, Trejo’s daughter, said the police hadn’t released her body to the family.
She said since they couldn’t lay her mother to rest, it was important to meet where she was found. “It’s just something where we would always know where she was found just in case we just want to, any of us just want to come and just visit by ourselves,” Escobedo said.
Escobedo said she didn’t believe her mother had walked the nearly three miles from Garcia’s Lounge to where her body was found.
She added that if that were the case, someone would have seen her or there would be some record of her mother’s movements.
Escobedo asked for anyone with information to either come forward or report what they know anonymously.
Escobedo said, “If somebody does know anything, somebody heard something, somebody overheard somebody talking, speak up and say something.”
Harlingen Police said they were waiting for results from the medical examiner before they could release any more information.
Escobedo said there are still too many unanswered questions. She said, “It wasn’t her time to go it, it wasn’t she was still she needed more time here.”
Anyone with information about what happened to Laura Rodriguez-Trejo is encouraged to contact either the Harlingen Police Department at (956) 216-5400 or Crime Stoppers at (956) 425-8477.
