Olivia Burke
The family of a missing woman have told how they believe a chilling image captured by Google Street View could be the key to solving her disappearance.
Arelie Garcia's loved ones say they have been living in a 'nightmare' since she suddenly vanished on 22 September, 2022, after leaving her home in Salinas, California.
The 26-year-old was last seen leaving her apartment on CCTV footage at 6.34am - wearing black leggings, a hoodie and trainers - before climbing into her customised red Honda and driving away.
She was supposed to be heading to her job at a local car dealership for 7:30am, but never turned up for her shift.
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Arelie's family, especially her sisters Veronica Garcia and Elizet Mendoza, were left extremely concerned.
The automotive specialist, who was the youngest of seven siblings, had texted Veronica that day just before 7am.
But her sibling was still asleep and responded almost two hours later before she simply 'went on with her morning' - only for her to receive a worrying phone call from one of Arelie's colleagues shortly afterwards.
Speaking to Dateline, Veronica explained: "I’m like, ‘I literally just texted her, like, an hour ago'. And that’s when I noticed that the message didn’t go through, like, it never delivered. And so I started texting her like crazy."
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After Arelie didn't respond to over 30 calls, the sisters said they 'knew something was wrong then', especially as the car fanatic was 'always on time' for work.
Veronica explained that she then used the Find My iPhone feature to track her sibling's location, which stated that she was in Big Sur - a rugged stretch along California’s central coast over an hour away from Arelie's apartment.
The pair had 'no idea' why she would have headed there, so decided to drive to the spot at the Little Sur River Bridge themselves at 6pm while also filing a missing persons report as their concerns continued to grow.
Elizet said that she and her husband immediately saw her sister's recognisable sedan that Arelie treated as her 'baby' and had been modified with an air suspension system which can raise and lower the vehicles frame.
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"The first thing I noticed was that it wasn’t parked the usual way she normally has it," Elizet said, explaining that Arelie would always drop her car all the way to the ground after arriving at her destination.
As well as this, the driver's seat was pushed back a lot further than 5ft 5ins Arelie usually would have had it, leading the family to suspect that someone else may have been driving the vehicle.
They say Arelie had her car wrapped in a really bright red, meaning that 'everybody in town knew it was her when they would see the car pass by'.
Coincidentally at noon on that day, the satellite mapping system Google Street View had taken an image of the red Honda which had been dumped in Big Sur - and the family believe it could hold clues to the missing woman's whereabouts.
It narrowed down the time window, but the owners of the other cars parked there on September 22, 2022, who were interviewed by police did not recall seeing Arelie, as per The New York Post.
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The chilling image of the Honda remains on Google Street View today, nearly two years after Arelie’s disappearance.
Her wallet, keys and phone were left inside the vehicle, but there was no sign of foul play.
Investigators towed and processed the car, but would not comment on any findings due to it being an active investigation, as per Dateline.
Another key element in the probe is Arelie's choice of clothing on the day she disappeared, as she was not wearing her usual office attire but instead a more casual outfit - and her sisters believe this suggests she was not going to work.
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Veronica and Elizet believe there's a 'slight chance' that she could have possibly gone to meet someone, however, police have not had any strong leads to follow despite extensive searches.
"We believe it in our hearts that she’s still out there somewhere, for sure," Veronica said.
"And we pray every night that she comes home," Elizet added: