American woman, 29, disappears in Mexico after she was ‘forced into a van while walking her dog’
- San Mateo, Calif., resident Monica De León was kidnapped in Tepatitlán de Morelos, a city in the western Mexico state of Jalisco on November 29
- The 29-year-old had been in Mexico for several months to work on her photography portfolio and planned to return home before Christmas
- She was walking her pet dog before heading to train at FIT 4 LIFE gym in Tepatitlán de Morelos when she was forced into a van and abducted
An American photographer who had moved to Mexico to work on her portfolio is missing after she was ‘forced into a van’ in the western state of Jalisco.
Monica De León, 29, was walking her pet dog around 5pm on November 29 before heading to FIT 4 LIFE gym in the municipality of Tepatitlán de Morelos when she was kidnapped, according to a Facebook group.
Friends at the gym became concerned when De León failed to show up and discovered the San Mateo, Calif., resident’s pet in the vicinity.
‘They went looking for her and found her dog, fully leashed and out loose in the city,’ Mandy Shold told ABC affiliate KEZI.
Shold added that De León, her former classmate at the University of Oregon, would often travel to Mexico to visit her family.
An American woman identified as Monica De León was kidnapped in Tepatitlán de Morelos, Mexico, on November 29. The 29-year-old photographer and San Mateo, Calif., resident was walking her pet dog before attending a local gym for a workout when she was forced into a van
‘She has a lot of family down in Mexico; her family goes on vacations there all the time, she’s got cousins and uncles,’ Shold said. ‘And the opportunity came up early in the summer for her to go down and do some freelance work and really start building her portfolio. She just jumped at the opportunity to change things up.’
A cousin of De León told TV Azteca Jalisco that she had been in the country for several months.
‘She was here building her photography portfolio,’ the family member said. ‘She a cinematographer.’
The concerned relative said that De León was planning on returning home before Christmas.
Prior to the kidnapping, De León spoke to her family and shared a photo of her wearing a black t-shirt, black pants and a white beanie.
It’s unknown if she had the same attire at the time of the abduction.
Several members of the FIT 4 LIFE gym were concerned when Monica De León failed to show up for her workout November 29 and canvassed the area for her before locating her pet dog
On November 29, Monica De León, a resident of San Mateo, Calif., was kidnapped in Tepatitlán de Morelos, a city in the western Mexico state of Jalisco
Friends and family members have set up the Facebook group ‘Help Us Find Monica De Leon’ in hopes that anyone with information can assist authorities in locating De León.
A person running the group told DailyMail.com that De León’s family is currently not talking to the press due to the ongoing investigation.
DailyMail.com reached out to the Jalisco State Attorney General’s Office.