4 Chilling Los Angeles Disappearances That Remain Unsolved to This Day.

4 Chilling Los Angeles Disappearances That Remain Unsolved to This Day.

From the outside, California’s City of Angels is every big dreamer’s paradise, home to Hollywood glamour and celebrities. Ambitious individuals looking to break into the entertainment industry often believe they can make it if they only reach Los Angeles, but LA has a dark underbelly that has seen some of history’s darkest crimes, from Elizabeth Short’s unsolved case to the horrific slayings of the Manson family and the work of Richard Ramirez who famously stayed in LA’s Cecil Hotel while carrying out his crimes. In today’s episode, we aim to shed light on some of the city’s lesser-known mysteries as we explore four harrowing missing person cases in LA that are still unsolved.

Angelique Emily James, according to family members, four-year-old Angelique Emily James was last seen at her family’s LA home on February 15th, 1997. Little is known about the exact time and circumstances of her disappearance, but when it was noted, investigators went on to question her mother, Shirley James, who was unable to provide evidence as to her daughter’s whereabouts and failed to comply with authorities. In November, nine months after the disappearance, Shirley was taken into custody after it was demanded that she show Angelique but failed to do so.

Unfortunately, the situation looked bleak. Angelique’s three sisters had already been taken into care by the CPS after abuse allegations surfaced. Shirley has four other children outside of the aforementioned, one of whom, a 9-month-old daughter, died in 1992 allegedly of sudden infant death syndrome. Shortly after her arrest, Shirley was charged with Angelique’s presumed murder, plus three counts of child abuse and two counts of corporal injury to a child. The death of her 9-month-old daughter was looked into by homicide detectives, but no charges were filed.

Investigators believe Angelique died between December 15th, 1996, and March 1st, 1997. In late 1997, authorities searched the garden of the family’s home hoping to find the remains of Angelique, and while a cadaver dog initially found a scent in the area, no evidence was discovered. Shirley pled not guilty to all charges laid against her in January of 1998 but later pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter in Angelique’s case. Under this plea agreement, she was given a maximum sentence of 5 years.

Angelique remains missing; her body has never been found. She was four when she vanished from her family’s LA home, and though the date of her disappearance is listed as February 15th, 1997, she may have gone missing as early as December 15th, 1996. Angelique is described as a black female with black hair and brown eyes. At the time of her disappearance, she was 3’6″ and weighed around 40 lbs. She has burn scars on the top of one foot and a previous fracture on her left arm, which is visible by an X-ray due to a congenital skeletal abnormality; she has one leg and one arm shorter than the other.

Angelique is presumed dead, but if she is still alive, she will be 31 years old in October. If you have any information about her case, you can contact the LA County Sheriff’s Department at 323-890-5500.

Elias Jr. Monroy, two-week-old Elias Jr. Monroy was last seen on February 2nd, 1987, when his mother, Maria, took him for a routine checkup at the LA-USC Medical Center in the 2,000 block of Marengo Street. While sitting in the waiting room with Elias, Maria was approached by a young woman who struck up a conversation. She appeared warm and friendly, and Maria suspected nothing was awry. She was simply another mother or mother-to-be waiting to be seen.

As they continued talking, Elias began to cry. The chatty woman offered to hold the baby so that Maria could go and find some baby formula for him, but when she returned, Elias was gone, and so was the woman whose care he’d been in. When investigators began looking into Elias’s abduction, they discovered that an eerily similar event had taken place 2 and a half weeks earlier on January 14th, 70 miles away in Hesperia, California.

A Hispanic woman whose description matched that of Elias’s abductor approached a woman with a young baby and asked if she could hold the child. The mother turned her down, but the woman approached her again as she entered the car park. As she posed the question, a man appeared and attempted to pull the baby from the mother’s grasp. Luckily, the mother and her child escaped unharmed by running into a nearby store. Although authorities can’t be certain that this woman and the woman who took Elias are the same person, they believe it to be highly likely.

The woman is described as Hispanic and between her late 20s and early 30s with a medium-dark complexion and black hair frosted a lighter color. She wore a yellow blouse and appeared to be neat and well-groomed. She is between 5′ and 5’2″ and weighed between 135 to 140 lbs. Investigators believe that Elias was taken by a woman who was desperate to have a child but unable to do so herself. It is possible he has been raised in another family with no idea as to his true identity.

Elias was just 2 weeks old when he vanished from the LA-USC Medical Center in the 2,000 block of Marengo Street in the company of a woman who was not his mother on February 2nd, 1987. Elias is a Hispanic male with brown hair and brown eyes. When he vanished, he was just 1’9″, weighed 8 lbs, and was dressed almost entirely in white: a white long-sleeved shirt, a white knit sweater, white knit pants, white socks, and a belt. He had been wrapped in a cream-colored blanket.

If Elias is still alive, he will be 36 years old this year. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children created an age-progressed image of Elias at this age. It is the first and only image we have of him, as no photos were taken at birth; forensic artists used images of his siblings and other family members to determine what he may look like today. If you have any information about Elias’s disappearance, you can contact the LAPD at 877-275-5273.

Crystal Ann Tymic, 6-year-old Crystal Ann Tymic was last seen on June 30th, 1994, between 2 and 5:00 p.m. According to her brother, Jeffrey, the siblings had been throwing peaches over the roof of a house, competing to see who could throw the farthest. They then ran back to their father’s home in the 6,000 block of Brinhurst Avenue after hearing their grandmother call for them, but when the three boys looked back, they saw Crystal wasn’t with them. She has never been seen or heard from again.

More than 100 police officers with the LAPD searched for the young girl in the surrounding neighborhood, but no trace was ever discovered. According to Jane Newman, Crystal’s mother, several neighbors of the children’s father, Mario Tymic, had seen her wander away from the property on numerous occasions. She was always returned to her father’s home by a neighbor. Jane also stated that her daughter had talked about running away.

Few developments came in Crystal’s case in the subsequent years. In late 1995, there were reports that the six-year-old was seen near the Corvallis County Public Library, and in early 1996, detectives in Corvallis, Oregon, asked for information from the public, but the lead appears to have gone nowhere. The following year, the owner of Wion’s Plumbing Services put the pictures of several missing children on their trucks in the hopes of raising awareness of the cases and bringing answers, though none ever appeared in Crystal’s case.

In 2005, a home across the road from Crystal’s was searched by over 100 members of law enforcement. They found bones in the property’s crawl space, but these were soon discovered to belong to animals. According to one of Crystal’s brothers, Jeffrey, a woman Reverend had resided in the home in 1994 and often invited local children inside where she would conduct religious services. She didn’t live in this property in 2005, and it’s unclear what prompted investigators to search the building.

Sadly, there have been no updates in Crystal’s case since 2005. Her brothers, who were aged 12, 10, and 8 respectively at the time of her disappearance, are still searching for answers; her father still resides in the same house on Brinhurst Avenue. Crystal Ann Tymic was just six when she vanished from the 6,000 block of Brinhurst Avenue on June 30th, 1994. She is described as a white female with dark blonde hair and hazel eyes. At the time of her disappearance, she was 4′ tall and weighed around 60 lbs. She was last seen wearing a pink T-shirt, floral print shorts, and trainers featuring an image of a mermaid. If you have any information about Crystal’s disappearance, you can contact the LAPD at 213-485-4175.

Cecilia Elizabeth Newball and Renee Perez Jr., 32-year-old Cecilia Elizabeth Newball was last seen on September 20th, 1994, by her husband, Alfredo Newball. The couple had dated for 2 years before getting married, and shortly after tying the knot, Cecilia became pregnant. Alfredo last saw his wife in their apartment on September 20th, writing thank-you notes for the gifts she had received during her baby shower. At this time, there were just two weeks to go before the birth of the new baby.

Alfredo left for his afternoon shift as a nurse’s aide and called Cecilia about 2 and a half hours later. Strangely, she didn’t answer, but he didn’t think too much of it at the time, as he considered the possibility that she was visiting friends or family. As the afternoon became evening, though, Cecilia still failed to respond to his calls. He decided to leave work early and check that everything was okay with his wife and their soon-to-be-born baby.

The first thing Alfredo noticed back home was that Cecilia’s car was sitting parked on the street rather than in its usual spot in the building’s secure car park. Inside the apartment, though, alarm bells began ringing. Cecilia and Renee Perez Jr., her six-year-old son from a previous marriage, were missing from the home. There were no signs of a struggle or a break-in and no trace of either Cecilia or Renee. Nothing was amiss; it was as if the two had vanished into thin air.

Inside Cecilia’s Jeep, Alfredo discovered a goodbye greeting card. It was store-bought and its design offered little information, but it was signed “Cecilia.” On the passenger seat sat her wedding ring and engagement ring. Bizarrely, none of Cecilia’s or Renee’s belongings were missing; their clothes and other possessions remained behind, including Renee’s glasses, which he needed every day.

After making these findings, Alfredo called a friend of Cecilia’s who he believed might have the answers. Kevin Annabelle was his wife’s closest work colleague, and Alfredo questioned him about her whereabouts over the phone, wondering if she was at work. Kevin, however, told him that Cecilia wasn’t at work. He later recalled, “If it were me, I would be screaming at the person I thought knew where my wife was, but I was more nervous and excited than he was.”

Alfredo later stated that the reason he was so calm was because he believed his wife would return to him and that she perhaps just needed a few days to clear her head. The day after the disappearance, worried relatives of Cecilia’s contacted the LAPD, who in turn reached out to Alfredo, who had not filed a missing person’s report. Detective Alex Valades spoke with Alfredo over the phone and noted that he didn’t appear that concerned.

Two days later, Alfredo received a letter postmarked from Van Nuys, California. Inside the envelope was another goodbye greeting card. It was identical to the one found in Cecilia’s Jeep. There was a typewritten letter inside the car signed with Cecilia’s name, claiming that she had run off with a doctor named Arturo and that she and Renee were moving to Honduras with him. The letter alleged that the unborn baby was possibly the doctor’s child.

Alfredo noted that the letter didn’t sound like his wife’s tone, while Kevin Annabelle, Cecilia’s work friend, stated that she was almost obsessed with her husband, adding, “And when you’re that in love with a person, you don’t just meet a doctor and say, ‘Well, I think I’m going to Honduras, let me just write my husband a note.'” Investigators examined the letter and spoke with Cecilia’s friends and family, soon determining that the note had not been written by the 32-year-old.

Detective Valades felt that the writer knew more about Alfredo’s background than Cecilia’s and suspected that a third party was involved in the disappearance. Authorities soon found out that 6 months before she went missing, Cecilia had received a phone call from a woman who claimed that she had video footage of Alfredo kissing another woman at a baby shower. According to a friend of Cecilia’s, the woman wanted to show her the footage, and the 32-year-old agreed. The woman said she would phone again to arrange a meeting, but the call never came, and little more was thought of this bizarre situation.

It wasn’t until a few weeks before she vanished that things began to stir again when Cecilia was contacted by a woman identifying herself only as a co-worker of her husband’s. She told Cecilia that his colleagues were going to give Alfredo a baby shower at work and that she had some baby furniture that she wanted Cecilia to look at and choose from, but to keep it a secret because the baby shower was going to be a surprise.

The friend of Cecilia’s to whom the 32-year-old relayed all this information claimed that she had gone missing on the same day she was supposed to meet with the woman who’d called her about the baby shower. Before long, investigators had discovered that no baby shower had been planned and that the woman was not one of Alfredo’s colleagues. It’s unclear if the two calls were from the same woman or two separate individuals, and she or they have never been identified.

Detective Valades has expressed his suspicions of Alfredo, believing that even if he is not directly involved, he may know more than he is letting on. Alfredo, for his part, has maintained his innocence and believes his wife left him voluntarily. Alfredo and Cecilia had been married for a year at the time of her disappearance. Her friends have noted that there appeared to be no problems with the marriage and that they don’t believe she would simply take off without prior warning.

Cecilia Newball was 32 when she was last seen on September 20th, 1994, in LA, California. She is described as a Hispanic female with black hair and brown eyes. Her ears are pierced, and she is between 4’11” and 5′ tall. At the time of her disappearance, she was 8 months pregnant. Her maiden name is Amaya, and she was born in El Salvador.

Renee Perez Jr. vanished alongside his mother. He was six when he went missing and is described as a Hispanic male with brown hair and brown eyes. He was 3’6″ and weighed 70 lbs when he was last seen. His top teeth were missing at the time, and he wears glasses, but they were left behind when he disappeared. If he is still alive, he will be 35 years old. If Cecilia is still alive, she will be 61. If you have any information about the disappearance of Cecilia Newball and her son, Renee Perez Jr., you can contact the LAPD Missing Person’s Unit at 213-996-1800.

And there you have the facts. Please leave a comment down below with your own thoughts and speculations, and remember to like this video and subscribe to support the channel. Thank you for watching, stay alert, stay safe, and I’ll see you next time.