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Missing Woman: Viridiana Maldonado - SC - 10/11/2007


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#1 Denise

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Posted 04 January 2008 - 06:01 PM



Missing Woman
Family Plea


Thursday, Jan 03, 2008 - 06:12 PM Updated: 07:10 PM

A North Charleston family is taking a modern approach to finding a missing mother of two.  Five businesses created a $1,000 reward and emailed a flyer to 47,000 businesses nationwide Thursday in hopes of finding Viridiana Maldonado.

News 2's Jenny Fisher talked with Maldonado's mother, Lilia Guerrero, in Spanish about her daughter's disappearance.  Not a day goes by that Lilia Guerrero wonders what happened to her daughter.  She said, "Part of my heart is turned off now...to just disappear like that without knowing?"

Guerrero last saw Maldonado three months ago.  News 2's Jenny Fisher said, "Viridiana Maldonado worked at La Nortena Mexican Restaurant on Rivers Avenue in North Charleston.  Her co-workers say after a full day of working as a waitress, she walked out the door around 10:30 at night to go home."  Once inside the apartment she shared with her mother and sister, Maldonado stated she was leaving with a female friend.  That's the last time anyone saw the 21 year-old.

Jenny asked Guerrero, "Is it difficult for you as a mother?"  She replied, "It is, it's hard not knowing anything."  We're told Maldonado enjoyed listening and dancing to Merengue music and playing with her two sons, ages six and three.  Guerrero said, "They love her so much and ask for their mother and I say she's fine and will return soon.  Yet, a short time later, he will ask again, question after question.  He'll say he's going to call his mom to see if she answers.....and me, it breaks my heart."

So until Maldonado's wherabouts are discovered, her mother and sister will continue to hope for the best and ask for your help. 

Authorities are reviewing several pieces of information.  Among them, text messages and a bank account.  We're told Maldonado never text messaged her family, but three hours after her disappearance her mother received several strange messages, stating Maldonado felt sick and planned to return to Mexico.  Her family also noted that instead of fixing her hair and changing clothes, Maldonado left in the pants she wore to work and only changed her shirt.   Police also say six days later, someone closed her bank account by phone and withdrew about $1,000.

As a private investigator and the North Charleston Police continue their investigation, Maldonado's oldest son will remain with his grandmother while her youngest son lives with Maldonado's estranged husband, Jorge.

If you have any information regarding Maldonado's whereabouts, call the Comen Detective Agency at (843) 571-2667.  You may be eligible for the $1,000 reward.

The businesses that contributed to the reward are as follows: La Nortena Mexican Restaurant, Biz2Biz, Comen Detective Agency, Nathan's Restaurant and Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.


http://www.wcbd.com/...01-03-0022.html




#2 Denise

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Posted 04 January 2008 - 06:02 PM

http://www.live5news...e/13020227.html

Reward Offered To Help Find Missing Woman

Marika Kelderman, Live 5 News

The family of 21-year old Viridiana Maldonado hopes a $1000 reward but up by five local businesses will help them find her.

"If just someone, if they've seen her give us a call to let us know she is fine and we can get her back," Maldonado's sister Jenne said.

Maldonado is originally from Mexico and is the mother of two young sons. She moved here from Washington State after separating from her husband two months before she vanished on October 11th.

At a press conference her mother Lelia tried to reach out to her daughter. With tears in her eyes she said, "Not to worry. We're going to keep looking for her. God willing she needs to keep her faith in God and pray so she can come back to her kids."

Maldonado was last seen here at her North Charleston apartment. She told her her family she was heading downtown with some friends. Later that night her sister received a text message from her saying she was in fact downtown. About 13 hours later, the next afternoon a second text message came in. It said she had issues and was heading to Mexico.

But Jenne says her sister would never willfully abandon her two sons and that a text message from her was very out of the ordinary.

"She knew that I didn't like text messaging... She would never text message us. She would always leave like a voice," Jenne said.

Five local businesses including La Nortena, the restaurant where Maldonado worked, have helped post the $1000 reward that will go to the first person with any information that helps find the woman her family knows as a mother, sister and daughter.

And in addition to the reward the businesses and a private detective have launched a massive email campaign sending out fliers to over 300 local business and more the 47 thousand business nationwide.

If you know where to find Viridiana Maldonado call the Comen Detective Agency at 571-2667. A one thousand dollar reward is being offered if she is found by midnight on January 10th.

© 2008 WCSC, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Story Created: Jan 3, 2008 at 5:31 PM EST



#3 Denise

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Posted 10 January 2008 - 06:59 PM

http://www.charlesto...mily_fear25863/

Without a trace: Missing woman's family fears worst

By Noah Haglund (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Viridiana Maldonado left two young children with her sister and mother one October night and vanished without taking so much as a toothbrush or suitcase.

Her 6-year-old son still cries, wondering where she is. Her mother, older sister and family friends in North Charleston have grown increasingly convinced that something bad has happened.

"It's been two months already," her sister, Jeny Cuevas, said in Spanish. "She hasn't sent any word to the children, not anything."

The 21-year-old finished a waitressing shift at La Norteña restaurant on Rivers Avenue around 11 p.m. Oct. 11 and stopped by the North Charleston home she shared with her sister and mother. She told them she was going out with her sister-in-law.

They last heard from her between 1 and 2 a.m. Oct. 12, when they received a series of cryptic cell-phone text messages about drinking downtown with a friend named Miguel they had never heard of.

The final text message said she wasn't feeling well and mentioned going back to Mexico, her home country.

To offer tips
Report tips on the disappearance of Viridiana Maldonado to Crime Stoppers at 554-1111, to North Charleston police at 554-5700 or online at 5541111.com.
Her family doesn't believe she sent the messages, much less that she crossed the border.

North Charleston police have few clues. Investigators did learn that Maldonado's bank account was closed by phone on Oct. 17 and a cashier's check for the balance sent to Tacoma, Wash., the city where she used to live with her estranged husband, Detective David Watson said. Whether Maldonado or somebody else closed the account is unclear.

Her family said the account held about $1,000, and the cell phone bills that used to arrive at the house are no longer

showing up. Phone records show no activity since the text messages, Watson said.

In some respects, the situation recalls another missing woman in North Charleston, Brandy Hanna. The waitress at Alex's restaurant disappeared mysteriously in May 2005 and would now be 35. These are the department's only active missing persons cases, public information officer Spencer Pryor said.

Maldonado's 22nd birthday was Dec. 18, her family said. A recent photo shows her with long black hair. She is about 5 feet 4 inches and 115 pounds with brown eyes.

She and her husband, Jorge Maldonado, had a rocky relationship, according to both families. The two met in North Charleston and were married in 2005, but had been living in Washington state last year while he was stationed with the U.S. Army at Fort Lewis. They separated and she returned to South Carolina about a month before she was last seen.

With no word from her, Jorge Maldonado arrived from the West Coast to pick up their 3-year-old son. He has since left the Army and moved back to the Charleston area. The older child, from another relationship, remains with relatives.

Her family claims he has behaved indifferently since her disappearance, something he strongly denies.

"They can talk to me, ask me any question they like," he said during a telephone interview Dec. 7. He has cooperated with the detective.

The 21-year-old and his sister said they are tired of feeling like they're under a cloud of suspicion. Vicky Roberts, 23, is his sister and the person Viridiana claimed to be with the night she disappeared. Roberts said she hadn't seen her for about two weeks before that and isn't sure why she would say they were together.

"We're worried, just like everybody else," Roberts said. "We've cried. I've had really bad dreams."

The missing woman's family wants answers. Police have told Viridiana's older sister they are doing everything they can, but Cuevas hasn't noticed much progress: "Are they waiting for her to turn up dead before they do anything?"

Reach Noah Haglund at 937-5550 or nhaglund@postandcourier.com


#4 Deborah

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Posted 30 May 2008 - 10:06 AM

http://www.charleypr..._viridiana.html


Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance

Missing Since: October 11, 2007 from North Charleston, South Carolina
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date of Birth: December 18, 1985
Age: 21 years old
Height and Weight: 5'4, 115 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Hispanic female. Black hair, brown eyes. Maldonado is a native of Mexico and speaks Spanish.
Clothing/Jewelry Description: Pants and a shirt.


Details of Disappearance

Maldonado was last seen on October 11, 2007 in North Charleston, South Carolina. She finished a shift at her job at the La Nortena restaurant on Rivers Avenue, then stopped at her apartment at Merritt Summit Place Apartments at 10:30 or 11:00 p.m. and changed her shirt, but left on the pants she'd worn at work. She shared the apartment with her children, her mother and her sister. Maldonado told them she was going out with her sister-in-law, Vicky Roberts. She has never been seen again.
Between 1:00 and 2:00 a.m. the next morning, Maldonado's family received cellular phone text messages saying she was drinking downtown with someone named Miguel. Later messages said she wasn't feeling well and that she was going back to Mexico. There has been no activity on Maldonado's cellular phone since then. When questioned, Roberts said she was not with Maldonado on the night of her disappearance, she had not seen her for two weeks beforehand, and she doesn't know why Maldonado would say they were together.

On October 17, someone closed Maldonado's bank account by telephone and a cashier's check for the balance of the account, about $1,000, was sent to Tacoma, Washington, where Maldonado used to live with her estranged husband. It is unclear whether Maldonado closed the account herself. Maldonado married her husband in 2005, but they separated and she moved to North Carolina about a month before her disappearance. The couple had had a rocky relationship.

Investigators do not believe Maldonado left of her own accord. Her family says Maldonado did not normally communicate with text messages, she did ask about her two young children in the messages, she did not take any belongings with her when she left, and her family does not know anyone named Miguel.

Although little information is available as to Maldonado's fate, there is grave concern for her welfare. Her case remains unsolved.



Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
North Charleston Police Department
843-554-5700
 

Source Information
The Charleston Post and Courier
Live 5 News
WCIV News 4
WCBD News 2



Updated 1 time since October 12, 2004.

Last updated May 13, 2008; casefile added.
Deborah Cox, Volunteer
Case Verification
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www.projectjason.org

Help us find the missing: Become an AAN Member
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If you have seen any of our missing persons, please call the law enforcement agency listed on the post. All missing persons are loved by someone, and their families deserve to find the answers they seek in regards to the disappearance.

#5 Lori Davis

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Posted 28 January 2009 - 11:56 AM

http://www.charlesto...eves_miss57792/

One year later, family still grieves for missing woman
Police now identify husband as a possible suspect


By Noah Haglund (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Sunday, October 12, 2008

Viridiana Maldonado's mother, Lilia Michel Guerrero, said she's always thinking about her missing daughter.

The family stays composed until conversation turns to Viridiana Maldonado, their beloved daughter and sister, who has been missing for a year.

Then tears flow. They describe Viridiana, a young woman with dark, wavy hair and deep-brown eyes who left two children behind.

Her mother and sister care for her 7-year-old-son, Alex — her spitting image, they say — who continually asks about his mother.

Meanwhile, they're fighting Viridiana's estranged husband in court for custody of her 3-year-old son, now living with his father in another country.

Is she alive? Is she dead? What should they tell the children?

"We're not complete because my sister isn't here," said Jenne Cuevas, Viridiana's older sister, in Spanish. "I sleep, but it isn't easy because I'm always thinking of her."

A year ago today it became apparent that the 21-year-old was not coming home from a night on the town. Since then, the family's fears about foul play have grown. Now police are convinced too.

Their focus, they say, is her husband.

Viridiana finished an evening waitress shift at La Nortena, a restaurant on Rivers Avenue in North Charleston. She stopped by the Dunlap Street apartment she shared with her mother, sister and two sons. Then she left around 11 p.m., to go out with friends.

Cuevas received text messages from her sister's phone between 1 and 2 a.m.

The family doesn't think she sent them. It was out of character for her to text, rather than to call, and the messages didn't make much sense.

One mentioned a friend named Miguel, a name they didn't recognize, and the next one, six minutes later, stated that she had problems and was headed to Mexico, her native country.

They never saw her again.

While relatives suspected foul play from the beginning, police initially considered it a missing-persons case. Though no arrests have been made, police investigators last week identified a suspect publicly for the first time: her husband, Jorge.

"We've gotten phone records, we've gotten bank records," said Detective David Watson, a North Charleston police investigator. "We've got a lot of circumstantial evidence against the husband."

But no charge.

During a phone interview last year, Jorge Maldonado said he resented implications that he had something to do with his wife's disappearance. He said he too was worried about her.

Jorge Moldonado, 22, could not be reached for comment last week. Previous phone numbers were disconnected or out of service. Attorneys in the child-custody case said he moved in August to the Dominican Republic, his native country.

His parents and his 3-year-old son also moved there from the Charleston area this year.

Viridiana had grown up in Santiago, Colima, on Mexico's Pacific coast. She arrived in the U.S. about eight years ago and stayed briefly in Los Angeles before joining family in South Carolina.

Her family said she met her future husband in North Charleston about five years ago. They appreciated his intelligence and quick wit. They also liked the fact that he didn't drink.

Together, the couple had a son, Jorge Luis Maldonado Jr. She had another son, Alex, from a previous relationship.

The couple moved with the children to Washington state while he was stationed with the Army at Fort Lewis, near Tacoma. While out West, their relationship deteriorated.

Her family described her husband as controlling. They said he wouldn't give her money to buy groceries. Things got so bad that she went to stay in a women's shelter for three months last year.

Each made domestic-violence complaints against the other, though both cases were dismissed.

In September she returned to South Carolina to live with her sister and mother in North Charleston. The following month, she disappeared.

Two weeks later, Jorge Maldonado took his son from Viridiana's mother. They went back to Washington until his discharge from the Army in November. Then he moved back across the country, to Goose Creek.

In December he told police he was in Washington state when his wife disappeared, but police said they had evidence that he drove to South Carolina at that very time. When confronted, they said, his demeanor changed.

"He didn't have any good answers for our questions," said Watson, the North Charleston investigator. "Once we presented him with that information, he became very scared. He actually ended the interview, saying he had to be at work."

Police in Fairview Heights, Ill., reported questioning him in a motel parking lot on Oct. 11. He told them he was traveling to Washington state from his home in South Carolina.

Cell phone records showed calls progressing in the other direction, south from Chicago to Charleston, through Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina.

Detectives also learned that the couple spoke by phone the same day she disappeared, Watson said. Jorge Maldonado told detectives that someone else must have had his car and cellular phone. He said he could not remember whether he loaned them to anyone.

After Viridiana's disappearance, police found the car Jorge had been driving at an Olympia, Wash., car dealership, where he had traded it in. Authorities searched it but didn't find anything out of the ordinary, Watson said.

Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson said her office has offered police guidance on the case, but declined to comment on specifics.

Howie Comen, a local private investigator working with Viridiana's family, said he's positive that members of the public have information that could help solve the case.

"Somebody has to come forward at this point," Comen said. "If they're afraid, they need to come forward. Just tell us where to go, and we'll go there."

The custody battle over the 3-year-old son continues in Berkeley County Family Court. A Nov. 7 hearing in Moncks Corner could determine whether Viridiana's mother gets visitation or full custody of her younger grandson.

Jorge Maldonado's attorney said his client will be there.

"He has to come up because he's been ordered to produce the child," Tommy Bolus said. "He told me he would."

He said his client isn't trying to hide and that he is a naturalized U.S. citizen who receives veterans' disability benefits. His parents own several houses in the Caribbean nation, he said, and he lives with them on a family compound.

Outwardly, Viri's mother, Lilia Michel Guerrero, appears focused when talking about the custody battle. But she's always thinking about her missing daughter. The ordeal has turned her into two separate people — calm on the outside, but suffering inside.

Michel points at her head and says, through sobs, "In every moment, she's here."

How to help
To offer tips about Viridiana Maldonado's disappearance, call North Charleston police at 554-5700, Crime Stoppers at 554-1111 or the Comen Detective Agency at 571-2667.

Tips also can be submitted through Crime Stoppers' Web site at www.5541111.com or by e-mail to the detective agency at comendetec@aol.com.


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#6 Lori Davis

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Posted 28 January 2009 - 11:58 AM

http://www.charlesto...tody_case60941/

Arrest tangles custody case
Missing woman's husband intercepted at airport on his way to hearing

By Noah Haglund (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Saturday, November 8, 2008

Jorge Maldonado flew to the United States from the Dominican Republic this week expecting to attend a custody hearing over his 3-year-old son.

Maldonado's wife, Viridiana, has been missing for more than a year. He has been battling her family for custody of the child.

When Maldonado, 22, stepped off the a plane in Atlanta on Wednesday, federal agents took him into custody. His attorney in the custody case, Tommy Bolus, explained the situation to a judge during Friday's hearing.

"He's in federal custody, he can't assert his rights today," Bolus told Judge Tommy Edwards of the 10th Judicial Circuit. "Obviously, right now, he's held up."

Bolus said that Maldonado's brother, Gregorio Maldonado, had been detained earlier in the Charleston area by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Jorge Maldonado was picked up in connection with the same investigation, he said.

The attorney said he does not represent the brothers in that situation.

The DEA in Columbia referred questions about the case to federal prosecutors. The U.S. Attorney's Office was unable to confirm or deny an investigation or pending charges against either man.

At the end of the custody hearing, the judge consented to an agreement hammered out by Bolus and Shaundra Young, the South Carolina Legal Services attorney representing the other side.

Maldonado's sister, Minorca Roberts of Goose Creek, will have custody of the child. Viridiana Maldonado's mother, Lilia Michel Guerrero, will get standard visitation, which allows her to see him on weekends and holidays.

Maldonado moved to his family's' native Dominican Republic from Goose Creek in August. But a Berkeley County Family Court Judge ordered him to return to the U.S. with the child for a custody hearing on Friday. He flew stateside with his parents and the child, Jorge Maldonado Jr., on Wednesday.

Viridiana Maldonado's family fears that she has been killed.

The last time they saw her was late on the night of Oct. 11, 2007. She got off work and stopped by the North Charleston apartment she shared with her sister, mother and two children. In addition to Jorge, she had a son from a previous relationship.

Later that night, and into the next morning, her younger sister received a series of cryptic text messages. The first one said she was going downtown, another that she would be out with a friend named Miguel of whom her family had never heard. The last message said she wasn't feeling well and planned to return to Mexico, her native country.

Her family doesn't think she sent the messages.

Earlier that year, she had been living with her husband and the children in Washington state, where he was stationed with the Army at Fort Lewis. But she left after fleeing and spending three months in a women's shelter. She returned to South Carolina, where the two had lived before moving across the country, the month before her disappearance.

A few weeks later, her husband returned to take his son away from his wife's family. They went to Washington but later moved back to South Carolina after he was discharged from the Army.

He originally told investigators he was in Washington when his wife disappeared. But police in Illinois questioned him early on Oct. 11, 2007, in a motel parking lot. Cell phone records showed his phone being used along a route from Illinois to South Carolina later that day, investigators' affidavits state. Police have said he abruptly ended an interview in December when they brought up that evidence.

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#7 Lori Davis

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Posted 20 November 2010 - 07:49 AM

https://www.findthem...cases/show/8115
NamUs profile for Viridiana Maldonado - Case 8115

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#8 Lori Davis

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Posted 28 October 2012 - 06:25 AM

Viridiana has now been missing 5 years.  Our thoughts and prayers are with her family, friends and loved ones.

Lori Davis, Project Jason Forum Moderator
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Help us for free when you shop online or do a websearch:
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If you have seen any of our missing persons, please call the law enforcement agency listed on the post. All missing persons are loved by someone, and their families deserve to find the answers they seek in regards to the disappearance.


#9 Deborah

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Posted 12 August 2015 - 04:08 PM

Viridiana is still missing.

 

North Charleston Police Department
843-554-5700 


Deborah Cox, Volunteer
Case Verification
Project Jason
www.projectjason.org

Help us find the missing: Become an AAN Member
http://www.projectja.../awareness.html

If you have seen any of our missing persons, please call the law enforcement agency listed on the post. All missing persons are loved by someone, and their families deserve to find the answers they seek in regards to the disappearance.




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