Maria Bolanos-Rivera
http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/index.ssf/2012/09/children_of_missing_hillsboro.html
Maria
Bolanos-Rivera woke up early on Aug. 26, a Sunday morning. She drank
some hot chocolate and ate a piece of bread. She got in the shower and
then combed her curly, black hair and secured it into a low braid behind
her neck that hung just beyond her shoulders. She put on some lotion.
Dressed
in a light-weight sweatshirt, jeans and white Nike sneakers that
afternoon, Bolanos-Rivera turned to her 22-year-old daughter, Nancy
Mendez, who lives with her. "I'll see you later," she said and walked
out of her
Hillsboro home on
Southeast Walnut Street.
Oddly, she didn't tell Mendez where she was going.
By
early evening, Bolanos-Rivera still wasn't home. Mendez started to
worry; it was unlike her mother. Mendez called one of her sisters, who
told her to keep waiting. Mendez called another sister. She, too, told
her to keep waiting.
Mendez went into her mother's room, where she sat on her bed and called her over and over again. All night.
Hillsboro Police DepartmentMaria Bolanos-Rivera
She
and her siblings – four sisters and a brother – each called at least 10
times, Mendez estimated. Nothing. Her mother's phone rang and rang,
leading up to her automated voicemail.
Three weeks later,
there's still nothing. Bolanos-Rivera, 56, remains gone. She hasn't
contacted her family. Her phone is dead. Her wallet is at home, along
with her diabetes medication. Thursday was her birthday.
The
Hillsboro Police Department said investigators are now
concerned that foul play could be a factor
in her disappearance. Authorities and Bolanos-Rivera's family is urging
anyone with information to come forward and tell investigators.
Police
have said Bolanos-Rivera could be with 29-year-old Eloy Vasquez, who
has short black hair and brown eyes. Bolanos-Rivera knows Vasquez from
work, Mendez said, but not well. Vasquez, police said, lives in the
Beaverton area and is also gone. Police think he is in California.
Mendez said her mother's life revolves around her children. She's the only parent they have.
Their
father, Julian Francisco Mendez Reyes, 45, was found dead on March 13,
1999 in the common bathroom of a Cornelius labor camp off
Southwest Nursery Road. He died of a blow to the head, possibly from a baseball bat.
His case remains unsolved. The Mendez family doesn't want their mother's case to be another mystery.
***
The
morning of Aug. 27, Mendez and her siblings decided to look for their
mother. They drove around Bald Peak, near the place Bolanos-Rivera works
with
Oregon Berry Packing. They drove around the streets of Hillsboro to the city's outskirts, hoping they'd spot their mother walking.
After
hours of searching, they stopped at the Hillsboro police station to
report their mother missing. But they couldn't file a report, Mendez
said, because the department said it was too soon. Frustrated with the
police, they left the station and went home.
They stopped
looking for their mother but continued to call her phone. When
Bolanos-Rivera was still missing on Tuesday Aug. 28, they called police.
An officer came to their home and took a report.
They continued calling their mom.
The
next day, Hillsboro Detective Pat LaMonica came to the home, where he
looked for clues of her whereabouts, Mendez said, but came away with
little. LaMonica told the family to stop calling her cellphone to
preserve its battery, Mendez said.
They didn't call again.
Police
said in the first few days Bolanos-Rivera was gone, they pinged the
phone and found that it was in the Hillsboro area. But they couldn't
nail down a location specific enough to search for her.
Since
her mother's disappearance, Mendez, a nanny, and her siblings have
struggled to get back into their daily routines. Mendez won't stay in
the home she shared with her mother. She couldn't sleep there. It would
be too sad, and she's never been on her own. She's always been with her
mom.
They struggled to explain how much they miss her; how much they hurt; how much they hope to see her again.
They want to believe she's alive, Mendez said. It's too sad to think otherwise.
***
Bolanos-Rivera
has lived in Hillsboro for about five years, Mendez said. Before that,
she lived outside the city's southern edge.
After her husband's
killing, Bolanos-Rivera slipped into a deep depression, Mendez recalled.
She was zoned-out, as if she wasn't there. She isolated herself.
After
four years, she started to get better, Mendez said, but she has never
healed all the way. Recently, she seemed happy: talking, smiling and
laughing with her family.
Bolanos-Rivera loves to garden and
care for her pets: Luna, a chihuahua mix, and three unnamed, tiny
parakeets. She loves to talk with her children and play with her nine
grandchildren. She loves to cook meals and dance to Spanish music.
She
doesn't go far from home. She buys groceries from a store less than a
mile away. She doesn't drive, so she mostly walks to get around.
Beyond
her family, Bolanos-Rivera doesn't talk to many people. Her children
are all grown up, Mendez said, but Bolanos-Rivera was always checking
in. She would call her children nearly every day, to see how they are
and make sure they had eaten.
Mendez said she and her siblings are keeping their phones at their sides. They pick up every call.
Anyone with more information is asked to call Hillsboro Detective Pat LaMonica at
503-681-5357 .
