West Covina

Three West Covina Residents Reported Missing During Trip to Mexico

A family member says she has received a message requesting a ransom.

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A woman says she received a ransom message after three of her relatives from West Covina disappeared during their holiday trip in Mexico.

Yesenia Trujillo told Telemundo 52 that someone sent her a Facebook message claiming to know where her parents and uncle were located, asking for about $500 in pesos in return for information.

"[The suspects said] that if I gave them that amount of money, they would tell me, and that also [my relatives] were still alive," Trujillo said.

She reported this message to United States authorities to investigate.

"I already called the FBI," she said. "Because they told me that the moment I received a threat or they asked me for money, I had to call [the police.]"

Over a dozen days have passed since Trujillo’s family disappeared in early January, but she has learned nothing about her family’s whereabouts.

"Many things go through my mind," she said. "It has already been over two weeks… and we are worried about them."

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Delfina Florentino Hernández, 52, her brother Pedro Florentino Hernández, 40, and her husband Jorge Olaf Plascencia, 58, were last seen on Jan. 3 in the village of Nochistlán de Mejía in Zacatecas, Mexico, where they traveled to spend their Christmas and New Year’s.

"If she saw someone that didn’t have shoes, my mother went and gave them some," Trujillo said. "She was very well-known [in Nochistlán de Mejía.]"

The family has already reported their relatives’ disappearance to the district attorney of Zacatecas, after the initial report to the local police – for reasons that remain unknown – was never formally registered. The family also reported that their residence in Mexico was allegedly looted by the police.

"The police told me not to go [to Zacatecas]," Trujillo said.

According to Trujillo, her mother is an American citizen and travels to her native Mexico every year to organize a holiday festival for the village. The authorities fear that this may have attracted unwanted attention from someone who wanted to extort a ransom.

"[My family is] very well known there because they organized raffles and [festivals]," Trujillo said. "I think someone took advantage of them."

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