Missing
Maria Guadalupe Montano
Maria, approximately 1990; Aurelio Montano, approximately 2010
Date and time person was reported missing : 07/07/1990
Missing location (approx) :
Aurora, Illinois
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Female
Ethnicity :
Hispanic
Age at the time of disappearance: 35 years old
Height / Weight : 5'0, 135 - 145 pounds
Description, clothing, jewerly and more : White sneakers.
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: Hispanic female. Black hair, brown eyes. Maria is a native of Mexico. She smokes cigarettes. Her ears are pierced.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Maria was last seen in Aurora, Illinois on July 7, 1990. Her husband of twelve years, Aurelio Montano, told her to get her things so he could take her to visit a cousin. She has never been heard from again. She was not reported missing for several months.
The Montanos' marriAge at the time of disappearance: was deeply troubled. Aurelio filed for divorce in 1985 and accused his wife of "extreme and repeated mental cruelty," but the suit was dismissed. In 1990, Maria sought an order of protection against Aurelio, claiming he had hit her, punched her and threatened her life. In February of that year, Aurelio was arrested twice on charges of assaulting Maria.
Aurelio filed for divorce again in 1991, after Maria's disappearance. In the divorce papers, he said he didn't know her whereabouts. When she didn't show up at any of the divorce hearings, he suggested she had returned to her native Mexico.
Aurelio was jailed on drug charges in Texas later in the 1990s. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison for a drug-related double murder he committed in 1996. In 2008, while still incarcerated in an Illinois prison, he was charged with Maria's murder.
The case had been reopened in 2007 at the request of the Montanos' daughter, who was ten years old when her mother disappeared. Authorities believe Aurelio killed his wife in a domestic violence incident in July 1990, buried her body on a relative's property, then dug it up later and took it elsewhere.
Aurelio's sister said he asked her to help bury Maria's body and she saw the body wrapped in a rug. A search of the relative's property turned up a buried rug, which Aurelio and Maria's daughter identified as being from the family home. A cadaver dog detected the scent of human remains on the rug as well.
Aurelio was convicted of his wife's murder in October 2013 and sentenced to an additional life term in prison.
Maria was born and raised in Zacatecas in central Mexico. She moved to the Aurora area when she was about fourteen years old. Foul play is suspected in her case due to the circumstances involved.
Other information and links : ncy
Aurora Police Department
630-859-1700
September 2021 updates and sources
The Doe Network
The Chicago Tribune
The Beacon News
The Chicago Sun-Times
Illinois Department of Corrections
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are not known. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2�5% of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
Several organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and imAge at the time of disappearance: s of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
The Daily Herald
5 October 12, 2004. February 22, 2014; Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : updated.
Interactive Missing Person Search Map
