Missing
Teresa Guzman
Guzman, approximately 2008; Francisco Vazquez-Rosas
Date and time person was reported missing : 12/01/2008
Missing location (approx) :
Las Vegas, Nevada
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Female
Ethnicity :
Hispanic
Age at the time of disappearance: 22 years old
Height / Weight : 5'4, 130 pounds
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: Hispanic female. Black hair, brown eyes. Guzman speaks only Spanish.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Guzman's family last saw her in Las Vegas, Nevada during December 2008. She has never been heard from again. She left behind three young children, and her family didn't believe she would have abandoned them.
She told her family she wanted to move to Colorado or Oklahoma, but her estranged husband, Francisco Vazquez-Rosas, wouldn't let her take the children with her. Vazquez-Rosas said his wife had run away with another man, but her family stated she would not have left Las Vegas without telling anyone.
Guzman's brother-in-law reported her missing in May 2009. In January 2010, Vazquez-Rosas was indicted for his wife's murder. They had been separated for about three months by the time of her disappearance.
In December 2009, the couple's five-year-old daughter told an adult female relative that she'd seen her father choke her mother and then put her in a closet, then in a trash bag. The child's seven-year-old sister told a similar story, saying her parents had been fighting and then she saw her father put her mother in a garbAge at the time of disappearance: can.
The police interviewed Vazquez-Rosas, and he failed a polygraph test. He eventually confessed to Guzman's murder. According to him, on December 13 he and Guzman were together at an apartment in the 3100 block of south Nellis Boulevard. Guzman told him she was leaving and taking the children, and she wouldn't say where she planned to go.
They began fighting and he pushed her out the door, and she fell down onto the asphalt. He hid her body in a closet when he realized she was dead, then later put it in a trash bin.
A photograph of Vazquez-Rosas is posted with this case summary. His attorney stated he is innocent and suggested Guzman left of her own accord. Both he and Guzman are undocumented immigrants from Mexico, and his attorney claimed Vazquez-Rosas didn't report his wife's disappearance to authorities because he feared deportation.
The murder charge against Vazquez-Rojas was dismissed in April 2010, four months after he was indicted, after a judge ruled his confession had been coerced. Charges could be brought against him again, however, if more evidence surfaces.
Foul play is suspected in Guzman's disappearance due to the circumstances involved.
Other information and links : ncy
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
702-828-5678
702-828-2907
September 2021 updates and sources
Nevada Center for Missing Loved Ones
The Las Vegas Sun
The Las Vegas Review-Journal
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.
October 12, 2004. September 9, 2017; Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: updated.
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