"We must find Erica while she can still live." Desperate search for a Latina mom in Houston

Erica Hernández, a 40-year-old Latina woman with three children in Houston, Texas, spent Saturday April 17 cooking with her mother, but when she invited family and friends to eat with them, most didn't show up, so, In order not to waste the food, he decided to take it home.

She left her home in her black GMC Acadia vehicle (license plate MKJ-3303) and was last seen near Highway 288 and the Beltway.

Since then nothing has been known about her.

Her family fears something happened to her because she, they say, would never have driven her car, leaving her 19-year-old daughter without a vehicle to go to work.

"We are looking for Erika Hernandez and we are not going to give up," said Congresswoman Shelia Jackson Lee on Friday, "the community is looking for her."

In the tracking tasks, led by the Houston police, the FBI is also involved.

Hernández went to her best friend's house around 9:30 p.m. to bring her food, and she stayed there until 2:30 a.m.

Her friend texted her on the return trip to make sure she was safe.

The last one was sent at 3:04, and she replied that she was already only five minutes from home.

Her friend wrote it minutes later, but received no response.  

[Julia, the 1-year-old girl who disappeared in Mexico, along with four other relatives, is found alive.

No trace of the others]

"I just feel like

I have to be strong and be there for my brothers

(ages 15 and 3)," Hernández's daughter Briza Armenta told KPRC.

"We are doing everything possible to search for it," added the young woman.

According to relatives, phone records showed from Hernández's phone that a call was made at 2:50 a.m. to a number they did not recognize.  

They find 150 minors who were declared missing in Tennessee

March 4, 202101: 01

At the time of her disappearance, Hernández was wearing a navy blue V-neck T-shirt, jeans, and navy / black athletic shoes.

"We need help now," said Yancy Balderas, one of her best friends, "the family is terrified."

"Her phone is off and they have not found her car," he added, "it is the anniversary of the disappearance of Vanessa Guillén, it took 69 days to find her body, we must find Erica while she is still alive."

[They find 150 minors who were declared missing in Tennessee]

Anyone with information can contact the Houston Police Department at (832) 394-1840 or contact Texas EquuSearch at (281) 309-9500.

With information from

KPRC (affiliate of NBC News Houston).