The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced a reward of $40,000 for information leading to the whereabouts of
Mónica de León Barba
, a 29-year-old Latina resident of the San Francisco Bay Area (California). , who was kidnapped last year in Mexico.
Barba had left her home on November 29, 2022 with her dog when, the FBI said, she was kidnapped in Tepatitlán, Jalisco state.
According to information provided by the FBI, Barba is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 240 pounds.
She has brown hair and brown eyes.
“Anyone with information about his whereabouts should contact the local FBI field office or the nearest US embassy or consulate.
Tips can be submitted online at tips.fbi.gov or by calling the FBI tip line at 1-800-225-5324.
Photo of Mónica León Barba, published on the FBI.FBI website
A notice posted on a Facebook page to help locate the young woman indicated that
Barba had been forced into a van in Mexico
, a CBS affiliate station in the San Francisco Bay Area reported.
Her family has repeatedly asked for help to find the whereabouts of the young woman.
“We ask the Mexican authorities to give this case the importance it deserves to find my sister, who was kidnapped in broad daylight, a few blocks from a national guard station,” her brother, Gustavo, said in a statement quoted by NBC affiliate station in the Bay Area
A close friend of Barba's described his abduction as "shocking" and "terrifying."
"I've read stuff like this in the news, but I've never experienced it firsthand," Quin Boreen said.
In the most recent and probably the most notorious case of the kidnapping of United States residents in Mexico, four Americans were kidnapped in early March when they crossed into Mexico through the Tamaulipas area to accompany one of the travelers for medical treatment.
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Of the members of the group, two were killed and a third was wounded.
On that occasion, the FBI offered a reward of $50,000 for information leading to the whereabouts of the Americans.
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Days after the disappearance, a faction of the Gulf Cartel, called the Escorpión Group, handed over five individuals whom it accused of being responsible for the kidnapping and murder and offered an "apology" for the fact, in which a woman also lost her life. Mexican, killed by a stray bullet during the armed kidnapping.