Detectives acting on a “credible” tip were searching a vacant field in Pearblossom Friday for the possible remains of a young mother who vanished without a trace one year ago.
Monique Figueroa was last seen leaving her home in Littlerock for a visit to the Florence area of Los Angeles on May 19, 2015.
The 28-year-old was never heard from again.
One year later, investigators with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department received information that a body might be buried on a multi-acre lot in the 11100 block of Pearblossom Highway, according to the missing woman’s father Jeff Figueroa.
He watched for hours Friday as investigators dug holes and used cadaver dogs to try to identify possible burial sites. He returned Saturday morning wearing a T-shirt with a photo of his daughter and granddaughter, and waited for detectives and excavators to get to the lot.
Detectives had searched the same property twice before, each time coming up with nothing.
The concerned father told KTLA he was frustrated that more wasn’t being done to find his daughter.
Monique Figueroa was driving a black Mercedes-Benz SUV with black rims with license plate No. 5DGN895 when she vanished.
The SUV was found 10 days later in Juniper Hills, about seven miles from her home.
Detectives confirmed at the time that they were investigating Figueroa’s disappearance as “suspicious,” and as a possible kidnapping.
Monique Figueroa had a young daughter, and family members said she would never abandon her.
“She’s a good mother because she wouldn’t leave … she wouldn’t just leave a 2-year-old daughter at home,” her brother Jeff Figueroa told KTLA last year. “She’s a really good girl, she always worked and she wouldn’t just disappear like that.”