National Hispanic Heritage Month: Diana Gonzalez

In honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month I’m featuring a Hispanic missing person every day from September 15 to October 15. Today’s case is Diana Isabel Gonzalez, a fifteen-year-old girl who disappeared from Raeford, North Carolina on October 15, 2005.

Her case is classified as a non-family abduction; she left, apparently voluntarily, with a 29-year-old man, Jose Barrera-Pacheco, who was a friend of her family. Barrera-Pacheco called her parents to say he was in love with her and they would never see her again. Barrera-Pacheco has a warrant out for kidnapping. They may be in Mexico or California.

If still alive, Diana would be 28 years old by now. She’s probably got a couple of kids. It’s strange that in all these years she’s NEVER reached out to her family. I think social media may be a good way to solve this case; Diana may have social media profiles, even if they’re not under her real name.

FINALLY updated MP of the week

For the first time in yonks, I finally changed my missing person of the week. It is now Diana Isabel Gonzalez, a teen who ran off with a man more than twice her age back in 2005. They’re probably in Mexico.

For the past several weeks I’d been either too sick/tired or too forgetful to change it in time. Someone finally complained.

Diana Gonzalez article

As this Fayetteville Observer article notes, it’s been five years since fourteen-year-old Diana Gonzalez ran away from her Raeford, North Carolina home with a man more than twice her age. The boyfriend, Jose Barrera-Pacheco, has been charged with kidnapping, even though Diana apparently went with him voluntarily.

The article doesn’t really say anything I didn’t already know — no word on where those two have been all this time. I’m guessing she’s had a couple of kids by now.