Sunday, 28. September 2008, 16:41:59
Viridiana Maldonado was a young mother. She had her first child at age 15 or 16. She married and had another child four years later. Her husband, Jorge, was in the Army stationed at Ft. Lewis near Tacoma, WA.
According to news accounts they had trouble in their marriage which led "Viri" to take out an Order of Protection against Jorge. Apparently she had had enough and moved back to her family in North Charleston, SC with her 2 children, leaving Jorge in WA.
She lived with her mother and sister in an apartment on Dunbar Ave., along with her children. She held a postition with a local restaurant, La Nortena, and her boss was a friend of the family. From all accounts she was making a go of it with the support of her family.
On the evening of Oct. 11, 2007 she came home, changed her clothes and said she was going out with her sister in law, Vicky Roberts, for the evening. Nothing unusual was said to her family, nothing unusual about her demeanor that night. Just a night out with friends.
Her family reports that approximately 2am they received text messages from her cell phone. This was odd, because Viridiana did not usually text message them. One said she was in downtown Charleston, drinking with a man named Miguel. The next message said she was on her way home to Mexico. That was the last activity on her cell phone....ever.
Six days later her bank account, with a balance of about $1000, was closed by telephone and a cashiers check was sent to Tacoma, WA. It has not been reported who made that phone call, who closed that account, and who received the money.
There are a slew of strange circumstances surrounding this disappearance.
Vicky Roberts, her sister in law, says she was not with her and had not seen her for 2 weeks prior to Oct. 11.
Viridiana's estranged husband, Jorge, left the Army, moved back to North Charleston and claimed his child. He is reported to have been cooperative with police in the investigation.
Who is Miguel? Her family states they never heard Viri speak about any man named Miguel. Did she just meet him somewhere that night, or did she know him beforehand?
What is happening in this case now? Are these questions being answered for her mother and family? Apparently, they don't think enough is being put into the investigation and it looks like a lot of clues are getting cold as time goes by.
We have 2 small children who don't know what happened to their Mommy, a young, beautiful woman who was loved and cared for by her family in her times of trouble. Viridiana, just as so many others, is being forgotten. The longer we let these questions go unanswered, the colder the trail gets, and it happens all too often.
Another missing Mother vanishes in the night. Where do they go?
WIDGETIZE