A search is underway for a pregnant 21-year-old woman who police believe was taken from her home Sunday evening.
The Auburn Police Department said Jackelin Perez disappeared between 6-7 p.m. Sunday from her apartment in north Auburn, but her husband didn’t call police to report her disappearance until Monday morning.
Police called Perez’s disappearance “suspicious,” and that detectives “believe there is credible evidence” that suggests she was “taken from her home under duress.” The department said Perez is six weeks pregnant and doesn’t believe her disappearance is random.
APD spokesperson Kolby Crossley said detectives have been working around the clock to figure out what happened to the 21-year-old. Perez and her husband immigrated from Guatemala within the last year and moved to Auburn about four months ago. The couple speaks limited English.
Crossley said her husband came home about 20 minutes after his wife disappeared.
“From what we’ve gathered so far from our investigation, we just believe that this was a kidnapping and that it wasn’t random,” Crossley said. “But as to why we think that, we just can’t say right now at the point in this investigation.”
When asked if detectives have any reason to believe the disappearance was a target toward immigrants or just an individual, Crossley said, “It’s all part of our investigation.”
“As of right now we haven’t ruled anything out, so we’re looking into everything in this case,” Crossly responded.
Detectives have not ruled out any suspects.
Police said Perez is 5-foot-4-inches tall, weighs 111 pounds, and has a scar on her left cheek. Police said the scar on her cheek is not visible in the photo shared on social media by the APD. Crossley did not have any additional information on what the scar looks like or how big it may be.
Auburn police are asking for the public’s help in locating Perez and asking anyone who has any information to come forward.
“It could be something really small like you might have seen her on a bus,” Crossley said.“Even if it’s just a glimpse and you don’t really know, just give us a call, a general location of where you saw the person and we can look into it.”
Crossley also said it could be a conversation you overheard or something that seemed odd, but not suspicious until now, learning that a young, pregnant woman is missing.
“People are really scared to come forward, and we’re trying to protect them and we’re also trying to protect people who came forward and helped us so far,” said Crossley.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the APD tip line at 253-288-7408.
