Family Of Missing Woman, Daughter Ask For Help
Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - The family of a mother and daughter who vanished over the summer is asking the public for help in finding them.
Liliana, 43, and Daniela Moreno, 8, were reported to missing to Doral police on May 31st. Investigators said they found Moreno's purse and wallet inside her apartment. Her front door was locked and her car was in the parking lot. They added repeated calls to her cellphone went unanswered.
Thursday, September 8th, is the one hundred and first day since their disappearance.
"We really need your help. We need to find them. It's been too much time," said Moreno's sister Carolina meeting with reporters.
Moreno's siblings live in Colombia. They said the last time they heard from her was on May 3rd. It was a happy occasion, her sister's birthday.
"That day, my sister was her birthday. She called and said 'Hey Carol, Happy Birthday'," recalled Moreno's brother Eduardo Moreno Ramirez.
The investigation into disappearance has led police to several locations in Miami-Dade County, including a canal off Okeechobee Road and 138th Street and a warehouse district in Medley where Daniela's father and Moreno's off-and-on boyfriend, Gustavo Castano, worked.
On June 3rd, officers were called out to Hialeah Gardens, behind a Home Depot at 13895 West Okeechobee Road, where Castano was reportedly cutting himself with a boxcutter.
Just days earlier, Castano told police he had dropped Moreno and their daughter near the canal on Okeechobee Road on May 30th. That would turn out to be the last time anyone claimed to have seen them alive.
Castano has denied having anything to do with their disappearance. Ramirez said he thinks there's something fishy about his story.
"I think it's pretty incredible that he don't worry. I don't think that if you are father, I think you go out and always search and make it anything you can do to find her," said Ramirez.
The the course of the investigation a tip led police to a remote lake near N.W. 127th Avenue and 25th Street.
They also searched the north side of a large wooded area from S.W. 8th Street and S.W. 137th Avenue to S.W. 157th Avenue.
So far all the searches have seemingly turned up very little additional information that can help the police figure out what happened to Moreno and her daughter.
Investigators suspect foul play and Castano is a person of interest in the investigation.
"If you've seen anything, anything, you saw them drive by, you saw them anywhere, provide that information because that's very important to put this case together," said Miami-Dade police spokesman Wilfredo Ramirez. "These are circumstantial murders. If this turns out to be a death case, if it turns out to be, let's be frank here, we need every little piece of information to put this together."
The family would like anyone with information that could possibly help in the investigation to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS. A reward of up to $20,000 is being offered for information that leads to an arrest.