A harrowingly creepy Google Street View photo is the only major clue in the disappearance of a 25-year-old California woman.
Arelie Garcia loved her car, a bright red Honda Accord that she lovingly customized and drove every day around her idyllic village. It was “literally her baby.”
The last time her family saw her, she was driving to work in Salinas, California, on September 22, 2022, before Garcia disappeared without a trace.
He was later tracked to Big Sur, California, more than an hour away, by Garcia’s sister, Veronica.
Investigators do not believe Garcia drove the car there herself. They estimate Veronica found the car about six hours after it was parked.
But in a surprising and eerie coincidence, a Google Street View car photographed the vehicle hours earlier, around noon on the day it was parked.
The last time Arelie Garcia was seen by her family, she was driving to work on September 22, 2022, before the 25-year-old disappeared without a trace.
The appearance of his car when he last left it is eerily preserved on Google Maps, after a Street View car photographed it as it drove by.
Investigators say the image, still available on Google Street View, was taken about three hours after the vehicle was abandoned on the side of the road in Big Sur.
Veronica didn’t find him until six hours later.
The tantalizing solution is that anyone involved in Garcia’s disappearance may have been in the vicinity of the harmless Street View vehicle at the time.
Cars drive on roads around the world, offering a fascinating real-life view of the roads and streets.
Investigators believe Garcia did not drive his Honda there. The driver’s seat was too far back for Garcia’s 5’5″ frame and the chassis was not lowered to the ground as he usually left it.
Garcia left her mother’s home in Salinas, California, at 6:34 a.m. and was supposed to be at her job as a service advisor at My Chevrolet in Salinas at 7:30 a.m.
At 6:56 a.m. he texted Veronica, whose son Davian is Garcia’s godson: “Good morning. I miss you and my baby. I love you!”
Veronica replied at 8.53am: ‘Hi Lovie, I miss you too! And Guppy loves you too!’
Garcia was never late to work without calling first and was so close with her coworkers that they texted frequently.
So when she never showed up, they contacted Garcia’s other sister, Eli Mendoza, at 10 a.m., concerned about where she was.
What followed was a frantic barrage of increasingly worrying text messages and calls from Veronica to her sister that she later realized were never delivered, including the first one.
Arelie was never late to work without calling in first and was so close to her coworkers that they texted frequently.
He drove to his mother’s apartment and found Arelie’s room exactly as it always was, with nothing out of place and no notes.
With no leads, Veronica called Arelie on the Find My Phone app and located her in Big Sur.
This made no sense because there was no reason for her to be there and it was too far away for her to get there and back in time for work.
Veronica went to the police station to file a missing person report, while Eli and her husband headed to the phone’s location.
When they arrived, they found the Honda parked in a picturesque spot overlooking the ocean.
The car was locked, with Arelie’s phone, keys and wallet inside, but no sign of her.
Police soon arrived at the scene and spent two days searching a four-mile radius with dogs, drones, helicopters and on foot, but found no trace of her.
What they did find was a video of her leaving the apartment wearing what looked like workout clothes, at least an hour of what she would once have gone through to exercise before work.
She was wearing black leggings, a black hoodie and sneakers and had her hair up in a bun.
Her family said they were not what she usually wore to work and that she would definitely have been sent home if she showed up in them.
Arelie left her mother’s house in Salinas, California, at 6:34 a.m. and was supposed to be at her job as a service advisor at My Chevrolet in Salinas at 7:30 a.m.
Another video showed her stop at the Carmel Highlands General Store at 7:30 a.m., about a 20-minute drive from where her car was found.
Police believe from their investigations that the woman arrived at the property between 7.50am and 8.45am and that the windows were too tinted to see if anyone else was inside.
Garcia’s family believes that, given all these factors, she may have met with someone just before she disappeared.
But after police interviewed 62 people, including his family, the trail is cold and they hope a $10,000 reward will lead to new information.
“We’ve exhausted every lead we had,” said Salinas Police Commander Brian Johnson. “Nothing new has come to light.”
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