A Bay Area family calls the last four months "torturous" as they wait to hear news of Monica de Leon Barba, 29, who was kidnapped in Mexico.
Gustavo de Leon, Monica’s older brother, spoke to NBC Bay Area via phone Thursday. He told reporter Gia Vang that the FBI has recommended him not to do any on-camera interviews.
Gustavo said that Monica lives in San Mateo and was visiting Tepatitlán, Jalisco, Mexico. On Nov. 29, 2022, Monica was walking with her dog, when she was taken.
"Fear, anger, and you know, confusion," Gustavo said. “It’s off camera what happens, but you can see a lot of commotion, a lot of cars pulling up and then moments after, they just speed off."
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The family is hoping a new $40,000 reward by the FBI will help lead to Monica.
Gustavo said the FBI told him that whoever took Monica has demands.
“In this day and age, that we live in. It just seems very difficult that even in Mexico, someone could just disappear or that these people that are contacting my family and harassing them that they can just be ghosts in this digital network,” he said.
Last October, the U.S. State Department issued travel advisories in Mexico, asking people reconsider travel in Jalisco due to crime and kidnapping.
“It’s something that happens in movies and television, not in real life,” Gustavo said.
The reality has set in for Monica’s family and close friends as they are working together through a Facebook page to get her back to safely.
“She is kind and smart and loyal to the end. And she’s a helluva lot tougher than I am,” Gustavo said. “I would very much like to have my sister back, before time runs out.”
Anyone with information about Monica’s whereabouts should contact the local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate.
