HOUSTON, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Houston family members say they're preparing to spend Christmas without a teenage daughter they believe is being held against her will.
Jose Rodriguez's 14-year-old daughter Nereyda disappeared eight months ago, with her last communication coming in the form of a phone call in which said she wanted to come home but was cut off when someone grabbed the phone away, KTRK-TV, Houston, reported Monday.
The broadcaster said there's evidence she's been kidnapped by a man she met over the Internet, and a volunteer with the Laura Recovery Center, Priscilla Navarro, has helped track down new pictures of Nereyda. She has also reportedly contacted someone who said they saw a girl like Nereyda being pulled into a Pasadena, Texas, apartment building.
Telling KTRK-TV that authorities don't seem motivated to find the girl, Navarro said, "If it was a rich white kid from (affluent Houston neighborhood) River Oaks, they would be really looking because I've seen it. I've seen it happen."
A Houston police spokesperson told the station they could not confirm where the investigation is and refused to comment on Navarro's claim that race plays a role in their efforts to find missing children.
