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Arelie Garcia texted her sister “good morning” on her way to work – but the 25-year-old Californian never showed up and has been missing ever since.
That was nearly two years ago and her whereabouts are still a mystery.
“We would text each other almost every day,” said her sister Veronica Garcia on the first episode of the new season of the Dateline: Missing in America podcast, which drops on Tuesday.
She recalled the last text she received from Arelie. “She pretty much said, ‘Good morning, I love you,’” she said. “My little one – she says that’s her baby – so she would be like, ‘I love you and the baby.’”
Salinas police say security footage shows Arelie’s 2013 bright red Honda Accord leaving the apartment she shares with her mother on Roosevelt Street around 6:30 a.m. Then just before 7 a.m., she texted her sister her morning greeting.
Veronica said she was asleep and did not see the text until two hours later, but then texted her back and went about her day. About an hour later, their other sister Elizet Mendoza called with concerning news: Arelie had not shown up for work.
Arelie worked as a service advisor at My Chevrolet in Salinas and had been expected at work around 7:30 a.m.
“I got a call saying, well, from the manager saying that she never arrived – and if I knew anything, because there was no sign of her,” Elizet told Dateline. “And that is not something she would do.”
For hours, the sisters called and texted Arelie but there was no answer.
Later that day, Arelie’s car was found abandoned in Big Sur on the side of Highway 1, more than an hour from her home. The sisters told Dateline there was no reason for Arelie to be in Big Sur.
Her sister Veronica had tracked down the car using Find My iPhone, which pinged to the area. The car was locked, but Arelie was nowhere to be found.
Police unlocked the car when they got to the scene and found Arelie’s phone, wallet, keys and other belongings inside.
Detective Edwin Cruz with the Salinas Police Department told Dateline that when she left the apartment in her bright red car, “no one approached her and there is no indication that her vehicle was followed.”
He said in a statement that detectives believe a car seen in surveillance footage passing the Carmel Highlands general store, about 40 minutes from her home, is Arelie’s Honda.
Multiple searches have been conducted by the police and the Monterey County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team, with the help of aircraft, drones, and K9 units.
But Arelie has still not been found and her case is still a mystery to this day. A mystery that sounds eerily similar to another case.
“There is speculation about whether or not her case is connected to that of Kayeleigh Gammill,” Dateline correspondent Josh Mankiewicz brings up to the sisters on the podcast.
“The similarities are impossible to ignore,” he said of their closeness in age, the dates they went missing. “One person has been found and the other has not - that’s the big difference.”
Kayeleigh Gammill, 20, went missing on August 17, 2022, just weeks before Arelie vanished. Two weeks later, her body was found off Highway 1 in Big Sur.
Later that year, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office announced that her death was being investigated as a homicide.
But detectives tell the family and Dateline there is no evidence linking the two cases and that Arelie’s disappearance is still an open investigation.
When it comes to Arelie’s case, Mankiewicz tells The Independent that “clearly something happened that day that she didn’t plan.”
“The circumstances under which she went missing are so hard to fathom,” he said. “She left her home essentially too late to go to the gym and then to work, which was her normal routine.”
Six missing people, including Arelie, will be featured on the podcast, which is in its third season. The others are Tyler Goodrich, Shy’Kemmia Pate, Marcus Rutledge, Melanie James, and Terrence Woods, Jr.
“They are the families of the missing in America,” Mankiewicz says in a trailer for the new season. “Celebrating birthdays, but without the guest of honor. And they’re desperately searching for answers.”
Each episode will focus on a different missing person and take the listener through the case as Mankiewicz speaks with their families, friends and the ones investigating the mysteries.
"In each episode, we will focus on one missing person’s case, and hear from the families, the friends, and the investigators, all determined to find them," Mankiewicz says in the trailer.
The podcast stems from Dateline’s Missing in America, an online series that has featured more than 500 people over the last decade.
In the meantime, Arelie’s family continues to search for her and use social media to help bring her home.
Arelie is 5’5,” about 150 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a black hoodie and black leggings.
Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Cruz with the Salinas Police Department at 831-758-7393 or the anonymous tip line at 831-775-4222.
Mankiewicz points out that with each missing person featured on the podcast, there is a number to call if you have information.
“There are almost certainly people out there who know something,” he said. “If you know anything, please take advantage of that. The best thing you can do is give these families answers.”
“There is no such thing as closure,” he added. “But having an answer – even if it’s not the answer they want – can be a gift to the families of the missing.”
“The smallest detail might help solve a mystery,” Mankiewicz said.
“These families cling to hope, and what you know just might make a difference.”
He said these circumstances are what make her disappearance a mystery.
Interviews with Arelie’s sisters on the podcast reveal they are distraught over her disappearance, but remain hopeful that she is still alive.
The third season of Dateline: Missing in America will kick off on July 16, with new episodes dropping twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, through August 1.
