Sixteen-year-old Marta Ramirez Mendez was last seen at her Hollis Crossroads residence in Heflin, Alabama, in the early morning hours of September 30, 2013. She was a student at Cleburne County High School and lived with her sister, brother-in-law, and their children. A note left behind said she intended to return to Guatemala, where most of her family lives, and authorities initially treated the case as an endangered runaway.

The family questioned that explanation, saying Marta had no job and lacked the money to make an international trip. The situation grew stranger when an unidentified man began calling the household, first claiming Marta was still in Alabama, then saying she was in the Atlanta area and later in Maryland. The caller’s number was disconnected and could not be traced. Investigators have cited language and cultural barriers and noted the school, not the family, made the initial report.

Marta’s disappearance remains unsolved. If anyone saw Marta around Heflin in late September 2013 or has information about the unidentified caller, please share what you know.