Mario Fernando Sanchez, 21, vanished during a trip through New Mexico and Arizona in early summer 1995 while exploring Native American culture and planning to visit a Hopi reservation. The last confirmed contact was June 7, 1995, in Albuquerque, where he was arrested; a family friend saw him there after the arrest, and that meeting proved to be the last time anyone who knew him saw him. A red rental Mazda Protege with Arizona plates later turned up abandoned in Gallup, New Mexico, and its condition yielded no clear answers about what happened next.

Some records conflict on the disappearance date and place, with a few agencies listing June 4, 1995, and Aurora, Colorado, as a possible last location; the Aurora Police Department is the primary investigating agency. Few new leads have emerged and the family continues to seek answers.

Did anyone in Albuquerque, Gallup or along the route to Hopi country remember seeing Mario or that red Mazda in June 1995?