Soledad Najera, 37, was last seen at her Moorefield Bridge Road home in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, on March 21, 2016. A member of Sacred Heart Church in Danville and originally from Durango, Mexico, she vanished after that day and was not heard from again.

Her husband, Ruperto V. Escalante, initially told authorities she had left him for another man, and no active investigation followed for years. The case did not receive renewed attention until October 2022, when Soledad’s sister contacted the Pittsylvania County Sheriff’s Office. That inquiry prompted a multiagency review and repeated interviews with Escalante.

Court filings say Escalante later admitted involvement in Soledad’s death, alleging she was bound, forced into a vehicle and taken to a field where she was killed and buried; he cooperated in locating a possible burial area, but searches had not recovered her remains. Escalante was arrested and charged in November 2024 and is awaiting trial.

Did anyone in the Danville or Moorefield Bridge Road area know Soledad or notice anything unusual around March 21, 2016?