Ermelinda Alvarado, a 33-year-old mother of eight, was last seen April 10, 2019, in Merced, California. She had rented a red Hyundai Elantra while her husband was on a business trip to Texas. Around 2:25 a.m. she called her sister and said she was driving to Florida to visit their brother, then later told her husband she wanted to drive to Texas; he advised her to return home.

That same day she posted a video showing herself in the desert near Blythe, California. Family calls indicate she claimed to have been in a car accident and to have fled from two men who tried to take her vehicle. She later said a friend picked her up and then vanished. The next day her rental car was found abandoned on Interstate 10 near Blythe with her purse, identification, cash, and credit cards inside; her phone was missing. Extensive searches recovered only a pair of shoes in the desert.

Family members say the disappearance was highly out of character given her close ties to her children and regular phone and social media contact. Anyone who saw Ermelinda or the red Hyundai Elantra in early April 2019, or who has information about her whereabouts, is asked to come forward.