Reina Carolina Morales Rojas was last seen on November 26, 2022, when she left her neighborhood in East Boston. She was seen getting into a vehicle and headed to a friend's in Somerville. She is believed to have made it inside the builiding. That is the extent of what we know. But we didn't know it until she was missing for 45 days. The Boston Police Department would eventially acknowledge their obvious negligence in notifying the public of a missing woman.
There was no urgency. Critical hours and days were lost.
With insights from Marcela Garcia, the first journalist to report on Reina's case, we navigate the emotional toll on Reina's family and the systemic shortcomings in media coverage and police responses that hinder the search for justice.
The initial lack of response to her case, both from the police and the media, is a factor in why it took time for her disappearance to gain wider notice. Reina Carolina had only been in the Boston area for a short time and did not speak English, which may have presented additional challenges in her disappearance. Another missing persons case in the region had taken up the air in the room.
Marcela García, Associate Editor and columnist for The Boston Globe. She covers a wide range of topics, from public education and immigration policy to social inequities and the Latinx community in Boston and beyond.
Reina Carolina Morales Rojas, photos courtesy of Alicia Morales de Díaz
Sources
Silver alert - https://www.masslive.com/topic/silver-alert
https://police.boston.gov/2023/11/28/bpd-missing-person-alert-update-41-year-old-reina-morales-rojas
https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/vicap/missing-persons/reina-carolina-morales-rojas---boston-massachusetts