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Marissa Lopez

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Information

MARISSA LEANNA LOPEZ
Case Type: Endangered Runaway  
DOB: Jun 11, 1993 Sex: Female
Missing Date: Sep 2, 2007 Race: Biracial
Age Now: 14 Height:  5'3" (160 cm)
Missing City: PRAIRIE VILLAGE Weight:  110 lbs (50 kg)
Missing State :  KS Hair Color: Brown
Missing Country: United States Eye Color: Brown
Case Number: NCMC1079077
Circumstances: Marissa may be in the company of an adult male. They may have traveled to Mexico City, Mexico or Veracruz, Mexico. Marissa is Biracial. She is White and Hispanic.
Background

September 2nd, 2007 started off as a normal day. My niece, Terra, 18, went home to pick up Marissa, 14, and drive her to her job at Le Peep's, where she helped her older brother Johnny, 21, the restaurant manager. Unknown to Terra, Marissa had called in sick to work earlier that day.

"I went to her bedroom to get her, and kept banging on the door but she wouldn't answer and it was locked.. I went to the window as it was always unlocked. I climbed in the window and she was gone." Terra said.

After quickly determining that Marissa was nowhere in the house, Terra raced across town to Village Inn, where her father, John, works.

"Terra came in and said she couldn't find Marissa,” John said. "I left work right away. I called the police. It took them like 20 minutes to get here." No one could find Marissa.

Recently, John had found out that his daughter had been secretly dating a 21 yr old man for about a year. "When I found out they were together, I went to where this man worked. I did not know that my son Jonny had already been there, and he told this man the same thing I would have, which was to stay away from Marissa." John said. But the man did not listen. John told him he was going to the police. The man begged him not to and said he was leaving to go back to Mexico.

It wasn't until later that day that John found the three page note from Marissa and other evidence leading the family and police to believe that Marissa had run away with the man at around 8 a.m. that day.
Photographs and Images

21 yr old Man Marissa is with.

Second photo of Alberto
Videos and News Clips

What can you do to help?


Now we need our Marissa home. We do not think that she knows her sisters are dead, or she would have come home already. Can you please help us find her?

No matter where you live, please view Marissa’s missing poster at the 18 Wheel Angels page on the Project Jason website and consider placing several.

If you live in Texas or Mexico it is very important to view and place the poster, because these are the two places we believe Marissa may be. If you can, print a few of the posters and post them in your neighborhood or place one on the side of your truck so people will see her face.

All three girls’ belongings are in Marissa’s room now. A note from her father to Marissa sits in the window sill. A bouquet of flowers I made for her from her sisters’ funeral, one flower from each arrangement, hangs drying, along with a letter I wrote to her. Her sisters’ belongings are waiting for Marissa to hold, grieve and remember them.

The Funeral


John and Johnny would smile, trying to cope, trying to be normal and happy like they usually are or were before all this took place. Later on, we found them in the bedroom crying.

They have lost so much. We all have. We helped John and Johnny arrange the flowers at the funeral home, set up framed pictures of the girls, and also shopped for the right outfit for the services. During this time, we kept thinking about Marissa, and praying each time the phone rang. We hoped that it was her calling to say she had heard what happened and was coming home.

The news media went crazy, having done reports on Marissa missing. Now they were running the story of Terra and Desirae along side Marissa's. They were camped outside the house and calling to see if we had heard anything from Marissa. One story was done on Marissa when she disappeared; and now there were dozens posted all over the internet.

The services were about to begin. Family, friends and even strangers filled the funeral home. It was standing room only. I prayed with the pastor leading the services when she asked me. I asked God to give her the words to speak and the strength to get through the services. I do not recall everyone I met, or even what was said that day. What I recall is the two brokenhearted men, John and Johnny, watching the looks on their faces as the service was happening. I put aside my own broken heart and thoughts, and prayed for God's mercy for them, and for Him to help them through this. I stood near my brother all the while, watching the entrance to the sanctuary, praying Marissa would walk in. She did not.

More Tragedy


Then, just as it seemed things couldn't get worse, my friend, Sandy, called me on my cell phone to see how I was doing. It was a confusing phone call. She kept asking how John was doing, and how I was coping. I finally had to straight out ask her what she was talking about. "Lesa, you mean you don't know about John and the girls?” Sandy asked.

I immediately pulled my car off the road and started sobbing, fearing the worse. “What are you talking about Sandy?” I asked. She proceeded to tell me that Marissa’s two sisters, Terra and Desirae, had been killed in a car accident on Halloween night.

I couldn't breathe and my head was spinning. I wanted to run away and hide. I wanted to scream. I thought this has to be a lie. John hadn't called me, and no one had said anything. I realized I had not been home the last couple of days. I had been working long hours and John did not have my cell number. I couldn't function, and I couldn't even think of what my brother’s phone number was, and I wanted to puke. I called my husband, and with his help finally got a hold of my brother, and found out the nightmare was true.

We flew to Kansas from Alaska to help my brother plan his girls’ funeral. We had been through this before. Our own daughter died 13 years ago. From the day I found out about the girls until we were to leave for Kansas, the whole trip seemed like a dream. How could this happen to our family, to John, Johnny and the girls? My heart ached so much and still does.

I was flooded with memories of our own child's death, and then thoughts of how to support John emotionally through this. It's the hardest thing to hear that your child has died, let alone two! With Marissa still missing, and our sister Sue, who disappeared in 2003 without a trace, I find myself crying out, asking God WHY?! I knew though, that I had to be strong for John, Johnny, and the girls. I had to, and still have to, hold on to hope.

The search for Marissa


Our family is running out of everything except hope for what to do next in our search for Marissa. We have been in close contact with the police, in both Kansas and Missouri, who notified the Mexican authorities and the NCMEC. (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children) A poster produced by NCMEC is plastered along the Mexican border and across the metro area. Our family has also contacted local news stations and newspapers, and was featured on the NBC Action news on October 4th.

“We have passed out flyers and we have flyers on the windows of our cars," Johnny added. "I made a MySpace page and put everything about her on it."

Detective Sullivan said "We don't have a whole lot of information at this time, and she hasn't been heard from yet. Usually the runaways in this area come back or are found relatively quickly. It's not often, and that's what's strange- that she hasn't made any contact with her family."

I have also spent countless hours on the internet, pleading with different organizations for help in spreading the word about our story and getting info about Marissa made public. I have made hundreds of flyers, and mailed them out to stores in and around Texas, asking owners to hang them for us. I have written to every talk show and America's Most Wanted.