Anastasia Ferriera
01:17:19 Share

I don't see her leaving town, leaving the state with somebody and never contacting anybody. It doesn't seem realistic. Some of these stories are just ridiculous, but I'm going to follow all of them. I'm going to check on all of them.

She was so smart and funny and loving. She could have made anything out of herself. She was very cared for by her little sister and big sister and her dad and their side of the family. It's really, really sad. She had, you know, her whole life ahead of her. So I hope and pray that she just did run away from everything.

19-year-old Anastasia Ferrara, affectionately known as "Stasia" by those closest to her, was the kind of person who couldn't help but be noticed. Though she stood just around 4'11", her personality loomed large, impossible to overlook.

To her family, she was a vibrant force of nature, a ball of energy with a heart big enough to embrace everyone she encountered. As a child, she was a daredevil, fearlessly climbing swing sets to the highest bar and filming herself spinning on ceiling fans. Her loved ones remember her as adventurous and bold.

someone who constantly pushed boundaries and wasn't afraid to stand up for herself. But beneath that fearless exterior was a young woman shaped by early childhood trauma and an unrelenting desire for stability in a world that often felt chaotic, both for her and those around her.

Stasia embodied a rare balance of rebellion and nurturing spirit, always ready to take on the world and care for those she loved. Yet despite her tenacity and resilience, in mid-March 2023, Anastasia vanished from Albuquerque, New Mexico without a trace.

The details surrounding her disappearance are as perplexing as they are devastating. One moment she was engaging with friends and posting on social media. The next, she was gone, leaving her family in a state of agony, desperately searching for answers in the face of her sudden, unexplained disappearance. I'm Marissa, and from Wondery, this is episode 469 of The Vanished, Anastasia Ferrara's story.

Audible's best of 2024 picks are here. Discover the year's top audiobooks, podcasts, and originals in all your favorite genres. From memoirs and sci-fi to mysteries and thrillers, Audible's curated list in every category is the best way to hear 2024's best in audio entertainment. Like a stunning new full cast production of George Orwell's 1984.

Heartfelt memoirs like Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's lovely one, the year's best fiction like The Women by Kristen Hanna, and Percival Everett's brilliantly subversive James. Another worthwhile listen is Amy Tintera's thrilling and twisting whodunit Listen for the Lie. This laugh-out-loud funny tale follows Lucy, a woman who needs to clear her own name after a true crime podcast decides to probe into the worst night of her life, one she conveniently can't remember.

Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Go to audible.com slash wonderypod and discover all the year's best waiting for you.

Hey Prime members! Have you heard? You can listen to your favorite podcasts ad-free? Good news! With Amazon Music, you have access to the largest catalog of ad-free top podcasts included with your Prime membership. To start listening, download the Amazon Music app for free or go to amazon.com slash adfreepodcast. That's amazon.com slash adfreepodcast to catch up on the latest episodes without the ads.

Before we begin to delve into the timeline of events surrounding Anastasia's disappearance, we want to take a moment to understand who she truly was, through the eyes of those who knew her best. Here's Anastasia's paternal grandmother, Natalie.

We usually call her Stasia. I helped to raise her. She's my son's second daughter. My son has four children. I helped raise his first daughter because her mother was murdered when she was 14 months old. And then with Stasia, her mom and my son had stopped seeing each other when Stasia was less than two years old. Stasia's a very communicative person.

person. She can talk to anybody and she can make friends with anybody and she will do anything for anybody. She would give you her last dollar if you needed it. She is a very kind, selfless person.

Anastasia had a unique ability to form strong bonds with the women in her father's life, her stepmothers. One such person was Lucy, who became part of Anastasia's world when she was just a toddler. Here's Lucy reflecting on her relationship with Anastasia as she grew up.

I was with Anastasia's dad for 10 years. So she was one and a half when I first met her dad. And when we got more serious, she was about three when we first all lived together. And when I first came in, she was just this cute, tiny little... She was so petite always, but she was just very big personality, silly little girl.

Anastasia also shared a close, loving relationship with her aunt, Michaelann, who remembers her niece fondly.

We've always had a close relationship, me and my niece. Her and my daughter are six weeks apart. I had my daughter on Halloween, and then six weeks later, my brother and her mom had Anastasia. So we've always been really close, especially just because our two girls were close. Even up until she went missing, she would call me for any little things she had. I would always tell her, you know, you could call me for whatever.

As Anastasia grew, Natalie began to notice troubling signs that raised concern. These red flags led her, along with others, to fear that Anastasia's mother might have been abusing her.

My son has four children. All of the moms know that I would do everything for my grandchildren. I will do anything and everything and I will protect them till the day I die. She's my grandchild. I will fight for all of them. I love her very much. When she was nine years old, her mom had asked me if I could start picking her up from school. And I said, yeah, of course. And that's when I started getting...

getting concerned. I was working for CYFD as daycare provider. And that's why I started watching Stasia too, because I was watching all my grandkids and picking them up from school. You have to report abuse when you see it. And I'm sorry, if it's family, you're still going to get reported. And so when I had picked up Stasia one day from school, she was saying something about her mom. And I said, well, sweetie, your mom does love you.

And she rolled her eyes and looked at me and she pulled her left sleeve down from her neck down. And she had about a four to five inch rug burn on her shoulder blade. And I was like, oh, my God, what happened? And she said, my mom pulled me by my hair to my room. So I was like, let's go to the nurse's office.

So we went to the nurse's office and showed the nurse. So of course, CYFD showed up. I am already registered with CYFD as a daycare provider. So then they gave temporary custody to me because they didn't have to do a background check and all that other stuff. And I'm a family member. So she came home with me. Then they had to set a court date. Well,

During this, CYFD said, well, she could have visits on the weekends with her mom. One weekend, she went with her mom and she came back and she was telling me about a new friend of hers. And I was like, who is this girl? Oh, she's my friend that I met this weekend at the group home. And I said, a group home? And she said, yeah, my mom got pissed off at me because I keep running away from home. She wanted to teach me a lesson. So her and Jamie

which is the case worker for CYFD, took her to a group home and left her there for the weekend. So then we did an emergency hearing. We went to court and the judge said, is this true? And she said, yeah, she's been running away from home and I have to teach her a lesson about that. And he said, so you put her in a group home for the weekend? And he said, yeah, he said,

OK, Mr. Ferreira, you have full custody of your daughter and now she will start paying you child support. And my son said, I don't want money. I just want my daughter to be safe. And the judge said, you have to get some type of child support. It's not about the money. It's about her safety. So her mom was really pissed off about that whole situation because she lost custody. She blames me for it.

At that time also, we had Deja in counseling at school. And then we also had her in counseling period that she went to once a week. And she was diagnosed with PTSD.

Anastasia spent much of her early childhood with her mother, but eventually she moved in with her father, where his extended family stepped in to help raise her. Despite her small stature, she was a force to be reckoned with. Natalie fondly remembers Anastasia and her close cousin Alexis, who were only weeks apart, enjoying summer days in the swimming pool in the swing set. Though Anastasia could sometimes find herself in a bit of mischievous trouble, her loving nature always came through.

especially in her interactions with her younger siblings. In school, Anastasia's small size and striking beauty made her a target for bullying, which led to frequent confrontations with other girls. Despite the challenges she faced, Anastasia was always resilient. We also spoke with her older sister, Ariana, who shared that the complicated dynamic between their father and Anastasia's mother likely played a significant role in the struggles Anastasia faced during her teenage years.

I would see her on the weekends and stuff. So she lived with her mom for most of the time. And then we lived together when we were a little bit older. She lived with my dad for a few years. We're at an age where we didn't get along very well. It was just so much older where we butt heads a lot, but...

I mean, it was nice because she'd come over and we'd play, but then once we started fighting, she was feisty. My cousin is her age also, so she had someone her age exactly, and I was just older, but play like school and stuff. Girl Scouts make up activities for them to do. They enjoyed stuff like that, which was nice because it was a way that I could play with them that was also fun for me. Her mom would tell

tell her that her dad didn't want to see her and that we didn't want to do stuff with her, even though my dad would be calling and trying to see her. I don't know what was going on in our moms, but it seemed like she was exposed to adult things as a child. And it shouldn't be like that for someone so young. There were clearly issues between Anastasia and her mother. But once she was a teenager, she wanted to try to make it work with her mom once again.

So my son had custody of her. And at 13 years old, she decided she wanted to go back and live with her mom, which he said, okay, I guess if that's what you really want to do, you can come back here. Then she went to live with her mom. And that's when she started just kind of couch surfing. She would just go stay at her friend's house for days and not go home. And her

Her mom would call us and ask us to look for her. Can you help me find Stasia? And of course, we would always find her. She was usually at a friend's house.

As a teenager, Anastasia's life became increasingly tumultuous, largely due to ongoing tensions with her mother and her mother's partners. According to her stepmother Lucy, Stasia would often run away from home, and at one point began using drugs with her boyfriend. These challenging years marked a period of instability for Anastasia, as she navigated both her strained family relationships and the pressures of adolescence.

She told me that her mom's boyfriend had held her down and that her mom was hitting her with the belt. There would just be times where the mom would kind of not let her see her dad. And then it kind of seemed like she was telling her otherwise, oh, your dad doesn't have time for you, thinking that she wasn't loved by his side of the family when that's not the case. She was very loved by

by his side of the family. She had a room at our house. Her and my daughter always shared a room, and she had her own things at our house. She was happy at our house. I don't know exactly what happened at the other house. I would say probably about 16, 17. She had run away for a while, and then from what I get, she had run away to Las Lunas, which is the

30 minutes away from Albuquerque, where we live. She was living in a trailer with her boyfriend, and they were both doing drugs together. And he was really, actually really sweet, really loved her. But yeah, they both kind of got lost in that. It seemed like around 16, 17 years old. Her and the boyfriend had moved in with Anthony, which was their dad, for a while. And then he had finally had to tell them...

This is too much. You know, I can't be supporting you guys if you're just doing drugs and throwing your life away. And then after that, I really didn't see her at all too much. While still a teenager, Anastasia began using fentanyl, a potent opioid that would come to control much of her life. Despite her family's attempts to intervene, the grip of addiction was already strong. Her sister Ariana recalls the moment when the truth was finally revealed.

Before, I didn't really notice, but a few years ago, me and my best friend and her and her boyfriend, we were all going to Florida, and they got really sick. They were withdrawing, and they had to tell my nanny. That's when we all found out. Before then, I kind of thought there might be something up because she was getting more irritable and just kind of acting a little bit different.

but I just was like I don't know what she's going through with her boyfriend or whatever but that was the time when she had to openly come out and tell everyone and we all found out then I felt very bad for her during that time because nobody knew really what to do my nanny just wanted her to feel better they really didn't do anything they just stayed in the house and suffered

Despite their best efforts, the family couldn't break the hold addiction had on Anastasia. Her grandmother Natalie shared that she did everything she could, offering support and love in an attempt to guide her through.

I paid for her and her boyfriend to come out and visit. It's very sad, but she was on fentanyl. I didn't know that she was hooked on fentanyl. And when she came, I mean, they were both so badly sick. I don't do drugs, so I have no idea what drugs do to you. And her boyfriend couldn't even stand up. He was so weak and I was freaking out. It was awful.

The weight of her addiction didn't erase the person Anastasia was at her core. Her family remembers her as fiercely independent, even during her struggles. She would reach out when she needed help, but often resisted their attempts to intervene. She started doing drugs. Even when she was doing that, I would tell her, you know, if you ever want me to take you to the clinic and want me to go with you or whatever to help you get off of anything, just let me know, but you have to be ready. I couldn't force her or anything like that.

Anastasia's relationship with her mother was a constant source of turmoil in her life, likely playing a significant role in her struggles with addiction. During these difficult times, she would occasionally turn to her aunt for guidance and a compassionate ear, seeking comfort and understanding when she felt lost.

They didn't have a good relationship. The way I see it is they love each other because they're mother and daughter, but they don't like each other. I have some messages of my niece. She's like, Auntie, can you come over here and talk to me? It's actually at her mom's at that time, but she was, can you come talk to me over here at my mom's? I need to talk to somebody and I can't talk to her because she doesn't have any of my trust. And it's actually about her. Like I still have those messages in my messenger and screenshot it. And that's how the relationship was. They did not have a good relationship at all.

Anastasia's life had grown increasingly unstable. She had no permanent home, no steady income, and struggled with maintaining reliable communication. Yet her family remembers brief moments when she seemed to be turning a corner, talking about staying clean and starting over, only to relapse. Her sister Ariana recalls one of these fleeting moments of hope, when Anastasia seemed determined to build a better future for herself.

I started talking to her a little bit more actually before she went missing. Well, around Christmas that year, she was clean for a while and I took her to the thrift store and I got her a bunch of new clothes, bras and underwear and socks and stuff and got her set up because she said she didn't have anything.

Then she would talk to me for a while. She would message me once a month at least and just say hi. I would message her every once in a while, just hi, I love you. But she wouldn't hit me up to hang out. She usually would hit me up if she needed something, which is fine, I'll take it. But I was just glad that she was talking to me at all.

When I took her to get clothes, she was like, I feel good. I want to stay clean. I feel really good right now. That's awesome. Keep it up. I'm proud of you. On Christmas, I could tell that she was high. I got kind of disappointed and I was a little bit sad.

Natalie recalled that the last time she saw Anastasia was during her Christmas visit to New Mexico in 2022. During that trip, she urged Anastasia to seek help, hoping it would be the turning point she needed.

Last time I saw Stasia was for Christmas of 22, and she looked good. She has never looked bad, where you could tell people who do fentanyl or meth or anything like that, they look really bad. When I went in December, I was there for two months. I did see her high. I said,

Have you thought about going to counseling again and maybe getting on antidepressants? Because they will make you feel better. I take antidepressants. They make you in a better mood. Now that she was older and she was doing drugs, we talked to her about it. I had been asking her since she was little if she would get on antidepressants or get on medication because she's bipolar. And she said, now that I'm older...

I'm actually thinking about it, Nani. And I said, oh, good. If you ever need a ride to the doctors or you want me to make you an appointment, let me know. We did have that conversation, but her mom was very, very much against pills. And so that's why she never went on medication because we didn't want to go behind her mom's back.

Anastasia's struggles were a complex blend of mental health challenges, addiction, and the lasting impact of a traumatic childhood. Yet

Yet through it all, her family could still see the spark of that vibrant, loving young woman she once was. Then one day, she was simply gone. Due to the transient nature of Anastasia's lifestyle at the time, no one immediately realized that she was missing. What stood out was that she stopped posting and messaging on social media. We asked Natalie how she first learned that her granddaughter was missing.

The way we found out is I got a call from my daughter and she said, oh my gosh, Stasia's missing. And I said, what? And she said, yes, Natalie posted it on Stasia's page, Anastasia's mom. Her name also is Natalie, that she hasn't seen her for almost two months. And I was like, what? And so, I mean, immediately I called the police. I

I don't know if anybody has reported my granddaughter is missing, but she's missing. And she's been missing almost two months now. I don't understand. Her mom, before, if she ever went missing, she would call us. Stasia does not get along with her mom. They fight, physically fight. But her mom, when Stasia would leave home, she would reach out to us and she would ask us, can you find Stasia? And we always could find Stasia.

So I was surprised that it had gone almost two months and she didn't even contact us. I called 911 and said, my granddaughter is missing. She's in Albuquerque. And they were like, well, you need to report it.

They're in Florida, and I said, but she's in Albuquerque. And they said, yeah, but you're calling in. And it was very confusing. So finally, somebody took her report. Nobody had even listed her as missing. So the police told me about NamUs, and they told me about different fights to put her on. I've called the hospitals. I called the jail because she has been in trouble with the police before. I didn't know this, but it came out later.

We were just surprised that her mom didn't say anything at all, and we had to see it on Stasia's page. Credit Karma makes building your credit straightforward and stress-free with help from our credit builder. Sign up today at creditkarma.com and start enhancing your financial health. Credit Karma, your partner in building a brighter financial future. Credit Builder Plan is serviced by Credit Karma Credit Builder and requires a line of credit and savings account provided by Cross River Bank member FDIC.

You can't always see bad weather coming, so it's essential that you're able to see through it when you drive. Michelin wiper blades with advanced technology hug your windshield like a Michelin tire hugs the road, channeling away water, snow, and ice so you can see clearly. Drive confidently and breathe easy. Michelin wiper performance, clearer than ever. Upgrade to Michelin premium wipers today at your local auto parts retailer.

Learning that Stasia was missing via social media was a heartbreaking pattern for her family. Michael-Ann told us how she learned that her niece had disappeared.

My cousin had seen a Facebook post that her mom put on my niece's Facebook that my cousin called me and she's like, did you see Anastasia's post? Well, Natalie, she posted it and I was like, no. So I looked at it and because she had told me that it says she's missing and I'm like, what the heck? So I went and I looked and that's when I learned. And I believe it was a month and a half after we had lost her from her. I kept contact with her mainly through Facebook because she would have to use her tablet and

somebody's Wi-Fi because my mom had given her phones in the past and she would always kind of lose them. So she would post on Facebook either on her story or else just make her own post. But when she would post on her story, I would usually part or comment on the story part. So on March 1st is the last time I sent her something and she usually would respond to me or say something or heart my little comment thing on her story post or whatever. And she didn't, but I didn't notice.

I wasn't expecting this to happen and didn't pay attention. So I just know on March 1st was the last time she posted a story on Facebook. But I have it still in my messenger that that was the last time I sent her anything. And I believe her last post was March 14th. That's when we knew she was okay last. Since March 14th, nobody knows. Lucy's story was similar too. She was shocked when she opened up her social media and saw a post about Anastasia.

Honestly, I saw a social media post and I was like, what the heck? Is she really missing? And then because my daughter didn't even know because the time they would see each other would be so sporadic at that point. So I asked and they said, yeah, nobody can get a hold of her. I did reach out to her mom as well. And we haven't always been on the best terms, but we were in an OK place finally with each other.

Because we had just come to terms, our daughters are sisters. That's what it is. And just be okay with each other because of that. And I reached out to her and told her, if there's anything I can do, please let me know. I can't even imagine what you're going through. But it was probably May, I want to say.

At first, when I reached out to her, she said, thank you. I appreciate that. And then she wrote back with this huge message. You are not her stepmother. And nobody on his side ever cared or loved her. And I understand she's going through something horrible. So I didn't fight back with her. I just said, I didn't mean to upset you. We do love Anastasia and the bond that my daughter and her have.

They were inseparable when they were together, these little girls. And I just told her that. I said, we do care. Just know that we care. And that was it. I hear that she's been very off and on with, you do your investigation, I'll do mine. And then sometimes she'll talk to them. Sometimes she won't. That's just sad. The more people you have, the more stories you have to piece together, the more

The more people can share your missing person and you don't know who knows who. Everybody knows different people. And yeah, it was just weird to me and sad. She wanted it so divided. Everyone was desperate to find Stasia, but they didn't know where to start. Ariana recalled how her family, feeling helpless, decided to take to the streets and ask anyone they could find if they had seen or heard from her sister.

We just went and talked to every single person in the area, basically. And some people knew her, some people didn't. Some people didn't know what was going on and swore they just were hanging out with her. I think they talked to one person that told them who she was hanging out with, a guy that lived in a camper or something. But I'm not really sure. It's also kind of hard to...

know for sure if they were talking about the same person or they knew what was going on because most people in that area are high on drugs.

As Natalie realized that Anastasia had disappeared, she made the decision to drop everything and travel all the way from Florida to New Mexico. Meanwhile, other family members reached out to Anastasia's mother, also named Natalie, but were met with little information. They were left feeling confused and frustrated, especially considering that her mother hadn't reported Anastasia as missing.

So what happened was she went missing. I flew into Albuquerque, I mean, right away, as soon as I possibly could make it out there. Within a couple of days, I was there. In the beginning, my daughter was talking to Anastasia's mom, Natalie. So the police kept getting us confused with each other. He would think he was talking to Stasia's mom where they were actually talking to me. I

And so Stasia's mom was getting pissed because they were calling me and then they would call her and they'd be like, are you the grandma? No, I'm her mom. And so she was getting even more pissed. As a matter of fact, when Stasia went missing, of course, I reached out to her and was trying to work together. I wanted to do the big group. You hit one side of the city. I'll hit the other side of the city and we'll make noise. And she said, you know, Natalie, I

I can't do this with you. I can't even talk to you. You guys do your thing. I'll do my thing. And that's fine. But I can't talk to you. So me and my daughter had already gone. In Albuquerque, it's called the war zone. Homeless people, people who live in that area call it the zone. But it's the war zone. I mean, drugs, prostitution, it is the war zone. When I asked her where she was living, she told me she was living with a couple who had a little girl and they

Natalie later learned that in the time leading up to Anastasia's disappearance, she had been staying with an older man in an apartment in Albuquerque.

She was living with this Cuban man. He is 62 years old. His name is Raul. And I went to where she was living. We would pick her up and drop her off at these apartments. I got off the plane and that's where I went. I knocked on the door. This man answered. He didn't look that old. He looked actually like he was in his 40s. He was wearing a t-shirt and the chain and baggy pants. I said, is

is Stasia here? And he said, who? And I said, Stasia. And he said, no, I don't know. I don't know. And I said, karma. Do you know karma? Oh, karma. No, no, I don't. I don't know. I'm sorry. Sorry. I don't know a karma. And I said, yes, he was living here. Here? No, she wasn't living here. I said, yes, she was. I picked her up and I dropped her off from here.

she was living here. As I'm talking to him, this other guy walks up, this younger guy. He said, she's looking for karma. And he was like, karma? And he just looked and he had groceries with him. And he said, no, I don't know her. And I said, well, hold on, let me show you her picture. So I pulled up her picture. And he goes, oh, and he just looked at it. And they both looked at the picture. And I said, well, let me show you a picture with their hair down. The younger guy said,

oh, she's a little skinny thing, right? And I said, yes. And he said, oh, no, I don't know her. And I just looked at him and he said, well, I've seen her around, but I don't know her. I said, well, do you live here? And he said, yeah. I said, how long have you been living here? And he said, a couple months. I said, well, she was living here a couple months ago. She's been missing for almost two months now. And he was like, no, I don't know her.

Okay, I said, well, if she comes back, can you please, please let her know we're looking for her. I'm her grandma. I came here from Florida. I'm here to find her. Okay, well, I'm sorry. I don't I don't know. I'm sorry. And then I left. That was that guy. And he is a drug dealer.

This situation felt increasingly strange. While some people claimed Anastasia was living at this apartment, the man denied it. Determined to find answers, Natalie continued digging, and that's when things took an unexpected and bizarre turn.

I was there for a couple of weeks and my daughter had already planned on coming to Florida. She had already scheduled vacation. So I looked for her for a couple of weeks. I can't find her. She's probably just hiding, as everybody was saying. So I flew back when my daughter flew back. And my daughter knows people. My daughter knew a guy in prison. And she said, can you do me a favor? Can you find out what they're saying on the streets about her, where she is?

He said, yeah. So he found out and he told his chick or whatever to call my daughter. So my daughter was with me at the house and she said, yeah, so-and-so told me to call you with what information I found out about karma. I hate to tell you this, but it's not good news. I said, what? Just say it.

He said that word on the street is that she was living with a drug dealer and she stole from him and that he killed her and put her in the backyard. I said, he lives in an apartment and the backyard is small. How could he possibly have done that? And so we decided to Google the house, actually Apple, and Google the backyard to see if that could even be possible. Swear to God, there was a torso in the backyard.

It was so disturbing. So we flew out the next day. We sent it to the detective who was in charge. And we were like, this is the backyard where Stasia was living. Said, I'm going to be in town tomorrow. We met with him and we showed him the picture. He brought in the homicide detective. The detective was like, that looks like a torso. And we said, right? This is not good at all. They actually wanted to speak to whoever had given us the information about

My daughter called her and she said, put me on speakerphone. You know, I'll talk to him. I am not lying to you. This is what I heard. Let me have you talk to this guy who said that he saw what was going on at the apartment was that there was a grocery bag with a head in it and that it's under a camper shell in the backyard. And they have a BB gun and they shoot at it.

What? I mean, all of this just sounds so out there. Even the torso in the backyard, you would not believe it if you didn't see it. And he said, okay. He said, well, you know what? This sounds like enough information. Like the guy told us, he was crying. He said, I know Karma. She's good people. I loved her. Everybody that we went looking on the street all reacted the same way whenever we would show her picture.

Anyways, we get a call about five o'clock and the cops were like, I think we have enough to get a warrant. And we were still in the ward zone. We were actually on that block. We see all kinds of cops drive up, but they're not driving up to the address she was living at. They're driving at to the end of the block, the other end of the block, not where she was. And we're like, oh my gosh, they got the warrant. And then about

10 minutes later, they left. So we have no idea what that was about, but we were still talking to people and getting information. And then later on, he called me and he said, well, we went to the property, we got a search warrant and we searched and there's nothing there. And

And my daughter and I had gone on the street behind and looked in the backyard and we saw that there is a Kemper shell. So that part was true. Was there anything under the Kemper shell? And he said, there was a bag. It was a round bag, but it was dirty towels and stuff. And there was a face drawn on it with a piece of paper. And that was hanging under the Kemper shell. That was that. They went and they talked to him and nothing happened.

They said they searched and there was nothing. So the next morning I get a call from the homicide detective and he was like, yeah, I wanted to see if I could get together with you and talk to you. And they come, then it's the missing persons detective. I said, oh, I thought the homicide detective was coming. He said, oh yeah, he's coming here too. He, me, him and my daughter sit at the table and he's like, well, I have the DNA kit. I need you to sign these papers so we do the DNA.

freaking out. What did you find? That was really, really scary. He showed us the picture of the bag with the drawn on face on paper, you know, and then the homicide detective shows up and just starts asking all these questions. And they actually thought I was the mom. So he was like, oh, well, we wanted to get the mom's DNA because she was not answering their calls. We were like, do you want us to call her and tell her that you need to talk

to talk to her and yeah we keep calling her and she doesn't answer so we called her and she was like you know what you tell them that I'm not going to meet with them they didn't want to meet with me when she first became missing so I'm not meeting with them now that was basically that she did not meet up with them so I stayed there and I searched and I searched and I searched and I put flyers I'm

I mean, from one end of town to the other end of town, southwest, northwest, everywhere I could go. We went to homeless shelters. The whole family went everywhere. And everybody said, I haven't seen her for a couple months. Everybody would say that. I came back in August and I went back for Christmas and she's just gone.

Natalie wasn't convinced that the search of the property around the apartment had been thorough enough, so she decided to take matters into her own hands and came up with a plan of her own.

When I was there in December, I found the owner of the apartment and I contacted her and I went to her house. I told her, do you know Raul? And she said, what did he do? And I said, well, I'm not sure. He's in jail right now, but I want to show you this picture. And she was like, what is that? And I said, I know. And my granddaughter is missing. Then I know this is not my granddaughter.

Because when I went to the map a month or so afterwards, how can I find out the date on this? And so what I ended up doing was traveling to where I used to live when I lived in Albuquerque and I was still living there. So I know for sure it was not my granddaughter that was in this backyard. I mean, it looks a lot like her, her hair, her little tiny body, but it is somebody's daughter. She deserves justice and she deserves to be found.

And I'm wondering if you would allow me to go in the backyard and dig up the backyard. And she said, yeah, sure. We went that weekend. I went with a couple of my daughter's friends. I told her what I'm what I want to do.

I'm going to buy some plants. That way it doesn't look obvious that we're digging up your backyard. We moved everything and we dug everything. And where we dug, there were roots. Obviously, it had been growing for a while. There was nothing there, which is a relief. But knowing that that girl's picture of the body was there is still concerning to me.

because that's something. So I put it on Facebook. I said, this is the last address that my granddaughter was living at. Put the picture of the torso. Please post this. It got around Facebook. Raul was arrested and then he was let out and then he was shooting at his neighbors. And so now he's in jail again. So he's been in and out of jail since this whole situation.

Although the search proved to be a dead end, Natalie still harbors suspicions about the people at the apartment. She has a feeling that they may know more than they're letting on.

One complicating factor in the search for Anastasia is that it doesn't appear that she had a phone on her when she went missing. She relied upon others to borrow their devices to access social media or reach out to her loved ones. Determined to find answers, Natalie combed through the communication logs, hoping to trace any leads that might reveal who had last seen Anastasia.

She did have phones, but when I was there for Christmas, she had lost the one I gave her. She didn't have a phone.

I went through my son's phone. When was the last time you talked? What was your conversation? And I looked, she had sent her a text. Nani's coming into town this weekend. Do you want me to go pick you up? And she said, I don't know, dad. I love you. I miss you. I don't know what I'm doing this weekend, but I'll let you know. And that was the last he heard from her. And that I think was through an iPad or something.

Because it wasn't a phone number, I don't think. Then I found another phone number. I called it and it was just this random guy. And I said, you know, a girl named Karma. And he said, no. And I said, well, she used your phone like in December. Oh, yeah. I said, well, my mom was living on Charleston. Some chick came up to me and asked if she could borrow my phone to call her dad.

I went to my phone. I looked into everything. I called every phone number I could. Anybody tells me anything, I look into it. I even have stuff that I really want to do in Albuquerque, but I'm not going back there anytime soon. So right now I have, she's not homeless, but she hangs out in the streets and she knows all about the streets. So she told me that Stasia had a stalker and he would find her and he would take her.

somewhere on the West Mesa and that he lived in the middle of nowhere, she would get away and he would find her again. And I never heard that story.

For Natalie, one of the most perplexing aspects of this case is that Anastasia's mother never reported her missing. Her actions have led Natalie to wonder if she may be trying to distance herself from the search for Anastasia. In the past, when Anastasia dropped off the radar for periods of time, her mother had reached out to her father's family for help. But this time, things were different, and Natalie couldn't understand why Anastasia's mother wasn't doing the same.

First of all, it's very strange that her mom never told us or called us or anything. She didn't report her as missing. How we usually get a hold of Stasia is through Facebook, through messaging. And so that's kind of how we kept track of her. Not once did she call us to tell us that she was missing because she knows that Stasia keeps in contact with us when she's not talking to her mom.

We're a very strong family-oriented family. And Stasia would never, none of our family would go very long without talking to somebody in the family. I had not realized that she had actually had a missing persons report before. So when I saw the interview and I saw that she said, oh, well, last time she ran away and I reported her missing. So I decided, okay, I'm going to see if she really did.

run away before and had been reported as missing. And she did. And that's when she was living with Jaden. Natalie didn't know where she was. We knew that she wasn't talking to her mom. We didn't know she had reported her as missing. She had asked us not to let her mom know where she was. She said, I don't want my mom showing up and making a scene.

What she did in the beginning was she told the police that if they were going to be talking to me and cooperating with me, that she would not cooperate with them. So the police refused to talk to me. Any leads that I get, I email it to them or I will call the 411 number and let them know the information so that

It is definitely I have a record that I've let them know about different people who had called me, but they refused to cooperate with me. I was pissed that the police weren't working with me. I'm still pissed that the police aren't working with me and they're not letting me know any information. But her mom has blocked us.

Because when I put the picture of Raul and the address and everything, she got on Facebook and said, can you please ignore my daughter's grandmother is putting posts out there about a man who did nothing to my daughter. He didn't do anything to make her disappear. He is innocent. And please don't pay attention to what she's saying.

And then, of course, other people started commenting. And I was like, how do you know? How do you know this? Definitely. Why would you even say that? Because now I'm thinking, what did you have to do with this? I mean, because she used to beat Stasia up all the time. There were so many times that she had bruises. But Stasia is a rough little girl. I mean, she would climb on top of the swing set, not swing on the swing set. She's a little tomboy. Why?

Why are you so adamant about this, that he didn't do anything? The police did ask us in the very beginning, do you think her mom could have done something? And I mean, it would be very hard to believe, but what if they got into a fight and it went a little too far? I found out later on that Staysa had stolen money from her mom. She stole $800. I found out this after the fact. Could that have really pissed her off?

We reached out to Anastasia's mother, Natalie, to ask her if she would like to do an interview. While at first she said she was interested, we simply stopped hearing from her.

Did you know that you can make your life-saving donation to Doctors Without Borders go even further? Whether you donate stock, recommend a grant through your donor-advised fund, or make an IRA-qualified charitable distribution, you can take advantage of strong market performance this year to maximize your charitable impact, making it possible for Doctors Without Borders to stay ready to respond in more than 70 countries around the world. Together, we go further. Explore ways to give at doctorswithoutborders.org slash podcast.

Ladies, is everyone trying to fix their health concerns with unproven gummies and tricks? Well, thank goodness low libido has a real clinically proven treatment. Low libido can be so frustrating, but there is a treatment called ADDY, A-D-D-Y-I.

Addie is the first and only FDA-approved pill proven to boost sexual desire in certain premenopausal women. Isn't that great? A clinically proven option for your low libido that comes from a doctor, not a gas station. Learn more at addie.com and take charge of your sexual health with a treatment that's backed by science.

Remember, that's Addi. A-D-D-Y-I dot com. Addi, or flovancerin, is for premenopausal women with acquired generalized hypoactive sexual desire disorder, HSTD, who have not had problems with low sexual desire in the past, who have low sexual desire no matter the type of sexual activity, the situation, or the sexual partner. The low sexual desire is troubling to them and is not due to a medical or mental health problem.

problems in the relationship or medicine or other drug use. Addi is not for use in men or to enhance sexual performance. Your risk of severe low blood pressure and fainting is increased if you drink one to two standard alcoholic drinks close in time to your Addi dose. Wait at least two hours after drinking before taking Addi at bedtime. Your risk of severe low blood pressure and fainting is also increased if you take certain prescriptions.

Addi.com slash PI or call 844-PINK-PILL. Addi.com slash PI or call 844-PINK-PILL.

Addie. That's Addie. A-D-D-Y-I dot com. We filed a records request with the Albuquerque Police Department, which was granted. However, we also asked them for an interview, but they never responded to that request. The records document that it was, in fact, Anastasia's grandmother, Natalie, who reported Anastasia missing on May 2, 2023.

An investigator spoke to Anastasia's mother, also named Natalie, who claimed that she hadn't seen Anastasia since March and that she couldn't stay with her due to her drug use. She suggested that Anastasia may have left town with a man in the Air Force and mentioned that she had checked with some of Anastasia's friends, who also said they hadn't seen her.

The report goes on to document that a witness came forward claiming that Anastasia was killed and buried at a specific location. The witness was worried for their own safety and communicated with family members while investigators listened in. This was secondhand information that she heard from a man, whom she claimed was very emotional while retelling this story.

She was able to get the man on the phone, and he too was very frightened. He stated that he was getting high at an address in Albuquerque, and beside him was a camper shell. That's when he noticed a very small pair of Nike Air Max shoes, just like Anastasia's, which her family confirmed she owned.

Then he saw a plastic bag. He said that he could see Anastasia's face inside the bag. A search warrant was executed at the property, but they found no evidence of a homicide at the scene. Another striking detail noted in the reports was that Anastasia had been an eyewitness to a homicide.

She had been inside a vehicle when another occupant was shot and killed. Anastasia fled the scene and was also shot at while escaping. Investigators spoke to the detective working on that case, who speculated that Anastasia may have been killed. He believed that because of her routine social media activity, which stopped abruptly in mid-March. It was noted in June that they contacted Anastasia's mother, Natalie, and she was very angry that they had reached out to her. She told them to only contact her if progress was made.

The report states that they attempted to contact her again, but she didn't respond.

By July, investigators were able to meet with Anastasia's mother again. She said that the last communication from Anastasia had been on March 1st. It was a text message that read, I love you, Mom. Anastasia's mother also mentioned that her daughter had sent her flowers on that same day. She repeated the story about Anastasia leaving town with a man in the military. But this time, she added that he was a black man who lived in a different city. The report also touched on the shooting incident Anastasia had witnessed.

Her mother mentioned that she believed another witness to that homicide had disappeared around the same time as her daughter. She said she found this man listed on the New Mexico Missing Persons Clearinghouse website. Investigators spoke to this man's mother, who said the last time she had heard from him was on March 17th, just days after Anastasia's last known social media post.

In July, investigators revisited the apartment where they had previously searched the yard behind it. They spoke to Raul, a man who had reportedly let Anastasia stay with him, but he said she had just stopped coming around. A woman there told them that Anastasia had other boyfriends after Raul and mentioned a man named Edward with long hair, who was involved in giving out food. She claimed that Anastasia had been doing sex work,

and that Edward kicked her out because of it. She also recounted the story of Anastasia meeting a military man, and she said she left town with him, a story that matched up with what Anastasia's mother had told investigators. In August, Anastasia's mother called again to report multiple sightings of her in different areas, though none of them were confirmed. One person claimed they saw Anastasia with her hair dyed red, but that lead was also unverified.

In September, the investigator reviewed Anastasia's Facebook activity, which appeared to be her primary means of communication. The timeline of her last day reveals disturbing details about her state of mind and the people she interacted with before she disappeared. March 16, 2023 was the last day Anastasia used Facebook Messenger. She had been in consistent contact with friends through the app.

And around midnight, she had a heated conversation with a man named Steve Paulino, after she refused to come to his apartment. After that, she texted another man, Anthony Martinez, asking, what are you doing? Where are you at? The last messages Anastasia sent were chilling. She reached out to a man named Eric, saying, answer your phone, I need your help.

Then she sent a message to her friend Steve Baca, saying, I'm over here, and if anything happens and I don't respond, I'm here. This guy is scary. She also sent Steve Baca her location, but unfortunately the location is no longer available. Anthony, Eric, and Steve didn't respond until much later.

It's unclear if Anastasia went to Steve Paulino's apartment after their argument, and no further messages were sent to him. The investigator noted that it was significant that she didn't contact him again to ask for help, but contacted the others. At 10.13 a.m., Anthony Martinez communicated with Anastasia. She replied to him saying that she was sick and at a church called God's House. They continued chatting on Facebook Messenger, and Anastasia asked for help.

They agreed to meet at the library, but Anastasia never showed up. Anthony searched for her for about a half an hour before going to God's House Church and knocking on a trailer door. It was concluded by the investigating officer that after a handful of messages from Anthony to Anastasia, that she must have met him at God's House Church.

Anthony inquired if she would like to hang out later and asked if he left his pipe with her, alluding to the fact that they may have just done drugs together. Anastasia replied to Anthony's message at 3.41 p.m. and said, If you can, yes, and no torch. This

This was the last known outgoing message through Facebook Messenger that Anastasia ever sent to anyone. She told Anthony Martinez that they could get together later that day, but she never responded to any further messages or calls. In September, a forensic examiner found messages that Anastasia had sent to Steve Paulino, the man she had an argument with shortly before she vanished. She sent those messages via text now. The first one read,

I'm going to ask you one more time only again. I need you here to watch my back. If you can't help now, then I'll have to find someone that will. Because I'm on a paper chase.

The second message read, I see it is what it is, so just know I don't want to see you coming out of none of my homies' apartments over here, or answer to my three rectifiers. You made your choice, now stick to it. On that same day, Steve Paulino told Anastasia to meet him at an apartment, and she said, I can't go to those apartments, remember? In January of 2024, an investigator went to God's Warehouse, a place where it's believed Anastasia was on the day she vanished.

Steve Baca, one of the men she contacted for help, lived outside of God's warehouse in a trailer. He may have been a good person for investigators to speak with, but unfortunately he had died weeks prior to the January visit. The investigator also confirmed that Steve Baca had, in fact, died on December 31st. There was no police report detailing his death because the police weren't called. A woman who was present at the hospital told staff that he had accidentally taken fentanyl.

At first, the pastor at God's Warehouse said he didn't recognize Anastasia, but later said that he had seen her days prior and told this woman that her grandmother had reported her missing. The investigator spoke to an employee at God's Warehouse who claimed she too saw Anastasia on January 19, 2024, nearly a year after she had vanished.

She said the woman she believed was Anastasia was sitting at a table eating. She knew Anastasia from before she disappeared, but she said she looked different now. She claimed this person even said, This woman confirmed that Anastasia did stay with Steve Baca in his trailer for a time, but later left.

The investigator asked the pastor about video footage from January 19th, when they claimed that Anastasia had been there, but the pastor said it was already overwritten. What's strange about this is, the pastor and the employee both claim that they took this person whom they believed was Anastasia.

into the church office and called her grandmother, Natalie, but she didn't answer. The investigator called Natalie to ask about this, and she said she never received a phone call. The report states that Anastasia's grandmother sent her daughter to God's Warehouse, and she was told by a security guard that Anastasia was in federal custody. On January 26, 2024, the investigator was once again in contact with the God's Warehouse employee, who said that Anastasia was back.

They called her father, who said he would be right over. The woman they believed was Anastasia said that someone was after her, and she had to leave. She didn't want anything to do with her family. Anastasia's father arrived in time to see her walking on the sidewalk, and said that it wasn't his daughter. The employees still believe that it was Anastasia, and that her father just hadn't seen her in that condition before.

The pastor was later shown a video of Stasia and said that he no longer believed the woman that he had seen in God's warehouse in January 2024 was actually her. One of the people that Anastasia contacted on the day she last used Facebook Messenger was Anthony Martinez. Based upon their conversation, the investigator believed that they had met up that day. In January 2024, Anthony was arrested on an unrelated felony warrant.

The investigator took it as an opportunity to inquire about Anastasia. Anthony claimed that they were just friends and saw each other on the streets, and that they were communicating via text now. He didn't mention Facebook Messenger until the investigator brought it up. He said that the last time he saw Anastasia was when he went to Steve Baca's trailer in the parking lot of God's Warehouse. He was there to bring Anastasia $15 because she was sick.

The investigator asked Anthony if he had killed Anastasia. He said no. The investigator then asked why he never texted her after that day, and he didn't have an answer for that. It's noted in the report that Anthony never became upset with this line of questioning.

In February 2024, a tip was sent to Anastasia's family, claiming that a man, only identified with his first name or nickname, was telling people that Anastasia claimed that he had raped her. The message said that he had hurt Anastasia, and everyone knew he had done it. The tipster said, "'I don't want to be involved because I don't want to be hurt.' My friend's uncle told me, "'Look what I did to that bitch Karma for saying I raped her.' And then he said everyone knew it was him, and no one had seen her since."

This person went on to say, I'm still on their property. Please don't send the cops here until I leave. And that's where the police reports end. One of the key people in the timeline of Anastasia's disappearance is Anthony Martinez. Though he maintained that they were just friends, Anastasia's family, especially her grandmother, believes that their relationship may have been more complicated. After reviewing video footage of Anthony's interview, Natalie shared her thoughts on Anthony and their relationship.

So they hung out. They were always together. And he was her boyfriend. Yeah, he completely denies it in the interview. But everybody, even the corner grocery store man, why

I asked him if he would be able to get the name of her boyfriend. When I spoke to him the next time, he said his name is Anthony Martinez. From my understanding of people like Stasia, and there's a lot of people like Anastasia in Albuquerque who don't have a home, but they're not tent people. They're not street people. They will...

pay somebody five or ten dollars to spend the night at their house or just hang out at somebody and crush at their house and that's what she would do. They were together as a couple and they were living at the Cuban's house at his apartment together. They would go to the corner market together. They were always together. They were a couple. We have people who saw them as a couple and knew them as a couple. I

I had seen this guy when I went to the apartment and he was standing outside. He was with a little puppy out in the porch area. He was dressed nicely. And I thought, oh, she looks like Stasia's type. As a matter of fact, I think in his interview, he does say that he spoke to me.

I did speak with him about Stasia. He said, yeah, her mom came by looking for her too. And I said, yeah, me and her mom don't get along. I was telling him that's why Anastasia is the way that Anastasia is. She is confrontational. She does not let anybody pull anything on her. That Stasia, she will just leave. If she's going to be around people she doesn't want to be around, she just will not be around them.

She just doesn't put up with much. I have a friend who is an ex-police officer and she was actually a detective. She and I watched the interview together and she just said automatically, I don't like his demeanor. And she also said, I don't understand why the detective is not sitting in front of him as he's interviewing him because you really want to look for eye contact.

when you're interviewing someone, there's steps that you take and there's givers that let you know when somebody's lying, hiding something. By looking at him, he does take his time and his brain is searching as they ask him a question. You can definitely see that. He's

Usually when somebody is telling the truth, they're just going to straight out say they're not going to take a while before they answer. With that being said, when I was telling you that I was talking with Anthony outside with the puppy, I was telling them about Natalie and how she would react.

beat Stasia and how my son got custody of Stasia because her mother would leave her bruised and scraped and everything else. Anthony looked like he was going to cry the whole time.

the whole time I was talking about Anastasia, he had the saddest look on his face. And that's why I knew this guy knows something, but I didn't know who he was. And now seeing this interview, I recognize the face. I recognize the almost going to cry look on his face when during the interview, they said, okay, I'm going to read you your

your Miranda rights, then he looked like he was going to cry. And that's the exact face he gave when I was describing Anastasia's childhood. I have two different addresses. I've gone to both addresses and at both addresses, I left Anastasia's flyer. And actually, I left her flyer around the entire neighborhood. That's what I do because when people tell me that they think that they've seen Anastasia, I

I saw her last week in this area. I may have seen her yesterday. We will go put flyers around that area so that if it is her, she'll know we're looking for her. So that's where I am with this Anthony Martinez. He is definitely her boyfriend.

whether he denies it or not. I guess I do understand why he is saying he was not her boyfriend. He doesn't want to link himself to her, but there are many witnesses that will say that they were a couple. Honestly, I feel that he could have done something to her because the last conversations that they were having, which is documented, is he was yelling at her to open the door and

Let me in. And I guess there's information that they did talk. But who knows if that was really her is the question. We don't know. Anastasia's messages revealed that she had a disagreement with a man named Steve Paulino shortly before she disappeared. Natalie told us that she attempted to track him down, but hit a significant roadblock.

Steve Paulino. He is currently in federal prison. And I called his attorney and I asked him if he could talk to him and ask him if I could talk to him about karma. And he spoke to him and asked, and he said that there are so many girls out there named karma. He doesn't know who I'm talking about.

And I said, well, would it be okay if I emailed you her picture? Could you show it to him? And he said, sure. And he showed it to Steve. He said it's been so long ago that he doesn't remember the conversation. He does know Deja, but he doesn't remember the conversation that night because it was so long ago.

There was also mention of Anastasia leaving town with a man in the military, which struck Natalie as odd. Given Anastasia's severe addiction, it seemed unlikely she would just leave her established connections behind. Her addiction would have made it extremely difficult for her to simply disappear without becoming very sick. Natalie found this story suspicious and wonders if it's a red herring, possibly fabricated to throw everyone off track.

Honestly, they even said it in the very beginning when we were looking for her. There was a story that she met a guy. He's in the military and she may have left town with him. So it's not something that she just came up with. It is a story that was actually out and about there. The base is on a street called Gerard. So I...

So up and down Gerard leaving Flyers. I don't see her leaving town, leaving the state with somebody and never contacting anybody. No, it doesn't seem realistic.

Some of these stories are just ridiculous. But like I said, I'm going to follow all of them. I'm going to check on all of them. And the story about the military guy. So then there's a military guy who has long hair and drives a motorcycle. I don't know who he is. I thought that it was Steve because Steve drove a motorcycle. Somebody had told...

told me and so I sent them his picture and they said, oh no, he's younger. He's like in his 40s. So now we have this guy to look for too. So there's the military guy who drives a motorcycle and has long hair. People said that

that's her boyfriend. As a matter of fact, the last time I went to Albuquerque, there's this one place used to be 7-Eleven and a lot of homeless people hang out there. I even asked him, have you seen her? And he said, yeah, I've seen her with a guy on a motorcycle. And I was like with long hair. And he said, oh, he's bald. And I go, oh,

Then there's Steve Baca, who has since passed away. He lived in a trailer outside of God's warehouse. And for Natalie, something about the whole situation feels off. Both an employee and the pastor claim to have seen Anastasia there, months after she had disappeared.

but the stories they told were inconsistent and raised more questions than answers. Natalie explained that the woman she spoke to, who was Steve Baca's girlfriend, mentioned that an ex-boyfriend of hers may have taken Anastasia. However, Natalie doesn't know who this ex-boyfriend is, and it seemed as if this woman was trying to deflect suspicion away from Steve Baca or God's Warehouse.

My daughter and I had gone to God's warehouse to look for Stasia. And she said, I have something to tell you. And then she pulled one of her friends aside that also worked there. We all went outside and we were talking. And she said, tell her what you told me. And the other girl said that she feels that her ex-boyfriend could have taken her

to Meadow Lake, which is a small community outside of Albuquerque, and that she had found pictures of young girls on his phone, and she had confronted him about that. They

They broke up and she saw Anastasia leave with him that day that she disappeared. We gave that information to the detective. The detective said, oh, she's just somebody who's trying to get back at her boyfriend, that it has no meaning to it. But yes, God's Warehouse, if you ask me, is a big crime.

question mark. They had called and said that they had reached out to me, which they did not, that they left me a message, which they did not. So this girl was saying that she is karma. So my son and my daughter were aware that they were saying this stuff. So then, so my son left his phone number. And

and said, can you call this number next time she shows up? So about a week later, they called him and they said, she's here now. And so he rushed over there and they said, there she is. And he said, oh no, that's not my daughter. And the girl said, Karma. The girl turned around. He said, oh no, no, that's not her. And she said, yes, it is. He said, no, that's not my daughter. I know my daughter. And they said, no, that's her. You

You just haven't seen her in over a year, so she just looks a lot rougher." And he said, "I know my daughter and I know that's not my daughter. First of all, she is much too tall to be my daughter."

Anastasia is like the size of a 10, 11-year-old. She is short. She's a little tiny person. She maybe hits your chin. She's too tall to be her. This woman looked like she was 30. No matter what, Anastasia, even if she wasn't wearing makeup, she's not going to look that old. Plus, this woman had two front teeth that were missing. And they were insisting, yes, that is her, that is her. And you know your child. And when that Jodi called me not too long ago...

she told me, oh, I see her all the time. I see her almost every day. I said, can you tell her to call her dad? His number's on the poster if you see her. She's the same woman who keeps insisting everything. She keeps insisting that she sees her. I just feel she's not just wanting to implant herself into the investigation. I'd

I feel that maybe she does know. Her boyfriend is actually the Steve Baca who was living in the trailer that Anastasia was staying at when she disappeared.

We can't question him because he's dead. When she told me and my daughter to go talk to her friend, oh, she has information about her ex-boyfriend. She said, yeah, everybody thinks that it was my boyfriend that did something to her, but it wasn't. I said, Steve? And she said, yeah. And I said, yeah, we think he did something.

I'm not the type of person who can hide my emotions. She said, well, he didn't. She was last seen with her boyfriend. He would give her rides wherever she needed to go. So if Stasia needed to go somewhere, he would give her rides, according to Jodi. I don't know his name. She wouldn't give us the name. But her female friend that was with her said, you want the truth no matter what, right? You want to find her no matter what.

And she had tears in her eyes. And I said, yes, we want to find her no matter what. She said, well, the truth is going to come out. I'm going to let the police know. And then the police said, no, she's just trying to get back at her ex-boyfriend.

And I don't know the name of him because she wouldn't tell. She said because they told her that she couldn't give us the information because then her testimony wouldn't be any good in court. I feel that everybody's trying to point other directions than God's warehouse together.

to get us away from there. Not just this point elsewhere from Steve Baca, but she works and hangs out at God's Warehouse. Every time I'm in town, I go there. My daughter goes there. We go ask questions all the time. We go make sure that there's a poster there. And so I think that they're trying to get us to stop coming and asking questions. Look over here.

After reviewing the records, Natalie found it odd that Anastasia's mother claimed her daughter had sent her flowers just before she disappeared. Given Anastasia's circumstances, Natalie couldn't understand where she would have gotten the money for that.

Very weird. As soon as she said that, first of all, why didn't she say that in the beginning? And where would she have gotten money for that? And what I thought was also weird is that she said the last thing that she said to me was, don't forget me. So I thought that was strange. Why would Anastasia, why would anybody say don't forget me?

The numerous conflicting stories surrounding Anastasia's disappearance don't seem to lead to any single conclusion. Ariana has her own theories about what may have happened to her sister. One thing Ariana felt strongly about was that she disapproved of the dangerous situations Anastasia often found herself in. Ariana frequently tried to convince her sister to move back in with her father, hoping to offer her a safer, more stable environment. She knew her sister was in danger and feared that something like this might happen one day.

I feel like it could go in a lot of directions, but nowadays what she was doing, she put herself in a situation where she could be trafficked pretty easily because she was on drugs and hanging out with all these weird men. And she was like, I don't know, I don't know.

She probably got maybe lured into the idea and then they just took her. I've heard stories about people who go missing for a long time and then come back because they got trafficked. Whenever she was living there, I had a bad feeling. I know how dangerous just being a girl in Albuquerque can be. The trafficking one is kind of what I've been leaning more towards because it really seems like

something that could have happened to her in her situation. And Albuquerque, in that area, girls on drugs, that's where you find them. No matter what she did, she would tell people and let us know. We already have accepted her for all of the stuff that she's doing and how she was living her life. We still loved her and wanted to see her as much as possible. And she knew that.

She knew that no matter what, we would all still love her and want to see her and know what was going on. I would always mention it whenever she moved out of my dad's house because he was letting her live there. Moved back with dad because I would pick her up from that guy's apartment. This is not a place for a young girl. My nanny has done all the searching and my family for the most part. For

For a while, I went all the time and then started going less because that's a really bad area of town. Something can happen to anyone. And I'm also a young girl, so I wouldn't really be able to walk around as comfortably as my dad and my nanny. I don't think she's dead, which gives me hope. But if she is being trafficked, it makes me really sad because I don't know what's happening to her.

The amount of flyers that are all over Albuquerque. There's no way if she was in Albuquerque that nobody has seen her. I really feel like she is somewhere else. Lucy expressed her deep hope that answers will come soon, as the uncertainty is weighing heavily on the entire family.

She's pretty much untraceable. I don't think she had a phone. She's 20 years old now. 20-year-olds are huge into social media, cell phones. That's just the biggest red flag to me is there has been zero, nothing. That's what really stands out to me. It's heartbreaking. I feel so bad for Natalie, the grandma, as well, because she is just trying everything, every option.

She will not rest, will not give up, but the leaves will go for a minute and then they just fall off. Oh, and then it might be something else. It's hard. So what happened to Anastasia Ferrara in March of 2023? Her disappearance is shrouded in ambiguity, with multiple theories and conflicting accounts complicating the search for answers. Each possibility paints a grim picture, leaving her family grappling with uncertainty and fear.

One of the most alarming possibilities is that Anastasia fell victim to human trafficking. Her family has expressed concern that her addiction, coupled with her time spent in a dangerous part of Albuquerque, could have made her a prime target, according to those who knew the area well. Rumors also circulated within Anastasia's circle that suggest she may have been harmed in retaliation for a drug-related conflict. One tip alleged that she stole from a dealer.

which could have led to violent consequences. She was also a witness to a homicide, and the shooter fired at Anastasia as well. Another possibility is that Anastasia suffered a fatal overdose, and that those around her concealed her death out of fear. However, amongst the gruesome thoughts and theories, some of her family members hold onto the hope that Anastasia might have left Albuquerque willingly, to escape her circumstances.

Witnesses reported that she had left town with a military man, and some hope that that is true, and Anastasia wanted to start over. The conflicting nature of these theories has kept Anastasia's family in a perpetual cycle of hope and despair. While each possibility seems plausible, none have led to definitive answers. Anastasia remains missing, and her family continues to search for the truth.

So who was Anastasia Ferrara? To her family, she was a daughter, a sister, a granddaughter, and a fighter who refused to let life's challenges define her. To her community, she was a familiar face, and now to all of us, she's a mystery, a reminder of the countless people whose stories remain unresolved. If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Anastasia Ferrara, please call the Albuquerque Police Department at 505-242-2677.

I feel media, news stations and radio know, but we have put her flyer all over Facebook. We've handed out flyers. We've posted them to so many places that all go somewhere and they're like, oh, hey, I think I came across your Facebook. Is that your daughter or your niece? I'm like, oh, my niece. We still haven't found her or nothing. It's just random people will ask me about her, tell me they've seen my post or whatever.

Stuff like that. So, I mean, from, I want to say what we've done is putting flyers and sharing her post and just all of us who love her. I think that's how a lot of people are aware about it. But news stations and stuff like that, no, they're not interested, I guess, in putting her picture out there. My son, he's super busy. So this is my mission and he...

We're all trying not to think negatively.

That brings us to the end of episode 469. I'd like to thank everyone who spoke with us for this story. If you have a missing loved one that you'd like to have featured on the show, there's a case submission form at thevanishedpodcast.com. If you'd like to join in on the discussion, there's a page and discussion group on Facebook. You can also find us on Instagram. If you like our show, please give us a five-star rating and review. You can also support the show by contributing on Patreon, where you can get early and ad-free episodes.

We'll be taking the next two weeks off for the holidays, but we'll be back with new episodes on January 6th. We'll see you in the new year. Thanks for listening. If you like The Vanished, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. Hey y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson here to talk...

Wayfair. No matter your space, style, or budget, shopwayfair.com to make your home way more you. Wayfair, every style, every home.