<P><P> <P> Police Release New Leads In Laura Ayala Case<BR> $19,000 Reward Being Offered<BR> Posted: 12:50 p.m. CDT May 8, 2002<BR> HOUSTON -- The Houston Police Department and the FBI asked for the publics help<BR> Wednesday in locating several potential witnesses in the apparent abduction of Laura<BR> Ayala. <P> Laura, 13, disappeared on March 10 from the parking lot of a<BR> Conoco gas station, 2610 Broadway, in southeast Houston. <P> Police said that she had gone to the store to buy a newspaper<BR> for a school project and when she did not return, her mother<BR> became concerned and went looking for her. The newspaper<BR> and Laura's shoes were found in the street, authorities said. <P> During a news conference Wednesday, investigators said that<BR> Laura may have been taken by bus to Reynosa, Mexico. <P> Police said that they learned that an El Expreso Bus Co. bus left Houston between 10:30<BR> and 11 p.m. on March 13 with 13 passengers on the overnight trip to the Rio Grande<BR> Valley area in South Texas. <P> The bus driver from that evening told investigators that he believes the first group of<BR> passengers consisted of an adult male and female, as well as a young child who fit<BR> Laura's description, authorities said. <P> "He believes that the girl on that bus does match the description of Laura," Houston<BR> Police Detective J. Sosa said. "He's not 100 percent positive, but he strongly believes<BR> that it could be her." <P> The bus driver described Laura as wearing a pink top and dark jeans at the time,<BR> authorities said. <P> Police said that bus records indicate that one of the tickets was purchased under the<BR> name of Laura A. <P> The clerk who sold the tickets at the Main Street terminal does not remember who<BR> purchased the tickets but did confirm her habit of only using the first initial of the last<BR> name for several of the passengers, police said. <P> The bus company does not collect any other<BR> identifying information on its passengers,<BR> authorities said. <P> The bus made three stops in the Rio Grande<BR> Valley in the cities of McAllen, Edinburg, and<BR> Hidalgo. <P> Police said that a second bus line took the trio on<BR> to Mexico. <P> The Noreste Bus line does confirm that three passengers from Houston transferred to a<BR> 6 a.m. bus to Reynosa on March 14, authorities said. <P> Investigators said that they consider this an unconfirmed sighting of Laura and would<BR> like the public's help in locating any of the 12 passengers on the bus that night, including<BR> the couple that may have been with her. <P> The two people named on the one-way tickets as traveling with Laura were Virginia<BR> Ramirez and Julio Barrios, authorities said. <P> Police described Ramirez as being in her mid 30s, about 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing<BR> 120 pounds, wavy shoulder length hair, and wearing a light blue dress. <P> Barrios was described as being in his mid 40s, 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighing 160 pounds,<BR> with salt-and-pepper hair, a mustache, and wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans. <P> The other passengers and their final destinations are as follows: <P> Jose C. Lira -- Hidalgo <BR> Martha L. -- Hidalgo <BR> Jose Lira -- Hidalgo <BR> Juliana L. -- Hidalgo <BR> Eunice Leija -- Edinburg <BR> Edith Leija -- Edinburg <BR> Javier Pacheco -- McAllen <BR> Saul Gonzalez -- Hidalgo <BR> Carolina Candanosa -- McAllen <BR> Jesus Z -- McAllen <P> In addition to the continuing investigation in the Houston area, FBI and U.S. Border<BR> Patrol agents in McAllen are receiving assistance from authorities in Mexico. <P> A $19,000 reward is being offered in the case. <P> Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (713) 222-TIPS,<BR> or the Houston Police Department Homicide Division at (713) 308-3600 or at (800)<BR> 887-5800.