<BR> Search Intensifies For Missing Girl<BR> Police To Question 30 Sex Offenders<BR> Posted: 3:09 p.m. CST March 12, 2002<BR> Updated: 3:15 p.m. CST March 12, 2002<BR> HOUSTON -- Family, friends, and volunteers aided Houston police in their search<BR> Tuesday for a missing 13-year-old girl. <P> Volunteers with the Laura Recover Center<BR> Foundation continued their search Tuesday<BR> morning near the gas station where Laura<BR> Ayala was last seen. <P> Ayala left her home at around 10:15 p.m.<BR> Sunday to buy a Sunday newspaper at the<BR> Conoco Station, 2610 Broadway, in southeast<BR> Houston. <P> Ayala had asked her mother for some money<BR> to buy the paper for a school assignment that<BR> was to be completed during spring break, authorities said. <P> The store confirmed to police that Ayala bought the paper. <P> While family members were searching for Ayala, they found her shoes and the<BR> paper scattered on the route to the store, authorities said. <P> Investigators said that the fact that Ayala's shoes were found makes the incident<BR> very suspicious, and that they believe she may have been abducted. <P> Police described Ayala as a Hispanic female, about 4 feet tall, and weighing about<BR> 90 pounds. She has black, medium-length straight hair with brown highlights. <P> Ayala was last seen wearing a blue and white checkered dress. <P> Investigators said that they are also looking for a possible suspect, driving a<BR> rusty-colored, or red or maroon type cargo van that has back windows, but may<BR> not have side windows, and with a gray bumper. <P> Police also said they will be interviewing the 30 registered sex offenders, who live<BR> within a two-mile radius of Ayala's home, located at 7939 Serita, in southeast<BR> Houston. <P> Anyone with information is asked to call the Houston Police Department at (713)<BR> 308-3600. <P><a href="http://www.click2houston.com/hou/news/stories/news-129984620020312-150355.html";>http://www.click2houston.com/hou/news/stories/news-129984620020312-150355.html<;/a>

How we can help Laura and the many other missing children and help to keep our precious kids safe.<BR>Link here: <a href="http://www.childwatch.org";>http://www.childwatch.org<;/a>/<BR>

...for posting the Child Watch website. There are several organizations helping out with Laura Ayala's case. The lead search organization on Laura's case is Texas Equusearch. Other groups, such as Child Watch, Special Canines, and Laura Recovery Center, to name a few, are also helping out. While the "official search" was called off, missing children organizations such as Child Watch, the Nat'l Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and many others will keep up the poster distributions, and the investigations are never called off until the child is recovered, one way or another.

Bus ticket provides new lead in teen's disappearance <P>Police want to talk to bus passengers about Laura's disappearance. <BR><a href="http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/news/50802_news_laura.html";>http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/news/50802_news_laura.html<;/a><P>-----------------------------------------------------------<BR> <BR>By James Irby<BR>ABC 13 Eyewitness News<BR>(5/8/02) — It's been almost two months since 13-year-old Laura Ayala vanished without a trace but now there are new leads in that desperate search. <BR> <BR>Jay Sosa with HPD homicide, describes the promising lead. <P>Laura Ayala was last seen near her home on March 10. Both her family and authorities are not giving up hope that she will be found.<BR>HPD investigators have some information they hope will bring Laura home. The latest information includes some bus tickets from El Expreso Bus Company. A woman bought a ticket for a girl named Laura A. The agent at the counter doesn't remember a last name. The bus driver says he remembers a girl fitting Laura's description traveling with a man and woman to McAllen, Texas. That bus went on to Reynosa, Mexico.<P>Ayala has been missing since March 10, when she disappeared from a convenience store near her home. Since then exhaustive searches have turned up few clues and no sign of Laura. Investigators say this latest lead could be a big break in the case.<P>In all there were 13 people on that bus to McAllen, Texas, around 10:30pm on March 13. Investigators would like to talk to anyone on that bus, especially the man and woman traveling with a girl only known as Laura A.<P>"On that bus, we were able to find that three passengers left Houston to McAllen, Texas, and then continued on to Reynosa, Mexico," said Jay Sosa of HPD's homicide division. "Now one of the passengers on that bus was a young girl, and the ticket that was matched up on that same bus came back to Laura A. We're not saying this is Laura Ayala, but it's a lead that we're following."<P>Laura's family is very hopeful that this lead will help bring Laura back home.<P>"It gives us a little bit of hope that she's ok, that she's alive," said Laura's sister Susan Rebolla.<P>That man and woman who were traveling with this Laura A. are wanted for questioning. The woman's name is Viginia Ramirez. She's in her mid-30s, 5'5", 120 pounds with wavy shoulder length hair. She was last seen wearing a light blue dress.<P>The man she was traveling with is Julio Barrios. He was traveling to Reynosa, Mexico, also. He is in his mid-40s, 5'8", 160 pounds with salt and pepper hair and a mustache. He was wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans.<P>If you have any information on this case, you're asked to call Crimestoppers at 713-222-TIPS. <P>Last Updated: May 8, 2002<P> <BR> <BR>

<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.

<BR> July 21, 2002, 6:54PM<P> Faith, hope sustain Laura Ayala's loved<BR> ones<P> By DANIEL J. VARGAS<BR> Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle<P> Angelica Rebollar handles a wallet-size<BR> studio photo of her daughter and slowly<BR> caresses it with her thumb, top to bottom,<BR> top to bottom. The image is one of<BR> innocence -- a petite face with pouty lips<BR> and chocolate-brown eyes. <P> A few seconds pass, and the mother<BR> brushes tears from the tops of her cheeks. <P> Her attention turns to the cubbyhole of a<BR> corner between her bedroom dresser and<BR> nightstand, where hollow prayer candles --<BR> spent from days of nonstop burning -- are<BR> stacked neatly. <P> All 117 of them. <P> They are a measure of this mother's<BR> anguish, marking every moment since her<BR> 13-year-old daughter, Laura Ayala,<BR> disappeared March 10 after walking to a<BR> nearby gas station in southeast Houston to<BR> buy a newspaper. <P> As each 9-inch candle burns itself out over<BR> several days, she places it on the pile and<BR> replaces it with a new one. She'll do this<BR> until Laura comes home. <P> In her grief, the 34-year-old has lit candles<BR> with the images of Jesus Christ, La Virgen de Guadalupe, St. Jude,<BR> St. Theresa, La Virgen de San Juan, guardian angels and other<BR> religious figures, praying, even begging, for their help. She has<BR> burned every religious prayer candle available -- with mottoes in<BR> English and her native language of Spanish -- in hopes that Laura<BR> will walk through the front door again. <P> "Every moment," the single mother of four says of how often she<BR> thinks of Laura. "It feels so bad I don't know how to say it." <P> Last year in the United States about 725,000 children were reported<BR> missing -- almost 2,000 cases per day. Most cases are resolved<BR> within hours. However, according to a report by the state attorney<BR> general of Washington and the U.S. Department of Justice's Office<BR> of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, there are an<BR> estimated 100 homicides a year involving a child abducted by a<BR> stranger. The rest remain unresolved. <P> Houston police say Laura's case is the longest local unresolved<BR> kidnapping of a juvenile in "several years." So far, 133 days. With<BR> no witnesses and no real evidence except for her black sandals and<BR> a newspaper found in the street, Laura's case is more baffling. <P> "It's frustrating for us, and I'm sure it's devastating to the family,"<BR> says Lt. M.J. Smith of the homicide division. "Their loss never goes<BR> away until we get some resolution." <P> As days and weeks go by, missing children fade from the media<BR> limelight, if they were lucky enough to attract any. Searches by<BR> police and volunteers are eventually halted. Calls of support taper<BR> off. But the one constant is that the children never slip from the<BR> minds of those who love them. <P> Especially not this diminutive Deady Middle School seventh-grader,<BR> who never gave her lack of height a second thought and won people<BR> over with a larger-than-life personality. <P> `La chaparra'<P> Laura stands a doll-like 4 feet tall. Doctors told her mother she<BR> would be short but offered no real reason why. <P> Her younger sister, 11-year-old Griselda Ayala, towers over her.<BR> Her 8-year-old brother, Max Moreno, is also taller, by about half a<BR> forehead. <P> At Deady she was the smallest student on campus, even as a<BR> seventh-grader. In sixth grade, she couldn't see over the main office<BR> counter. Office workers had to lean over to speak to Laura. <P> "She was so cute because she was so tiny," says school lead<BR> counselor Deanna Amaya. "You wanted to hold and squeeze her<BR> like a doll." <P> Her aunt and godmother, Susie Rebollar, lovingly called her la<BR> chaparra, Spanish for "shorty." Laura would just laugh. Amaya<BR> called her "Baby Laura." And Mary Selvas, the teacher who led the<BR> after-school Writers Club, affectionately called her a Hobbit after<BR> members saw The Lord of the Rings. Laura giggled. <P> Not everyone, though, was nice to Laura. A few eighth-graders<BR> sometimes poked fun of her small stature, especially in gym class.<BR> They shouted "leprechaun" or "midget." But Laura's friend Juanita<BR> Gonzalez says Laura simply ignored them. <P> "She acted like they weren't even there," she says. "She never<BR> cared that she was short. It wasn't about her height; it was about<BR> her. It was like she was taller than everybody." <P> A silent sadness<P> The small, two-bedroom apartment at Holy Family Apartments is<BR> filled with noise from the television in the living room and music<BR> coming from the eldest brother's bedroom. Yet a noticeable<BR> absence of conversation makes it feel empty, hollow. <P> Family members go about their daily lives with a grief that is<BR> painfully silent, perhaps not wanting to risk putting into words the<BR> thing they fear most -- that Laura won't be coming home. <P> "I think about (Laura), but I keep it to myself because it's so sad,"<BR> Rebollar says. "We keep things in our head because it hurts so<BR> much." <P> Susie Rebollar says occasionally they wonder aloud and say: "I<BR> wonder where she's at" or "I wonder if she's coming home" or "I<BR> wonder how she's doing." <P> "Everything is always `I wonder,' " Susie Rebollar says, shaking her<BR> head. "Every time I hear of a missing person I get chills. I get<BR> flashbacks of everything we've been through," she says. <P> An older brother, 15-year-old Victor Ayala, doesn't say much but<BR> writes short messages to her and tapes them to his bedroom wall. <P> "Come back Laura. We miss you Laura Ayala. We're waiting for<BR> you. Please God bring her back. PLEASE GOD." <P> On the nightstand, four candles -- one of the Virgin Mary, La<BR> Virgen de San Juan and St. Theresa and a simple white one -- keep<BR> the hopeful vigil even though more than four months have passed<BR> since Laura vanished. <P> Rebollar's Bible, in Spanish, is open to Psalm 25 (a prayer for<BR> protection, guidance and pardon). Other times it's open to Psalm 27<BR> (a psalm of fearless trust in God). A gold-and-white-beaded rosary<BR> marks the page. <P> A double picture frame with photos of Laura is centered on this<BR> homemade altar. Laura has deep brown eyes and straight, dark<BR> brown hair with highlights. Her head rests on her relaxed,<BR> intertwined hands. She's not smiling, but that's probably because she<BR> has braces. The background is a loud purple, her favorite color. The<BR> frame is flanked by prayer cards of the Virgin Mary, and a picture<BR> of Jesus sits atop it. <P> This is where Rebollar prays. Before she goes to sleep, she kneels<BR> and asks for Laura's safe homecoming and for strength. Sometimes<BR> the other three children join her and plead to God to make them a<BR> whole family again. <P> Laura's disappearance<P> The night of March 10, Laura bugged her mom for $2 to buy the<BR> Sunday newspaper. She needed it for a school project. <P> Rebollar looked at the clock. It was just before 10 p.m., and<BR> Rebollar told her it was too late -- to wait until Monday morning.<BR> Laura said by then all the Sunday papers would be gone, and she<BR> really needed it. Rebollar, knowing her daughter's commitment to<BR> school, gave in and told her to take $2. <P> Laura, wearing a blue-and-white-checked dress and black sandals,<BR> grabbed the money and went out the back door, unlatched the<BR> wooden gate with her small hands and walked along the curb. The<BR> store is about a 30-second walk from the apartment, literally just<BR> around the corner. <P> She passed some overgrown ivy on the fence and a working<BR> streetlight. Then she walked across dirt and pebbles, passing a large<BR> trash bin and gas pumps before reaching the store's front door.<BR> Once inside, she turned to the right toward the newspaper rack and<BR> pulled one off the top. <P> Laura paid for the paper, got 25 cents change and left the store. <P> Griselda waited inside the apartment for her older sister. They were<BR> about to sing along with the radio and pretend to be famous singers.<BR> After five minutes passed, Rebollar became worried. She walked<BR> out the back door with Griselda. Then past the wooden gate. <P> About 10 feet away they found Laura's black sandals side by side in<BR> the street. The newspaper had been dropped against the curb. <P> Rebollar ran to the store, threw the door open and asked the clerk in<BR> Spanish: "¿Dónde está mi hija? Where's my daughter?" Although<BR> he didn't understand her, her tone signaled him to call 911. <P> A distraught Rebollar ran home and also called police. <P> Police investigation<P> The Houston Police Department's homicide division is investigating<BR> Laura's disappearance as a kidnapping. After hundreds of<BR> interviews and little movement, Laura's case is also taking an<BR> emotional toll on police. <P> "We're still running down leads. It's slow," Smith says. "We can't<BR> verify a single lead. We've put in so much work, and nothing. <P> "I've never had one go on this long." <P> The lieutenant, a 12-year veteran in homicide, and two investigators,<BR> H. Chavez and Jesse Sosa, constantly work the case. They get help<BR> from officers in the patrol division and two other squads. Up to<BR> several pairs may work the case, depending on how many new<BR> leads police get. <P> At the height of the investigation more than 27 people were working<BR> the case. Including patrol officers, the figure was more like 100. <P> Smith doesn't believe Laura ran away but won't rule out that<BR> scenario. However, police haven't found anything that leads them to<BR> believe she left on her own, Smith says. <P> "This is still somewhat unusual -- that a child disappears without a<BR> trace," he says. <P> Void at home<P> At home, Laura's absence is palpable. <P> Rebollar longs to see Laura around the apartment with her nose in a<BR> book again -- whether it's a textbook or a library book. She also<BR> yearns to hear her contagious giggle filling the apartment. <P> "She would always be in the apartment watching TV (Friends) or<BR> writing," her mom says. <P> Max, to whom Laura was closest, misses playing Monopoly and<BR> school with Laura. "She liked to be the teacher," he says. <P> Her mom says Laura wants to teach when she grows up. "So when<BR> students have vacations, she would have vacations, too," Rebollar<BR> says with a smile. <P> Even the simple act of falling to sleep brings Laura to mind. <P> In their tiny apartment, the teenage son has his own room. <P> Before the disappearance, Laura and the two youngest took turns<BR> sleeping with Mom in a full-size bed, while the other two dozed off<BR> on the floor. <P> The night Laura disappeared, it was her turn to sleep on the bed. <P> "She would always be moving around and moving her arms,"<BR> Rebollar says of Laura's sleep habits. "She doesn't stay still when<BR> she sleeps. And she always made these little noises at night. <P> "Now we don't hear them." <P> Mom and daughter took turns hugging each other as they slept.<BR> Now when Rebollar rolls over, her embrace sometimes finds only a<BR> cool bedspread, even though one of the other children sleeps with<BR> her. Feeling alone, she does the only thing she can do. <P> "I imagine that she's there next to me," Rebollar says. <P> The Writers Club<P> Laura, an honor student, often asked for extra work or books to<BR> read. A perpetual volunteer, she cleaned instructional film<BR> transparencies and handed out papers for teachers. After school,<BR> her favorite thing to do was in Room 241 -- the Writers Club. <P> The Writers Club is a voluntary after-school program for<BR> middle-school students who express themselves in poetry and<BR> journals. During the last academic year, they worshipped the written<BR> word even more than the goodies that sponsor Selvas brought each<BR> Wednesday. <P> "If you didn't see her after school, it was unusual. She was a<BR> constant fixture," says JoAnn Von der Haar, the after-school<BR> program coordinator. <P> Selvas described the group of 10 as tightknit. When you write down<BR> your feelings and share them with a group, she says, you tend to<BR> become close. <P> In the Writers Club, Selvas had a rule: Eat first, then pen your<BR> thoughts silently for 15 minutes. It's a way to let the day's<BR> happenings wash away. If students wanted to share them, they<BR> could. <P> Sometimes Laura did. Other times she held back. <P> Laura's disappearance is so traumatic that several members of the<BR> Writers Club wouldn't talk about it. A few did, and they longed for<BR> her friendship. <P> Last fall, Christopher Cardeso was a sixth-grader who didn't have<BR> many friends. When he met Laura, her sense of humor made it<BR> easy to befriend her. <P> He liked that Laura wore purple-and-green-striped socks. "It was<BR> different but in a good way," Christopher says. "That's a part of her<BR> I'll always remember, because not everyone wore purple and green<BR> socks." <P> Barbara Vivés, Cardeso's mother and a secretary at Deady, says it<BR> took a week to get her son to leave the house after Laura<BR> disappeared. "She was like a sister to him," she says. <P> The Wednesday before Laura disappeared, Selvas brought two pies<BR> to the meeting: apple and sweet potato. "Laura took pieces of both<BR> and ate both," she says with a smile. <P> Laura wrote a little in her journal and left early, but not before<BR> turning in a permission slip to attend Saturday's outing to see The<BR> Lord of the Rings. <P> "My last memory is seeing her sitting in my car," Selvas says. "We<BR> had the radio on. She looked real happy and satisfied as we were<BR> waiting for parents to pick up the other kids." <P> Then she watched as her little Hobbitt, who lived just around the<BR> corner from Deady, walked home -- her frame getting smaller and<BR> smaller as she shuffled along noisily. <P> Juanita Gonzalez was also a sixth-grader when she joined the<BR> Writers Club, but even though she was one of the new kids at the<BR> school, Laura welcomed her unconditionally. <P> "Most seventh- and eighth-graders say, `That's a sixth-grader. We<BR> have more important things to do.' It didn't matter to (Laura)," she<BR> says. <P> Juanita says Laura helped her and others be more outgoing. "I'm<BR> missing the person who made me open up," she says. "When I was<BR> around her, we would be silly and play around. We were crazy. <P> "I don't do that a lot anymore." <P> As each Writers Club meeting went by, Selvas says someone in the<BR> group always wrote about Laura. Then they discussed their feelings<BR> and consoled each other. <P> At their last meeting a student approached Selvas, who uses a<BR> "magic" wand as a pointer, and said: "Wouldn't it be wonderful if<BR> you could wave the magic wand and Laura would be back?" <P> Always on their minds<P> School let out in May, but still Laura weighs heavy on many<BR> people's minds. <P> Selvas keeps a picture of her at home, and every time Selvas hears<BR> of another missing child, especially the high-profile Utah case of<BR> Elizabeth Smart (missing since June 5), she can't help but think of<BR> Laura and where she is. <P> When she misses her, she thinks about Laura's floppy sandals that<BR> were too big for her feet and made a clip-clop noise. <P> "I think it's the not knowing that's the hardest," Selvas says. "I'll<BR> never forget her." <P> "I haven't forgotten her," she clarifies. <P> When Christopher thinks about his friend, he, too, can hear the<BR> sounds of her sandals slapping against the ground. <P> "You always knew it was her coming down the stairs or the<BR> hallway," he says. <P> Every day he takes the time to look at a picture of Laura and<BR> wishes she would come back. <P> Christopher keeps the photo in his wallet, right in front so when he<BR> opens it, he can see her. "I'm just thankful for that picture so that I'll<BR> never forget her," he says. <P> In true Writers Club fashion, Juanita pens a poem about friendship<BR> and her feelings after Laura's disappearance. <P> An excerpt reads: <P> Friendship is people who can trust <P> Each other, people who are there for <P> Each other, and caring for each other. <P> They are there for each other in times of pain. <P> So if you have a friendship take it seriously, <P> Because if you lose a friendship <P> You lose a part of your life. <P> "If anybody knows anything about her, please say something,"<BR> Juanita says. "I really want her back." <P> Deady Middle School<P> When news that Laura was missing spread through the East End,<BR> teachers and parents volunteered for searches. Rocio Rodriguez, a<BR> Writers Club member, tried, but organizers told her she was too<BR> young. Instead she posted and passed out fliers with Laura's<BR> picture. <P> On the school's Internet home page (ms.houstonisd.org/DeadyMS),<BR> administrators posted a link to a flier that reads: "Help Us Find<BR> Laura!!!" It's in purple, her signature color. <P> Parents made T-shirts with Laura's picture. Students sent Rebollar,<BR> who took two unpaid weeks off work, dozens of handmade cards. <P> One girl wrote: "School feels different without her. She is a really<BR> cool friend." Another: "Lo siento mucho (I'm very sorry.)" <P> As the days went by, grief-stricken students filed into the<BR> counselor's office. Amaya listened and comforted them. When the<BR> students walked out the door, she cried, too. <P> Laura wasn't just another student. She was Amaya's office worker<BR> and her "Baby Laura." <P> The rest of the school year wasn't the same. Laura, the girl who<BR> bought Amaya small gifts for her birthday, Valentine's Day and<BR> Christmas, wasn't there to greet her with an ear-to-ear smile. <P> "There are a few (students) you get close to, and she was one of<BR> them," Amaya says. "She touched everyone's life. Her personality<BR> was larger than life." <P> Amaya noticed that Laura was starting to mature as a teenager.<BR> She recently had highlights put into her hair. She started wearing a<BR> thin layer of makeup. And she got braces. <P> When she came across Laura's name for spring TAAS testing, she<BR> broke down. The hardest thing she had to do was mark her best<BR> office worker as being out of school. <P> "I miss her telling me that she loves me," Amaya says. "She told me<BR> that lots of times." <P> In Deborah Vining's seventh-grade Texas history class, Laura sat<BR> directly in front of her teacher. Vining noticed Laura had a mini<BR> growth spurt after her sixth-grade year, her feet almost touching the<BR> floor. <P> "She would smile at me with all those braces," Vining says. "There<BR> she is -- all metal, and her feet dangling over the floor. When she<BR> did her writing, she put her legs underneath her body, curled up and<BR> kept writing." <P> After Laura's disappearance, Vining stopped herself at roll call and<BR> reminded herself that Laura wasn't there but that she'll be back. No<BR> one sat in her vacant chair. <P> Vining isn't sure why Laura needed a newspaper the night she<BR> vanished. Laura was in a group of four whose assignment was to<BR> do a presentation on a character from the Texas Revolution. They<BR> were to meet Monday at a library to start work. Vining can only<BR> guess that because the anniversary of the revolution is in March,<BR> perhaps Laura thought there would be some information in the<BR> newspaper. <P> "It's like she's disappeared from the face of the earth," she says. <P> "In my mind, she's temporarily away from us," Vining continues.<BR> "She'll be back, and back in class. She'll be in the eighth grade and<BR> back in the hallways." <P> Clip-clopping along to her next class. <P> A family waits<P> As the Smart kidnapping case in Utah continues to grab national<BR> attention, Rebollar wonders why her daughter doesn't get as much<BR> attention. Laura's classmates wonder the same thing. Elizabeth was<BR> taken at gunpoint from the safest of places, her bedroom. Laura<BR> was presumably plucked off the street just outside her apartment. <P> "I think (all missing kids) should get the same attention because<BR> they're human beings," Rebollar says. "And the pain I feel is the<BR> same." <P>

Ron Jones, senior case manager with the Virginia-based National<BR> Center for Missing and Exploited Children, says coverage can<BR> depend on how media-knowledgeable a family is. <P> "If you are media-savvy, you'll get more attention," says Jones, who<BR> has 15 years of experience as a case manager. "And a lot of the<BR> parents who don't know how to deal with the media, eventually they<BR> get the coverage, but not as fast as they would've if they had<BR> known." <P> He says the center treats all missing-children cases the same.<BR> When asked if the media and police may treat such cases<BR> differently, he said: "I hope not." But he added that "fresh cases" do<BR> get more attention. <P> Jones' job is to keep pictures of missing children in the public eye.<BR> First, he makes sure they are entered in the FBI's National Crime<BR> Information Center database. Then fliers are placed on the center's<BR> Web site (www.missingkids.com), which gets 3 million hits a day.<BR> Finally, they are placed with advertising mailers that are sent to as<BR> many as 85 million homes. <P> One day in May, Rebollar sorted through her mail and found a<BR> mailer with Laura's picture on it. It rattled her. She wept, thinking<BR> she never thought she would see one of her children on one. And<BR> then she placed the mailer on the altar. <P> Rebollar checks in with investigators who regretfully offer no new<BR> information. So she works as much as she can at her job packing<BR> plastics to stay busy. <P> Sometimes when she calls home from work, Rebollar thinks she<BR> hears Laura's voice, but it's one of her other children answering.<BR> She catches herself calling her other daughter by Laura's name. <P> In the evenings, Rebollar walks outside to the spot where Laura<BR> disappeared, hoping to see her daughter. She stands in the street<BR> and looks around at the gas station and the busy frontage road that<BR> leads to the East Loop and Interstate 45 and wonders where her<BR> daughter could be. <P> On the back porch, a large flier, about the size of a poster board and<BR> mounted on plywood, leans against the wooden fence. It used to sit<BR> on the right of way between the apartments and Loop 610, but a<BR> storm cracked it in two. Rebollar wants a new sign to post at the<BR> intersection. She hopes that if a new one is installed, someone might<BR> recognize Laura or remember seeing something that night. <P> "I don't lose hope," she says. "And I pray and ask for God's help to<BR> bring her back home." <P> Then, after praying, she'll lie down for the night. <P> "I dream about her," Rebollar says. "And she's always coming home<BR> through the back door." <P> No doubt with the clip-clopping sounds right on her heels. <P> Contact Daniel J. Vargas at daniel.vargas@chron.com.<P><a href="http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/front/1500180";>http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/front/1500180<;/a>

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/1768794
East End suspects linked to missing teen
DNA found in vehicle matches Ayala's
By JANETTE RODRIGUES
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
Blood found in a sport utility vehicle has linked the disappearance of 13-year-old Laura Ayala to the three men accused in the abductions and slayings of three women in Houston's East End last year, authorities said Thursday.

The Harris County Sheriff's Department confirmed that the county medical examiner's office matched DNA from the blood, discovered by sheriff's investigators, to a sample taken from Ayala's parents.

Houston police investigating the girl's kidnapping now believe she was snatched from a southeast Houston street near her home almost a year ago by Walter Alexander Sorto, 25; Edgardo Rafael Cubas, 24; and Eduardo Navarro, 16. The suspects -- arrested in August -- have been charged with capital murder in the deaths of two waitresses and a 15-year-old girl.

The SUV belonged to Cubas' father, said a source who did not want to be named. Police said Cubas has acknowledged that he, Sorto and Navarro borrowed the white vehicle on occasion.

"This is the first confirmed lead," Houston homicide Lt. Murray Smith said. "The fact that it's forensic evidence, we have a lot of confidence in it."

Authorities conceded the fact that Ayala is still missing presents "a great deal of difficulty" in the investigation. Smith said they are not ready to send the case to the district attorney's office for charges.

The girl was last seen on the night of March 10, 2002, at 2610 Broadway near her apartment.

Her relatives said they don't feel any closure, just pain.

Ayala's aunt, Francisca Liverato, said the family will cling to hope "as long as they don't find her, as long as they don't confirm that she's dead."

Liverato spoke outside the apartment near Interstate 45 and the South Loop where the girl's mother, Angelica Rebollar, lives. Rebollar did not answer the door or come outside to speak to reporters, who were gathered in the parking lot from which Ayala disappeared almost a year ago on her way to pick up a newspaper at a nearby convenience store.

"Es muy doloroso," Liverato said in Spanish. "It is very painful."

Frustrated after hundreds of tips led them nowhere, Houston police received their first break in the Ayala case after the medical examiner's office released the DNA test results this week.

Dr. Ashraf Mozayani, chief toxicologist and DNA lab director for the medical examiner's office, said the lab did a kind of paternity test on the stained blood evidence collected by the sheriff's office.

"At least we have some answers for the parents now," she said.

Sheriff's homicide Sgt. Bruce Williams said the blood, as well as semen matching the DNA of one of the suspects, was discovered during an investigation into the January 2002 rape and shooting of 15-year-old Esmeralda Alvarado. The suspect's identity was unavailable late Thursday.

"We thought the blood might come back to Esmeralda Alvarado," Williams said. "When it came back to an unknown female, we called HPD and told them they might want to get with the Ayala family."

Because the DNA tests were conducted by the medical examiner's office, the Ayala case is not among the 87 cases that the district attorney's office plans to review because of problems at the Houston Police Department crime lab.

Houston police did not learn about the DNA evidence that turned out to be a match for Ayala until December, Smith said.

Police have no reason to believe that Alvarado and Ayala were killed at the same time and place, Smith said.

"More likely we are focusing on the same suspects," he said.

Last year, HPD investigators were looking at Cubas, Sorto and Navarro as suspects in the disappearance of Ayala but did not have any evidence. All three suspects have denied any knowledge of what happened to the girl.

"At this particular point, I don't think that they are going to give us any other information other than what they have given us," said HPD homicide investigator H.A. Chavez. "And they are not cooperating."

Authorities accuse the three of going on a thrill-seeking crime rampage of rapes, robberies and slayings that terrorized neighborhoods in the predominantly Hispanic East End last year.

Sorto and Cubas were charged with capital murder in the rapes and shooting deaths of Alvarado and waitresses Roxana Aracelie Capulin, 24, and Maria Moreno Rangel, 38, whose bodies were discovered June 1, a day after they were abducted from an East End restaurant.

Navarro, who will be tried as an adult, is accused of driving the getaway car. Under Texas law, the teen cannot get a death sentence because of his age; he could be sentenced to life in prison.

Police attribute the rapes, slayings and robberies to Sorto and Cubas. In all, police have said they are linked to six homicides between December 2001 and May 2002.

Deborah Vining, Ayala's Texas history teacher, was stunned to hear the news and had to take a moment to compose herself.

"Every week, we were hoping for the best," Vining said. "We just never dreamed it would be the worst.

"I can't even say this is closure right now. Just, why? Why? Why? Why? There was no reason for any of this."

If indeed the East End suspects are responsible for Ayala's disappearance, Vining said: "I hope they get what they deserve."

Chronicle staff reporters Rachel Graves and Daniel J. Vargas contributed to this story.