- - A Texas teen went missing on Christmas Eve. Authorities believe she could be in imminent danger

Andy Rose, CNNDecember 30, 2025 at 12:43 AM

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Camila Mendoza Olmos, seen in an undated photo, was last seen outside her house last week, authorities say. - Bexar County Sheriff's Office

Rosario Olmos spent this Christmas without one of her greatest gifts. Her 19-year-old daughter had gone missing the day before on the edge of San Antonio, Texas.

“I thought I would find her like other times, walking, and we would come home together,” Olmos said in Spanish to CNN affiliate KENS.

But with the new year now fast approaching, the search for Camila Mendoza Olmos is still underway, with dozens of volunteers helping throughout the holiday weekend, and the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office says she may be in imminent danger.

“I miss her. Daddy’s waiting for her at home,” her father, Alfonso Mendoza, told CNN affiliate KSAT as more members of the community lined up with maps and a drone to try to solve the mysterious disappearance.

“We’ve had basically boots on the ground from the sheriff’s office since the day of the incident,” Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar told CNN’s Omar Jimenez on Monday. “Deputies and investigators working through the holidays, basically around the clock.”

Mendoza Olmos was last seen on a neighbor’s surveillance camera just before 7 a.m. on Christmas Eve outside her house. After she is seen looking inside her vehicle, the footage ends, according to the sheriff’s office, and there is no clear sign of where she went.

“As a Ring camera, it stops when it stops detecting motion,” Camila Estrella, one of Mendoza Olmos’ best friends, told CNN affiliate WOAI. “That’s all we saw of her, just opening the back of her car door. … We have nothing to trace her with.”

Mendoza Olmos was last seen wearing a black hoodie, baby blue pajama bottoms and white shoes, according to police.

Family members and investigators say they’re not sure why she was looking inside the car. Since the vehicle was left behind, they believe she left the neighborhood on foot.

The sheriff’s office released a second video Monday showing what investigators believe is the last confirmed sighting of the teen. Dash-cam footage shared by a driver on their way to work around 7 a.m. on Christmas Eve shows a pedestrian believed to be Mendoza Olmos walking northbound on Wildhorse Parkway, between Shetland Wind and Caspian Spring.

Salazar said he’s not certain the person in the video is Mendoza Olmos, though the pedestrian’s clothing appears to match the description of what she was wearing when she disappeared.

Police are urging residents to share any available video that could help aid in their search.

The trail left for investigators to follow is confusing. Mendoza Olmos appears to have had her car keys with her when she disappeared, even though she didn’t take the car.

“One of the things that was very strange in this case is that the young lady left behind her cellphone,” Salazar told CNN.

The teen also left behind an iPad, according to police.

The notice of Mendoza Olmos’ disappearance was issued as a CLEAR Alert. In Texas, that requires investigators to believe that the missing person “is in imminent danger of bodily injury or death” or the disappearance is “involuntary such as an abduction or kidnapping,” according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Camila Mendoza Olmos appears to have had her car keys with her when she disappeared, but didn't take the vehicle or her cellphone, authorities say. - Bexar County Sheriff's Office

Asked why his office believes she might be in imminent danger, Salazar told CNN, “there’s some information I can’t divulge … due to the sensitivity of it.”

“We consider imminent danger to be anything from self-harm all the way through someone actually kidnapping Camila, and all of those possibilities exist at present,” said Salazar, noting that the missing woman had previously spoken of suicide. “We can’t rule anything out at this point in the investigation.”

Her mother told CNN affiliate KWEX she doesn’t think her daughter would voluntarily leave with a stranger.

“Cami’s not like that,” Olmos said. “Cami is very careful.”

Without a cellphone to monitor her movements, investigators are looking for other evidence of where Mendoza Olmos may have gone, Salazar told CNN.

“The FBI and Homeland Security have been helping us out with intel gathering,” he said. “Things like outbound flights, border crossings, things like that.”

As the news of Mendoza Olmos’ disappearance spread across the community, the search efforts have grown more intense.

“We’ve gone day and night, scraping our legs, not eating, just helping,” Estrella told WOAI.

And with local investigators working “basically around the clock” to find Mendoza Olmos, according to Salazar, her mother is asking for prayers that her holiday will end with joy.

“Please bring her back to us, or if my girl is watching, come back. That’s what we’re asking for,” Olmos told KWEX.

“She has a family that loves her,” Olmos added. “She has a life to live.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: Help is available if you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters. In the US: Call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Globally: The International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide have contact information for crisis centers around the world.

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