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PROVO — It's now been a year since Elizabeth Elena Laguna Salgado went missing.
Community members have canvassed Provo neighborhoods. Police have pursued leads, questioned family members and traveled to Mexico. None of it has brought Salgado home.
But her family is still holding on to the hope that she'll be found alive.
"We always try to be positive. We don't want to be thinking about those negative thoughts, and we have hope and faith that we're going to find her soon," Salgado's uncle, Rosenburg Salgado, said.
The Salgado family joined other Provo residents Saturday in a walk from the Nomen Global Language School, where Elizabeth Salgado was last seen, to her apartment.
It's a walk she should have made one year ago.
Salgado, who is from Mexico, was 26 years old then and had been attending the school, 384 W. Center, for several weeks on a scholarship to learn English. She lived with her roommates at the Branbury Apartments, 449 W. 1720 North.
About 1:30 p.m. on April 16, 2015, she texted Rudemberth Salgado, another uncle who lives in Provo, asking for a ride to Wal-Mart. He agreed and asked what time to pick her up, but she never responded, according to police.
When she was reported missing, police said the disappearance was suspicious because there had been no activity on her cellphone or bank cards.
Potential leads in the case have since dissolved.
"When we thoroughly investigated them, they turned out to be not helpful to the case," Provo Police Chief John King said Saturday.
It's been a long wait for the Salgado family, who are still asking for the public's help in providing any information that may lead to their reunion with Elizabeth Salgado.
"We are desperate," Rosenburg Salgado said. "We need to find our niece, and it needs to happen soon. It's been too long of a lot of suffering. We can't handle this situation anymore."
Community members held signs and posters Saturday as they walked the two miles with Salgado's family. Among them was Kate Anderson.
"I'll crawl in a dumpster; I'll hang posters," said Anderson, who has been helping the family search ever since she heard about Salgado's disappearance. "I just think that's what you're supposed to do. If it was my family or my friend, I wouldn't care who was out here. I would just want somebody looking."
Rosenburg Salgado said even though the family tries to stay positive, sometimes coping with the unknown seems harder than any certain outcome might be.
"It's been a terrible year of a lot of suffering, pain, anxiety," he said. "This is just the worst thing that can happen to a family member, not being able to know where your niece is."
Contributing: Alex Cabrero
