PROVO — The family of Elizabeth Salgado is putting out a plea to the public for information, believing a group that gathered just days before her 2015 disappearance may hold answers as to who killed her.

Nearly eight years later, private investigator Jason Jensen — hired by Salgado's family to work the case — is confident that what they've pieced together and finally confirmed may shed light on what happened to Salgado.

The then-26-year-old went missing in April 2015, after arriving in the U.S. just a few weeks prior.

Since she was new to the area, Salgado didn't have many connections. But Jensen now believes Salgado became friends or acquaintances with the person who ultimately killed her and that it wasn't a random attack. He thinks it's possible the person may have been trying to take her on a date and something happened.

He explained that they confirmed she attended a church event four days before she went missing. He indicated that they've been working for months to confirm through multiple sources that Salgado was at that function.

"It's like, oh my gosh — this is big!" Jensen said. "Why aren't we making this a big campaign? Pushing that somebody knows something, somebody saw her, who she was talking to."

It's not just the timing, but the location that Jensen is suspicious of. It's helping him put together a story of what possibly unfolded.

"The weekend before, when they had a picnic, a church activity, at the Kelly's Grove Park at the base of Hobble Creek Canyon, she made plans with somebody that she was communicating with, talking to, socializing, that they would make a picnic trip, likely after school one day, and that happened to be the Thursday that she disappeared," he said.

That church activity at the base of Hobble Creek Canyon, Jensen said, ended up being 12 miles from where her body was found up the very same canyon in 2018. He and Salgado's family wonder if the woman and her friend chose to explore the area further after talking at the church activity. Jensen also guessed that this person may have been trying to make romantic advances on Salgado and that something went wrong up Hobble Creek Canyon.

"It cannot be a coincidence that you're at the base of the canyon, four days later you're dead, and we feel that she was likely killed that day that she disappeared," Jensen said.

From 2021:

Coin with DNA found at site where Elizabeth Salgado's remains were located

April marks six years since 26-year-old Elizabeth Elena Laguna-Salgado vanished without a trace. Now, nearly three years since her body was found, there is hope that a penny could put a face on her killer.

He and Salgado's family are hopeful that someone who attended that church function at Kelly's Grove Park will remember that day or have evidence that could help. They know the people there that day were likely college students who may have since returned to their home states or countries, unaware that they could hold crucial information to help solve the case.

"I'm sure people took pictures, there might have been journal entries or something like that," Jensen said. "All they have to do is recall what they did."

And recall who Salgado may have been talking to or hanging out with.

Jensen believes it could help bring them the break they've been searching for, for nearly eight years.

"Oh, completely," he said. "It might unfold everything for law enforcement."

Anyone with information on the church activity that took place on April 12, 2015, at Kelly's Grove Park is asked to call the Utah County Sheriff's Office at 801-851-4000 and to call private investigator Jason Jensen at 801-759-2248.

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