Houston police say they’ve worked leads in the disappearance of Sydney Marquez as family and search teams release new surveillance video and ask the public for help.
Houston police are investigating the disappearance of Sydney Marquez, who was last seen about 10 days ago near a shopping center in the Asiatown neighborhood of southwest Houston.
Authorities say Marquez was last seen in the 9100 block of Bellaire Boulevard near Ranchester Road. Search teams say some of the strongest leads so far have come from that shopping center, where volunteers have been canvassing for surveillance video.
KHOU 11 has obtained new surveillance video from the area. The footage shows Marquez walking northbound along the sidewalk on Ranchester. Tim Miller of Texas EquuSearch, who has been helping with the search, said the video does not show signs of distress.
“It didn’t look like she was in distress, like a normal walk, not running, not staggering, it certainly appeared to be a normal, normal walk,” Miller said.
Miller said search efforts in that immediate area have been exhausted, and teams are continuing to move forward.
“We’re back to square one and again it’s process of elimination, this area is now eliminated, so we have to keep moving forward,” he said.
According to family members, Marquez suffers from mental illness and was off her medication at the time she disappeared. They say she left a car running with her phone inside near the 9100 block of Bellaire around 11:30 p.m. on Dec. 11.
Marquez, a Texas A&M University graduate, was in Houston visiting a friend. Miller said he does not believe that person is involved.
“He was 100 percent cooperating and the father and him actually went to HPD and really questioned him and everything, I think they did everything that was necessary to do,” Miller said.
Houston police said the case remains an active, ongoing investigation. Officers also investigated a tip that Marquez had been seen near Harwin Drive and Gessner Road, but police said that the lead did not pan out.
Searchers say Marquez was last seen wearing gray pants, a gray hoodie and tennis shoes. They are urging anyone who may have seen her or recognizes her from the surveillance video to contact the police.
“We know what she was wearing. It’s not like people have to look through days and days; if anyone in this area sees anything, we need to call, HPD needs a call,” a family member said.