Police Seek Missing Sylmar Woman

Homicide investigators were searching Wednesday for a Sylmar woman after she was reported missing and blood was found near her abandoned car, police said.

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Sandra Nevarez, 41, had gone to a coin laundry in the 13200 block of Gladstone Avenue on Tuesday morning to wash her family’s clothes, Los Angeles Police Detective Frank Bishop said. Nevarez’s Chevy Nova was found about 4:30 p.m. in the parking lot, and spatters of blood were spotted near the rear of the vehicle.

Pete Nevarez, 41, said his wife’s purse was found under her car, but that nothing appeared to have been taken, including an estimated $120 in cash inside her wallet. The car was unlocked, and Nevarez’s laundry was found washed and inside the trunk.

Nevarez said the last time he saw his wife was about 7:45 a.m. when she left their house dressed in a black sweat outfit to drop one of their sons at school before going to the laundry. He said that when he returned home about 4:15 p.m., his son was waiting for him and told him that “Mom had not picked him up from school.”

The son went to the Laundromat and discovered the purse, then searched for his mother at some nearby shops. When he could not find her, he became hysterical, Nevarez said. Friends and family members also launched an unsuccessful search into the nearby wash and mountain areas for the mother of four.

“I love her and I want her home,” Pete Nevarez said. “It’s like somebody pulled my heart out of my chest.”