SYLMAR : $25,000 Offered in Search for Woman

Hoping to spark new leads in the stalled search for a Sylmar woman who disappeared last month after a trip to a Laundromat, Los Angeles police and City Council members Monday announced a $25,000 reward for information on her whereabouts.

“We just hope that it will work,” said Tanya Nevarez, 20, whose mother, Sandra Nevarez, vanished under suspicious circumstances Jan. 17. At about 7:45 a.m. on that day, Nevarez, a 41-year-old mother of four, left home, dropped her son off at school and went to a coin-operated laundry in the 13200 block of Gladstone Street.

Nevarez was spotted at a thrift store in the mini-mall where the Laundromat is located at about 3:30 p.m., about the time she should have picked up her son from school.

Her Chevrolet Nova was found at 4:30 p.m. in the parking lot along with spatters of blood near the rear of the vehicle.

Nevarez’s purse was found under her car, with $120 in cash inside and nothing apparently stolen, family members said. Her laundry was found washed and inside the trunk.

Police detectives have contacted coroner’s offices in surrounding counties, notified the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and interviewed area residents, but to no avail, they said.

“We just pray that somebody knows something, that they’ll see the money offered, and something will come up,” Tanya Nevarez said Monday. “The detectives say they have nothing new, so far.”

Nevarez was last seen wearing a black sweats outfit.

Anyone with information should call Detective Frank Bishop at (818) 834-3110.