LITTLEROCK, Calif. (KTLA) — Monique Figueroa was last seen leaving her Littlerock, California home to visit the Florence area on May 19, 2015, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Her father watched her drive away from their home around 4 a.m. that day. Authorities say she hasn’t been seen since.
Now, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is offering a $20,000 reward as the search for Figueroa, 27 at the time of her disappearance, continues nearly eight years later.
Her disappearance is being investigated as “suspicious” and as a possible kidnapping, the sheriff’s department said. Investigators also note a strong likelihood that foul play was involved.
Monique’s daughter was 2 years old at the time and family members said she would never abandon her.
“She’s a good mother because she wouldn’t leave,” Jeff Figueroa, Monique’s father, told NewsNation affiliate KTLA in the weeks after his daughter’s disappearance. “She wouldn’t just leave a 2-year-old daughter at home. She’s a really good girl. She always worked and she wouldn’t just disappear like that.”
On May 30, 2015, Monique’s black Mercedes Benz SUV was discovered in the unincorporated area of Juniper Hills, about seven miles from her home, authorities said. Monique, however, was nowhere to be found.
Jeff said his daughter’s vehicle had scratches on it “like it’d been run off the road.”
He also expressed concern that his daughter’s boyfriend was involved in her disappearance but online records show he was in jail at the time she disappeared.
In June 2016, detectives received a tip that remains were possibly buried in a vacant multi-acre field along Pearblossom Highway, not far from Monique’s Littlerock home.
Investigators spent days digging holes and using cadaver dogs to identify possible burial sites, but nothing was found. Detectives had searched the same property twice before, each time coming up with nothing, authorities said.
At the time, Jeff told KTLA he was frustrated that more wasn’t being done to find his daughter.
That same month, authorities offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to Monique’s whereabouts, but to no avail.
Eight years later, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is offering a reward twice the size for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for her disappearance.
Monique is described as a Hispanic female standing 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighing 140 pounds. She has shoulder-length brown hair and hazel eyes.
“My heart goes out to Monique’s loved ones who have painfully lived with her absence for nearly eight years,” said L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger. “Extending this reward sends a message: We are not giving up. I want unresolved questions answered for the sake of her family and the Antelope Valley community at large. If anyone has any information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, please find the courage to step forward.”
The deadline to provide information to law enforcement to receive the reward is April 8, according to a notice from the board. More details can be reviewed here.
Anyone with information can call the LASD’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500 and ask to speak with Detective Mark Perez or Sergeant Chris Maurizi. Anonymous tips can be submitted to L.A. Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at lacrimestoppers.org.
