The mother of a four-year-old son has been missing for over three months. The missing woman’s mother and the grandmother of the minor child now suspect she was murdered.
Kate Vara’s mother, Valerie Mendoza, claims her daughter was last seen on August 6. On September 8, the family, including 4-year-old James, celebrated Vara’s 27th birthday in her absence. “(James) is asking, ‘Where is mom?'” Because we’re having a birthday party for mom and doing things for mom, and mom isn’t here,” Mendoza added. “(James) told me himself, ‘Mom is missing,’ and I said, ‘Yes baby, mom is missing,’ and he’s like, ‘where is mom,’ and I said, ‘I don’t know where mom is at, but we’re going to find her,” Mendoza recalls.
According to Mendoza, Vara had a substance addiction problem and was seeking treatment at a clinic on San Antonio’s West Side. She had an appointment on August 6. “She got to her appointment. There was video footage that showed her going to her appointment and then leaving, and no one has seen her since,” Mendoza said.
Mendoza claims that things became unclear in the days after Vara’s disappearance. Vara’s friend claimed he dropped her off at a random home on the West Side near her house at 1 a.m. on August 9, but Vara had left her phone in his car. Why haven’t you returned it? When he dropped her off, I asked him what she was wearing, and he couldn’t tell me. “He would just go around in circles and say another thing, and now no one can find him,” Mendoza explained. San Antonio has not identified that individual as a possible suspect. SAPD reports that there have been no changes in the case. However, Mendoza informed us that the SAPD’s Homicide Unit is now aiding the department’s Missing Persons Unit with Vara’s investigation.
“Do you believe she’s still out there?” asked KSAT reporter John Paul Barajas. “I feel that she’s gone, with the stuff that people in Kate’s neighborhood saying, I feel she is gone, but regardless, I want her home,” Mendoza went on. Mendoza added that folks in Kate’s West Side neighborhood had begun to speculate. Mendoza has donated funds for a $3,000 prize, hoping someone will come forward. She is trying to be strong for James. “It’s so hard because I never thought this would be our life,” Mendoza joked. “For the people that are responsible, I’m never going to stop looking, I’m not, I’m going to keep looking, and then when I do find her, I’m going to get justice for her,” he added.
