Monica Cassandra Carrasco

Images courtesy of missingmonica.com

Disclaimer: This blog post is for informational and entertainment purposes only, and it is not meant to cause harm to anyone connected with the case. Please do not contact, threaten, harm, malign, or otherwise intimidate those mentioned in the post. Please do not release any personal information of the people mentioned in this post, and do not join in attacks conducted by others. Per U.S. law, every person directly or indirectly connected with this case is innocent until proven guilty.

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About Monica

Monica Cassandra Carrasco was born on December 13, 1986. Her family described her as a happy baby who was always smiling. This joyful demeanor would follow her throughout childhood and adolescence, to the point where her friends nicknamed her “Happy-Happy” in middle school.

Throughout her life, Monica was described as disciplined, both in her studies and her extracurricular activities. She loved to read, oil paint, listen to music, jog, and play the alto saxophone. She was also a Christian, and her loved ones described her as very religious. She enjoyed attending Bible studies and reading the Bible readings in front of the congregation. While most children and teens would shy away from something like that, Monica instead chose to volunteer when she was six years old. From all accounts, this was something she enjoyed, and she would continue to volunteer up until her disappearance.

Disappearance

At the time of her disappearance, Monica (then 16 years old) was living with her aunt and uncle after a series of struggles in the years leading up to her disappearance. In 2000, her father passed away after a battle with bone cancer. Following his death, she was diagnosed with depression and an eating disorder. Sources vary on her specific diagnoses. Some report that she developed depression and anorexia nervosa. Others state that she had depression, an unspecified eating disorder, and schizophrenia.

Regardless of the exact diagnoses, Monica was hospitalized after losing over 50 pounds. Information is unavailable about her course of treatment while she was hospitalized and once she was released. However, there is speculation that she was on medication at the time of her disappearance, although I was unable to find any additional information about which medications and their dosages.

It’s believed that Monica chose to live with her aunt, uncle, and cousins due to being angry with her mother. However, the reason behind this anger is unknown. In addition, her mom didn’t believe their relationship problems were serious.

According to the information available, Monica’s cousins saw her go to bed at 11 PM on October 1. They then checked in on her at 1:30 AM, and they reported that she was asleep in bed. Sources vary on the exact time she was discovered missing. The time could’ve been as early as 6 AM or as late as 7:30 AM. Either way, Monica disappeared, along with the nightgown she was wearing and her Bible. She was reportedly not wearing any shoes. According to the Charley Project,

Her aunt and uncle believe[d] she may have become disoriented from her medications, left the house, and gotten a ride with a passing motorist, possibly on Highway 17 which runs near their home.

However, according to the Doe Network:

According to her aunt and uncle whom she was living with at the time, she was an avid runner. They think she may have gone out running that morning.

The terrain outside of the house was rocky and filled with thorns and cacti, so it’s unlikely she would’ve walked outside barefoot.

Searches were conducted outside of her aunt and uncle’s home, but as of this writing, there have been no signs of Monica. Reportedly, her uncle took a lie detector test and failed. Additional details about this lie detector test have not been released as of this writing.

Five months before Monica disappeared, a school bus driver reportedly harassed her. This was never reported to the authorities, but it shook her to the point where she refused to take the bus again. In my research, I was unable to find any information on the nature of these incidents or even the identity of her bus driver.

There was also some speculation that she wanted to leave to meet up with someone, possibly someone she met online. As of this writing, no information exists about who this person could be.

Her case remains unsolved.

My Thoughts

Monica’s case is one where the more you think about it, the less it makes sense. At its core, we have a 16-year-old girl who went to sleep one night, and by the next morning, she was gone. But when you add in other factors, such as her health and emotional state, it’s anyone’s guess what could’ve happened.

Honestly, it seems like we have more questions than answers here. But there’s still quite a bit of information to unpack.

For starters, I wish I knew which medications Monica was taking, if any. One theory put forth by her aunt and uncle was that she got disoriented due to medication side effects. That’s certainly possible, although it’s hard to confirm since we don’t know what she was on. I’m not a psychiatrist, but I’ve been on medications for anxiety and depression. Some of those caused me to get dizzy and lightheaded, to the point where it wasn’t safe for me to drive. Because of this, I can see her medication causing her to become disoriented, especially if there’s a disorder like schizophrenia involved.

That being said, I find it hard to believe that in such a disoriented state, she managed to walk so far that no one has seen her since. Every time I’ve gotten disoriented due to my medications, I would walk slowly and use the walls and furniture to keep myself from falling. Because of this, I find it hard to believe she could’ve made it to the end of her driveway, much less miles away. Factor in the rugged terrain and her lack of appropriate footwear, and it seems even less likely that she would’ve wandered off.

Her aunt and uncle also speculated that Monica went for a run that morning. I also find that hard to believe, especially since she was described as an “avid runner.” However, what avid runner runs barefoot in their pyjamas, bringing only a Bible?

If you haven’t had much experience running outside, it’s a very different experience than running on a treadmill. It’s difficult. Your body absorbs a lot of shock, and your knees bear the brunt of it. It’s very easy to develop injuries in your feet, ankles, knees, and back, even with proper exercise clothes and footwear. If she truly left in just her nightgown, I find it even harder to believe that she went running that morning.

Some believe that Monica might have met up with someone, possibly someone she met online. I wasn’t able to find any information about her access to computers and cell phones, so it’s hard to rule this possibility in or out. If this was a possibility, I would hope that the authorities looked into this more closely.

However, I find it hard to believe that she left. Yes, teenagers have been known to sneak out in the middle of the night, but how many sneak out wearing only a nightgown and carrying a Bible? Most would at least bring their cell phones (if they had one), their wallet, and their keys, and they likely wouldn’t go barefoot.

For me, the strongest theory is that something happened to Monica that night. She had several medical and mental health conditions, and she might have been taking medications to treat those.

One of the most common medications used to treat depression is known as a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI). While these treatments are generally safe and effective, they have been known to cause rare side effects. Through my research, I found that SSRIs can cause Serotonin Syndrome, a condition where too much serotonin builds up in your brain. In particularly severe cases, it can cause symptoms like high temperature (above 100.4° F), seizures, irregular heartbeat, and loss of consciousness.

In addition, eating disorders have their own complications. When left unchecked, these disorders can take their toll. Complications from eating disorders include things like:

• low pulse rate and blood pressure,
• an increased risk of heart failure,
• electrolyte imbalance,
• ruptured esophagus due to chronic vomiting,
• pancreatitis,
• intestinal obstruction,
• kidney failure, and
• death.

We know that Monica had lost a significant amount of weight, and her mental health was bad enough that she had to be hospitalized. Most of the time, mental health professionals will advocate to treat their patients while they live at home. When you’re in recovery, having support from friends, family, and the community often helps to improve treatment outcomes. The fact that she was hospitalized leads me to believe that her health was in such bad shape that it was too risky to let her stay home. But again, that’s purely speculation on my part. Information about her health simply isn’t available.

I think it’s possible that given her health, she could’ve suffered a medical emergency that night, one that could’ve ended her life. Whether it was severe side effects from her meds, a life-threatening complication of her eating disorder, or both, I’m not sure. However, if someone found her deceased the next morning, they could’ve opted to dispose of her body, instead of contacting the authorities. This is purely speculation on my part, though. We don’t know what medications she was taking, if any. We also don’t know what her health was like, or even what her diagnoses were.

With a case that has such little information, you can find reasons to prove and disprove any theory. There’s just not enough information to definitively point us in a specific direction.

It’s heartbreaking because at the center of it all is a young woman with hopes and dreams, just like so many others. She endured pain and trauma in the years leading up to her disappearance, but she was taking steps to put her life back together. She was seeking treatment, and she seemed to find a living situation that suited her. But while so many teenagers get a chance to build lives for themselves, Monica never got that chance.

Someone knows something; she didn’t just vanish into thin air. Until someone comes forward, her family, friends, and community will continue to grieve her loss and wonder what happened.

***

If you’re looking for more information about the disappearance of Monica Carrasco, there are several online articles. The following sources helped me as I wrote this post:

• The Charley Project
• The FBI
• The Doe Network
• missingmonica.com

If you have any information about the disappearance of Monica Carrasco, please call the Reeve’s County Sheriff’s Office at (432)445-4901 or the FBI at (800)634-4097. You can also contact the Texas Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-252-TIPS (8477).

What do you think happened? Let’s discuss in the comments.