Images and Information Courtesy of The Charley Project

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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Who was Everlyse Cabrera?

Everlyse Cabrera was born on January 26, 2004 to her parents, Marlena Olivas and Ernesto Cabrera.  Very little is known about her early life, but what is known paints a grim picture. By the time she was two years old, she and her baby brother were placed in the Nevada foster care system after the baby tested positive for drugs at birth.

Life in Foster Care

Little is also known about her time in foster care. By 2006, she and her brother were living with their foster parents, Vhee and Manuel Carrascal. At this point, her biological parents were living in El Monte, California, nearly four hours away from North Las Vegas.

Leading up to the young girl’s disappearance, her biological parents had concerns about her foster parents, including an unexplained burn on her hand. After her disappearance, they would come under greater scrutiny, as would the Department of Family Services (DFS). Unfortunately, issues with the foster care system contributed to her disappearance.

Her Disappearance, Investigation, and the Foster Care System

On June 10, 2006, Everlyse’s foster parents reported that they checked in on her at 1:00 AM, and she was asleep in her bed. By 8:00 AM, the next time they checked on her, she was gone. Despite being unable to find the young girl, they did not report her missing until noon, four hours later.

Since early on, her foster parents theorized that she stood on a chair, unlocked the door, and wandered out of the house. Notably, they stopped cooperating with the authorities soon after Everlyse disappeared.

As the authorities began to investigate, they stated that no one outside of the foster family had seen her after May 15th. That was the last day her biological parents saw her, and they reported that she had a burn on her hand. Although they asked, they never received an explanation.

This was not the first time a child had sustained unexpected injuries while under the care of the foster parents. Another child had second- and third-degree burns. Eight hours later, he was taken to the emergency room and spent the night in the hospital. At the time, Vhee claimed the boy had been burned by hot soup. Neither she nor her husband were accused of abuse, but the child was still removed from their home.

In addition, there were several incidents that concerned investigators and DFS:

1. The foster parents had demanded the immediate removal of several children placed in their care, prompting concerns about their dedication and level of commitment.
2. The foster parents’ adult son, who owned and lived in the home, was never licensed and never underwent a criminal background check, a violation of DFS’ standard procedures.
3. Two months prior to Everlyse’s disappearance, the foster parents failed to complete their required training to maintain their license. It was renewed anyway.

By September 2006, Everlyse’s biological parents filed a lawsuit against her foster parents and the Clark County, Nevada Department of Family Services, alleging negligence in supervising and monitoring Everlyse while she was in their custody.

When questioned about Everlyse’s disappearance in court, both of her foster parents pleaded the fifth and refused to provide any information about the young girl’s disappearance.

In September 2007, the lawsuit was settled for $300,000, instead of the $2.3 million her biological parents asked for. The $300,000 was the maximum payout offered via the insurance that the Nevada DFS had for its foster parents. This suit released them from any future civil liability.

In December 2007, Everlyse’s biological parents surrendered their parental rights to her siblings so their foster family could adopt them. They stated that their sons had bonded with their foster family, and they believed they could have a better life with them. However, they never surrendered parental rights to Everlyse, and it’s unclear if her brothers were staying with the same foster family or a different one.

Since then, very little has developed in Everlyse’s case, and there’s almost no evidence to determine what happened to her. To my knowledge, there haven’t been any sightings of her, and the circumstances of her disappearance are unclear. The investigation has focused on her foster parents, but they have not been named suspects or persons of interest, and they have never been charged. As of this writing, the disappearance of Everlyse Cabrera remains unsolved.

Theories and Red Flags

Disappearances involving children are heartbreaking. A lot of times, people ask me why I cover so many cases about children, given how sad and scary they are. And while I agree, that’s not a reason to avoid these cases. Children like Everlyse are some of the most vulnerable in our society because of their young age and their status as foster children. Not only that, but I don’t want to live in a world where people do bad things to children and get away with it. Mediums like this blog are crucial to bringing attention to ice-cold cases.

Honestly, there’s so much to unpack with the foster care system that I could do an entire series about the ins and outs of it. For now, this link provides a good summary. I highly recommend reading it if you’re not familiar with foster care.

Everlyse was two years old when she vanished, and although there’s not much information about her background, the fact that she ended up in foster care tells me that she probably didn’t have a good home life. Not only that, but she ended up with foster parents who demanded that multiple children be immediately removed from their care, and at least one of those children ended up in the hospital with unexplained injuries.

Unlike most of the cases I cover, there aren’t many theories about what happened to Everlyse. The two main ones are that:

1. She left her foster home in the middle of the night, or
2. Her foster parents had some to do with her disappearance.

Let’s examine these one by one.

First, we have the theory her foster parents proposed, that she stood on a chair, unlocked the door, and wandered away. For many, this theory is full of holes. In order for this theory to work, Everlyse would’ve had to:

• Climb out of her bed/crib,
• Drag a chair to the door without waking anyone up,
• Leave the home in the middle of the night without anyone seeing her, and
• Get so far away that no one finds her.

Honestly, this is difficult for a lot of people to accept, including me. I’ve worked with kids of all ages, and while there are some two-year-olds who are escape artists, I can’t imagine that a two year old could get so far away that no one notices them and they’re never found. Because of this, I can’t imagine that Everlyse wandered away like her foster parents believed.

That leads us to the other theory, that Everlyse’s foster parents had something to do with her disappearance. From existing information, we know that her foster parents didn’t have a great track record. They reportedly demanded that several children be removed from their home, to the point where DFS questioned their level of commitment, and they failed to complete their training to renew their license. Not only that, but another child in their care went to the hospital with second- and third-degree burns, and Everlyse’s biological parents noted that she had a burn on her hand, which has been unexplained to this day.

Taken together, this doesn’t paint a good picture of Everlyse’s foster parents. I know a few foster families. They make sure to keep their licenses up-to-date. More importantly, they take amazing care of their foster children. In addition to feeding and clothing the children, they make sure they’re enrolled in school, receive services to address trauma and other disabilities, and give them plenty of space to play and grow. And if the children were injured, they would immediately seek out medical attention.

We don’t see any of this from her foster parents. Instead, we’re left with unanswered questions, suspicions, and very little evidence.

And that’s where the case stands today. We have a basic idea of what happened, but we don’t have enough evidence to point in a certain direction, never mind arrest and convict anyone.

Why This Case Still Matters

I’ve always believed that the health of our society is based on how well we treat the vulnerable. Children are already vulnerable, and those in foster care are even more vulnerable. There’s a pervasive belief that these children are “unwanted,” and gaps in the system cause them to fall through the cracks.

Every child is precious and loved. Every child deserves a safe, loving home where they can grow and thrive. But for children like Everlyse, safety and love are hard to achieve, buried under bureaucracy and regulations.

What You Can Do

If we want a more just world, we have to step up and care. We can’t just say it, we have to show it in our actions. Vote for people who are willing to invest in social programs. Volunteer in your community. Speak up when you see something. Even something as simple as sharing these blog posts helps.

Despite the lack of progress, I believe this case can be solved. But it’s going to take someone choosing to be brave enough to come forward and tell the authorities what they know.

If that’s you, please find it in your heart to do so. Everlyse was an innocent child who didn’t deserve what happened to her. Give her a chance to live a normal life, or at least a proper burial and justice. Let’s bring her home.

***

If you’re looking for more information about the disappearance of Everlyse Cabrera, there’s not a lot to work with, unfortunately. There are a few articles and Reddit posts, but not much more than that. The following sources helped me as I wrote this post:

• The Charley Project
• The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
• NBC 3 News

If you have any information about the disappearance of Everlyse Cabrera, please contact the North Las Vegas Police Department at 1-702-633-9111.

Join the Conversation

What do you think happened to Everlyse Cabrera? Let me know in the comments. And if you believe in justice for vulnerable children, please share this post.