STILL MISSING: The Disappearance of Reina Carolina Morales Rojas (Massachusetts)

November 26 marks three years since Reina Carolina Morales Rojas disappeared after getting into a car in East Boston, Massachusetts. She was later dropped off in nearby Somerville and that was the last time anyone saw or heard from her.

Despite being reported missing soon after, information about her disappearance didn’t reach the public for nearly two months. It was only after community advocates spoke out that her story began to get the attention it deserved.

Today, Reina Carolina Morales Rojas is still missing. There have been no new developments in her case, and her family – who once spoke to her every day – continue to wait and hope for answers. As we mark the anniversary of her disappearance, we’re re-releasing this episode to renew attention on her story, to keep her name in the public eye, and to remind listeners that she is still out there somewhere.

The Night She Disappeared

41-year old Reina Carolina Morales Rojas came to the United States from El Salvador just after Mother’s Day in May of 2022, making her home in East Boston. She is a mother of two, but Reina had to leave her children behind with their aunt, Reina’s sister Alicia Morales, to find work and a better life in Massachusetts until she could be together with her children again. She’d been a police officer back in El Salvador, but in Boston, Reina worked in food services and catering at Logan International Airport.

Being so far away from her family, Reina stayed in touch with her sister and children almost constantly. November 26, 2022 was no different for Reina and Alicia. They had a long conversation earlier in the day as they usually did, but when Alicia tried to contact her sister the next morning, she didn’t hear back. It immediately struck her as odd. 

Alicia tried everything to get in touch with her sister that day – texts, WhatsApp, phone calls, but Reina was radio silent. According to reporting in the Boston Globe by Hanna Krueger and Tiana Woodard, Reina had two cell phones – one she got for her birthday in October and her old phone that she still kept active and on despite having a new phone. Reina always wanted to be reachable, so the fact that she wasn’t responding to texts or picking up call after call was unusual.

Alicia couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off, so she reached out to Reina’s boyfriend as well as her landlord. According to Boston Globe columnist Marcela Garcia, who spoke to WBUR’s The Common podcast, Reina’s boyfriend hadn’t heard from her since the night before and he couldn’t get in touch with her either. When Alicia spoke to Reina’s landlord, he told her that Reina never returned home the night of November 26.

Being in El Salvador there was little Alicia could do to track down her sister herself other than keep trying to reach her. Finally, after almost a full day of no contact, Reina’s boyfriend and landlord went into the Boston Police Department to report Reina missing on November 27, 2022.

Police Response

Although Reina was reported missing in November of 2022, her disappearance wasn’t made public until January 12, 2023. When Boston Police did release a missing person alert, Reina’s name was at first spelled incorrectly. 

In the alert, Reina is described as a Hispanic female, 5’5” tall, 145 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. They included several photos of her – each one showing Reina looking slightly different. She liked to play with her appearance – she had different makeup, hairstyles and hair colors in each one. 

Also in the alert, Boston Police disclosed that Reina was last seen getting into a car in the area of Bennington Street in East Boston on the evening of November 26 and was later dropped off on Alston Street in Somerville. That’s about an 8.5 mile distance between each last known location.

The first 48 hours after someone goes missing are the most critical, but 46 days passed before Boston Police circulated the missing persons alert. Reina’s sister Alicia tried to get police to respond and search for Reina sooner. They just told her to let them know when she heard from Reina. 

But that was the entire issue – Alicia hadn’t heard from Reina, and she didn’t know how else to get police to understand or care that not hearing from her sister for so long, not even a text to check in on her kids, was extremely unusual and concerning. Something was wrong and no one seemed to give a damn.