365 Days of Texas True Crime: Missing

Tawny the Rock Chick here, your resident true crime aficionado.  As interesting as I find true crime from all over to be, it’s the local stuff that I can really dig into.  You could say I’m a bit obsessed with researching stories of murder and missing persons from this area.  I’ve spent countless hours reading old newspapers articles, requesting files on cases and sifting through data cases online regarding homicide cases that you probably didn’t even know existed.  This area holds more sordid secrets than you may know and I’m going to tell you about all of them, one day at a time.  It’s 365 Days of Texas True Crime and todays story goes like this…..

On this day in 2002, Cynthia Laura Castellano’s common law husband phoned his wife’s family to let them know that she had left.

Cynthia, or “Cindy” as friends and family called her, lived with Rolando Rubio and their two children in the 1500 block of Serene Drive in Laredo, Texas back in 2002.  She was a former teacher’s aide at Lamar Middle School and a 1995 graduate from Nixon High School.  Her mother, Laura Castellano, had just heard from her on that Friday, May 17.  That Sunday Rubio called the family to let them know that she had left their house after an argument they had and he hadn’t heard from her since.  Cindy’s mother and the rest of her family did not believe that she would just up and leave her two young daughters just one and three years old.  According to the information that can be found on the Charley Project website Rubio was cleared as a suspect.  However, she is listed as missing with foul play possibly being involved in her disappearance.

A month after she went missing fire and police department officials searched a water retention pond in the San Isidro Ranch off of McPherson Road.  A nine-man crew searched by boat and foot.  Local lakes and ponds were searched in their efforts to locate the missing mother but with no results.  In 2003 the investigator for the Crimes Against Persons Department, Mario Soria, was quoted as saying “We don’t have any leads to think that this was a homicide,” but her family feels strongly that she would never leave her daughters.

After she went missing her family did the only thing they knew to do, they kept looking.

A year later they were still putting up missing posters around town and grilling the local police department for information in regards to their missing loved one.  In 2003, when a woman had been found dead in Laredo her family came to the Laredo Police Department main station and waited on the steps to try and find out if it was the news they had been desperately waiting for.  Benny Castellano, her father, said “If she is dead, we want to see her body-at least we will know for sure,” “She is always on our minds”.  Flyers with her picture were posted in local establishments in the hopes that someone might recognizer her and come forward with information.  Cindy’s sudden disappearance was very hard on her family.  Her father Benny reported that the family would get prank calls from people telling them all kinds of stories and claiming to have seen his daughter.  “We just want to know what happened to her-her disappearance has really taken a toll on our family.”  It was mentioned several times in what little information I found on Cynthia that Rubio was questioned and not considered a suspect, I don’t know why but the fact that it was mentioned as much as it was in the tiny bit of information I found seemed weird to me.  Either way as of today there is still no sign of Cynthia Laura Castellano, no evidence that would explain what happened to her and no other information on what happened to her after she allegedly walked away from her home after an argument with her common law husband.  Cindy is a Hispanic female with black hair and brown eyes, was 25 years old when she went missing,  she was last seen wearing a red t-shirt, black shorts and no shoes.  She was 5’ 3”, 130 lbs.  She has a Playboy bunny and the name “Cindy” tattooed on the right side of her chest, and the name “Roland” tattooed on her back.  If Cindy is still alive she would be 44 years old now.  Her family still wants to know what happened to her, no matter what that might be. It may not be related in any way but as I was searching for information I found a record of arrest for Cynthia on 03/16/1995 for possession. The charge was POSS CS PG 4 <28G, which means unlawful possession of a controlled substance listed in Penalty Group 4 of the Texas Health and Safety Code in an amount between 28 and 200 grams. It's a third degree felony, punishable by prison from 2 to 10 years and a fine of up to $10,000.

If you have any information concerning Cynthia Laura Castellano, please contact:

Texas Department of Public Safety

800-346-3243