'I Feel Like Trash': Mom Of Missing Instagram Star Fears Worst For Aspiring Model

The family of a missing 24-year-old Los Angeles-based Brazilian Instagram model now fears the worst after she hasn’t been seen for nearly a month.

Ana Braga was last heard from on Jan. 29, her family told KTLA. Her body hasn’t yet been recovered by law enforcement, the Los Angeles television station said.

“I want them to bring her body back to Brazil,” Delma Felix, Braga’s mother, recently told the outlet through a translator. “I want them to find her body.”

Felix — who said her daughter called her every day — stopped hearing from Braga late last month. Braga moved to Orange County approximately a year ago and was an aspiring model, KTLA reported.

“I want to find my daughter because I want to do her funeral,” Felix added.

The concerned mother, who now fears her daughter may be dead, made the desperate plea to authorities following the discovery of the woman’s deserted car at an Oklahoma City racetrack casino parking lot earlier this month — more than a thousand miles away from California, KFOR-TV reported on Friday. Two individuals were spotted by surveillance cameras hopping out of Braga’s 2015 white Honda Accord, who supposedly then departed the Remington Park lot in a green minivan. 

Inside the abandoned Honda, detectives retrieved an identification card supposedly belonging to Braga, KFOR-TV reported. Law enforcement officials have not confirmed whether the woman is dead, although investigators believe the woman could have been killed in the Los Angeles area prior to her car being dumped.

Oklahoma authorities have also apparently also been reviewing video evidence that may show Braga’s body — and which could shed new light on the social media model’s disappearance. A search warrant issued by law enforcement describes a troubling video reportedly depicting a woman, who matches the 24-year-old physical description, lying face down and covered in blood with an electrical cord wrapped around her throat, the warrant obtained by KTLA states.

It is not confirmed if the woman in the video is in fact Braga, KTLA reported. Law enforcement hasn’t yet revealed the origins of the purported video, the news station said.

The young and upcoming model’s friends were also shocked and perplexed as to where Braga may be or what happened to her. 

“I’m just going back and trying to think, who could’ve done this?” Timothy O’Brien, Braga’s pal, told KTLA. 

The woman’s former roommate also told KTLA that after Braga moved out of their shared residence the two didn’t stay in touch. He noted that the woman was spending a lot of time with a romantic partner at the time the pair parted ways.

“When she get out of my house, on the first moment, she was together with her boy from Brazil,” Alan, who wasn’t identified by his last name, told the local media outlet. “And after that, I never saw her anymore.”

Ana Braga Photo: Instagram

Braga has nearly 17,000 followers on Instagram. Her profile’s biography reads, “DESAPARECIDA,” which in Portuguese, translates to “disappeared.” The woman's final posting on the platform is a series of two photos she uploaded about a month ago, supposedly in celebration of her birthday.

“Happy birthday to me,” Braga wrote. 

Braga, who lived in the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood of central Los Angeles, worked part-time as an Uber and food delivery driver, KTLA reported. She’s originally from the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, according to Brazilian outlet R7.

While investigators continue to search for clues in Braga’s disappearance, the young model’s family is becoming more devastated with each passing day.

“I feel like trash,” Braga’s mother told KTLA. “I feel like I’m no one. I feel like I’m nobody. She was the only one that helped me.”