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‘Mind-Boggling’: Police, Family Still Haunted By Texas Mom’s 2019 Disappearance
“No child should have to grow up not knowing where his mother is or what happened to his mother,” Detective Dustan Barrett told Oxygen.com.
Nearly three years after Texas mother Prisma Peralta Reyes’ mysterious disappearance, her family and police, continue to search for answers.
Reyes, 26, vanished on April 17, 2019 from downtown Dallas. She was reported missing after failing to pick up her 6-year-old son, Dominic from his babysitter, according to a police press release.
Her suspicious disappearance has long-vexed investigators; foul play is suspected in the case.
“I would have expected somebody to have seen her and seen what happened considering the population density in that area,” Mesquite Police Detective Dustan Barrett told Oxygen.com. “That time of day and that time of year in Texas a lot of people were out…[it] was perfect for people to be out and about with their dogs and chit-chatting and stuff. That complex is full of young professionals.”
Reyes’ was captured by surveillance video at her ex-boyfriend apartment’s parking garage in East Dallas shortly before she went missing.
“It’s quite puzzling,” Barrett added. “In 2019, the amount of video surveillance around major metropolitan cities like Dallas I would have expected to have more camera footage than we had. There were several exits to that complex that were not covered with cameras so we have no idea what happened.”
Additional video footage from the day Reyes vanished showed her at Dallas restaurant E Bar on Haskell Avenue where she met her ex-boyfriend for a meal. Her white Jeep Wrangler was later found deserted north of downtown Dallas.
Reyes’ ex-boyfriend, who’s name wasn’t released by police, was previously cleared as a person of interest in her disappearance.
Shortly before she vanished, Reyes was also involved in a suspected road rage incident, police said. Witnesses also reportedly saw her pointing a gun at motorists in traffic, according to a Dallas Police report. However, investigators don’t suspect the encounter factored into her vanishing.
As the third anniversary of Reyes’ disappearance approaches, police are unsure if the 26-year-old is still alive.
“I don’t know,” Barrett said. “It could go either way. Human trafficking is clearly a concern. And death is also a concern.”
The Dallas Police Department and the Texas Rangers also assisted local authorities in the case’s early stages. The case remains active.
“Anytime something comes up we run with it until we follow that lead all the way through,” Barrett explained. “Our main goal is to find her and find out what happened mainly for her family, and most importantly, her son. No child should have to grow up not knowing where his mother is or what happened to his mother.”
Barrett, who has been the lead investigator on the case for almost three years, has been unnerved by the “challenging” case.
“It’s just very frustrating to not be able to get the answer,” Barrett said. “To know that we’ve taken all the steps we’ve added a lot of resources to still be where we were on April 18, 2019 is mind boggling and very frustrating.”
For years, Reyes’ family have also been convinced her disappearance is linked to foul play, describing her as a dedicated single mother who would never abandon her 6-year-old boy.
"Dominic was her whole life,” Reyes' brother, Rudy Peralta, told PEOPLE.com. “Everything she did, she kept striving for to try to make everything better for him.”
As the years have slipped by, Reyes’ family have nonetheless remained hopeful that the Texas mother is still alive.
"Ever since I started trying to find her and everything else, it's never been about finding her for me, for her mother, for her brothers or sister or nobody else, strictly for Dominic," her stepfather, Dan Fuchs said. "Someday it'll all come out. We'll find her."
Reyes was last seen wearing a red shirt and blue jeans. Her height is estimated to be five-foot-two-inches and she weighs approximately 135 pounds. At the time she vanished, Reyes lived in Mesquite, Texas, roughly 14 miles east of Dallas.
Anyone with information related to Reyes’ disappearance is urged to contact the Mesquite Police Department at 972-285-6336. Anonymous tips can also be submitted online via North Texas Crime Stoppers or by calling its tip line at 877-373-8477.
