Here are the basic details on this case: Moreira Monsalve (“Mo”) went missing in January of 2014; she was last seen about two days before her disappearance was reported, at the home of her boyfriend / ex-boyfriend (people disagree about the exact status of their relationship at the time):
According to Maui police, Mo was last seen by her ex-boyfriend, Bernard Brown, on January 12th, when she stopped by his Wailuku residence. Several days later, some of her personal belongings were found in a dumpster at the nearby Wailuku Community Center.
Here’s the context on the dumpster find:
The situation with Bernard Brown is interesting — for a while, he was posting regular updates on the Facebook page dedicated to the search. He was proclaiming his innocence at every turn, and he was even questioned by police (with a car search), but never named as a suspect. Then, in February, he left Hawaii for (apparently) San Jose. Cops were careful to play his role in all this close to the vest:
“Everyone is presumed innocent, that’s really important. The fact that he’s been recognized by the family as the last person to see her alive, the fact that he’s the ex-boyfriend, that he’s left the state – the tendency is to want to assume the worst case scenario that he must be the one. Wouldn’t it be a sad day that someone else who really committed this crime gets a pass on this and someone else gets accused?” said Breiner.
In most cases of this nature, the significant other (or the ex) is the first person you go to; seems like that’s the case (and what happened) here. It is important to note that while often a significant other is involved, other times they’re not — he might have left the state simply because of too much scrutiny. Consider this, for example, from WebSleuths:
Melissa Taylor responded, “Mo was terrified of you so stop acting like you are concerned.”
Taylor also posted texts exchanged with her missing friend.
They said “he threatened to pound me and not stop. I’m so done.”
and “Trying to stay hidden. I don’t trust him. he’s vindictive.”
Brown answered “I have done nothing but try to find Moreira and I will not stop..My girlfriend is Missing!”
Mo’s best friend Susan Manini fired back “stop calling her your girlfriend. She was not anymore.”
Mo was Susan’s maid of honor at her 2012 wedding, and says her friend was afraid of her ex. Manini said, “She just said he was abusive. I asked is he hitting you. She just shrugged her shoulders and said he’s really mentally abusive.”
Then, she broke down in tears and said, “I think he did something to her. I went to his house and said Bernard I’m looking for Mo and he jumped back and said I didn’t do anything to her.”
Brown, however, was apparently not a person of interest.
It’s possible this is a random act, but not likely it was a straight-up disappearance of her own accord (she had three children, and throwing your stuff in a dumpster on a disappearance/suicide isn’t exactly what people do).
The family seems to have accepted that this likely won’t end with her returning home; the Facebook page is fairly active and they recently did a “celebration of life” for her in the area.
There are a couple of other disappearances from Hawaii in the past 4-5 years, such as Carly “Charli” Scott — but the Scott case is seemingly solved (interestingly, it was her ex-boyfriend in that one), so it doesn’t appear that the link there is very strong.
