Human remains found in Mesquite confirmed to be missing Dallas educator

James Hartley
·2 min read
104

Authorities searching for a woman who went missing from Seagoville in September found her remains in a wooded area near where the woman’s car was located after her disappearance, the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed.

Jennifer Mendez Olascoaga, 24, who worked as a teacher’s assistant in Dallas ISD, was last seen Sept. 27 in surveillance footage from the Creekside mobile home park off Highway 175 near Modene Street, where she was dropping off a friend, according to a news release from Seagoville police.

Seagoville police were searching a wooded area around Lawson Road and Interstate 20 on Oct. 12 when they found the remains. Mesquite police said in a news release they were called to the area to assist around 5:15 p.m. Oct. 12.

The Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed on Monday that the remains are those of Mendez Olascoaga. Her cause and manner of death have not yet been determined.

Mendez Olascoaga’s brother-in-law told WFAA-TV shortly after her disappearance that her wallet was still in the car when police secured it and towed it to a relative’s home.

“Someone did something to her because she would never leave her wallet,” Marco Barroso, the brother-in-law, said to WFAA. “We tried calling her phone, it was off. Her phone is never off.”

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Her family filed a missing person’s report with Dallas police on Sept. 28, who contacted authorities in Seagoville on Oct. 1.

Before family members reported Mendez Olascoaga missing, and while they were in the process of filing a missing person’s report, they received text messages that “would lead one to believe that Jennifer’s disappearance may have involved foul play,” police said.

Police also told WFAA that, despite the text messages, they had not been able to definitively determine whether her disappearance was an abduction.

The texts included, “Hey do you miss someone? Are you missing someone? You’ll never see her again and won’t find her,” Barroso told WFAA.

The family told police that it is also not like Mendez Olascoaga to disappear without saying anything to them. One cousin told WFAA that’s why they became concerned when she didn’t come home.

Mendez Olascoaga’s family is asking the community for help raising money for her funeral. A GoFundMe set up to cover the cost of the funeral had raised $310 as of 4:30 p.m. Monday.

Her family wrote in the GoFundMe description that Mendez Olascoaga “had the sweetest and most giving spirit, touching the lives of all who had the privilege of knowing her.”