Cindy Rivera went missing at the age of 19 on June 30th, 2012. The young mother was last seen at her father's house in Las Vegas, New Mexico, where she lived with her family members and a bedridden man who was under her care. Cindy left the home on the evening of June 30th, after telling the bedridden man that she would only be gone for a few minutes. Unfortunately, she never returned. Cindy left her infant son in the bathroom, and the bedridden man reportedly heard the baby crying all night. When Cindy's family members returned home the following morning, they found Cindy's slippers, a few cigarettes, and a lighter strewn across the ground outside. Both Cindy and Cindy's car were nowhere in sight. She was reported missing shortly thereafter. Over the years, police have reportedly followed many leads in the case, but Cindy has still not been found. Cindy's family members believe that she was kidnapped and murdered. In fact, they originally named two different men as the probable killers: one of them being her ex-husband and father of one of her children. The family members later stated that they believed the ex-husband was the one responsible; they had even heard rumors that he bragged about killing Cindy and burying her in a remote desert area. Despite this, police initially did not the ex-husband or the other man as suspects in the case. They stated that they simply do not have probable cause to execute search warrants on either man. The media also did not release the names of either men. Cindy's disappearance quickly faded into a cold case. News about her case was scarce for several years. Then, in 2021, an arrest was finally made - allowing the case to move forward for the first time since 2012.
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