SAN ANTONIO — A local woman is spending another Easter holiday without her mother who disappeared more than a decade ago from the city's northwest side.
According to San Antonio police, Carmen Mares was last seen on September 2, 2007, on the 2000 block of North Zarzamora Street and West Woodlawn Avenue.
Mares' daughter said her mother went to go play pool at a now-closed sports bar the night she vanished. Hours passed and by the morning, the woman still had not returned home from a night out with friends.
"They said she left with somebody, they don't know who," said Carmen Vallejo, her daughter, who was 11-years-old at the time.
A missing person flier said Mares was last seen wearing blue jeans, a black top with diamonds around the collar, brown boots, shrimp shape earrings and a necklace with a gold cross.
The woman also has a tribal tattoo on her lower back below her waist, the flier said.
"I do hope that she is out there somewhere," said Vallejo.
Years later, leads on her mother's disappearance remain dry. However, Vallejo's memory is clear when describing her final conversation with her mother. She said the two had an argument.
"The last thing I told her was that I hated her. I didn't get to tell her I loved her and I didn't get to tell her I was sorry. I didn't think it was going to the last time I saw her," she said.
Vallejo said that's what hurts her the most. The memory now impacts the way she parents her own children as an adult.
"It makes me want to try harder because my kids ask about what happened to her," said Vallejo.
It's also motivating her to continue searching for her mother. Vallejo said she used to be afraid to speak up about her mother's disappearance but now she is renewing her call for help to find her.
"I just want to know. I just want to be at peace or I want her to be at peace," she said.
Mares is described as 5 feet and 4 inches tall with brown-colored hair and eyes. Anyone with information can call the San Antonio Police Department's Missing Person Unit at 210-207-7660.