Awilda Marrero was born on January 17, 1966. Some sources say she was white; others list her as Hispanic. (I know there is some controversy about how both terms are related, but I include all of the information I can in these posts.) She was between 5 and 5'1 and weighed 165 pounds. She had brown hair and brown eyes. She had pierced ears. She had a scar on her upper right arm. She has the name Mike tattooed on her left buttock and the name Joel tattooed on her right knee/thigh. She had unnamed medical problems - some articles mention she had bipolar disorder, so that may have been the disorder they were mentioning. She was taking medication at the time she disappeared. Dental and DNA records are available in this case. Fingerprint records are not.
Awilda was from Puerto Rico. They first lived in New Britain, CT before moving to Enfield, CT. Awilda did not have a car or a driver's license. Beyond her daughter, she had no family or friends in the area. She had family in New York City (about 2 and a half hours from Enfield.) Awilda had dated a man who was involved with drugs, but he was in prison when she went missing. She was already a grandmother of a one-year-old, and her daughter Angelica was expecting another baby five days after she went missing.
The night before Awilda went missing, she told her daughter's boyfriend to "take care of my daughter" if anything happened to her. She phoned her sister in NYC and told her that as well.
Her daughter, Angelica, said of the messages: "The next day she was gone. I don't know what she meant by that. That's why for me it was really strange."
Awilda was last seen by her 17 year old daughter, Angelica Carmona, in the area of Asnuntuck Street in Enfield, CT at 11:30 pm on April 6, 2009. Awilda was leaving her home at 16 Asnuntuck Street. It was raining. She left the house in the middle of the night without getting fully dressed. She was wearing a gray nightgown, jeans, and a brown jacket. She was barefoot. She didn’t have any of her belongings - she didn’t have a purse or a cell phone. When Angelica woke up at 7:30 the next day, her mother was gone. At first Angelica assumed her mom took an early morning walk or was fishing. Yet, Angelica wondered why her mother would have left without her shoes if that was the case.
Awilda's family did not hear anything strange that night, and there were no signs of entry into the home.
Angelica called the police the next day.
Detective Michael Bailey commented, "The door was unlocked, which is why we think she left on her own."
At first the police believed she may have gone to a nearby soup kitchen. The police searched the area with K-9 units and tracked Awilda to the Connecticut River on South River Street near a boat launch, but lost her scent. Angelica stated her mother may have been there two days before and that she loved to fish off the boat launch, so that may have been why the dogs smelled her. The police thought differently. The Connecticut River is the longest river in New England at about 406 miles. It travels through four states and borders Quebec. It discharges at Long Island Sound, producing 70% of the sound’s fresh water. (Asnuntuck follows Freshwater Brook, which connects to the Connecticut River. The beginning of Asnuntuck is about a quarter of a mile from the Connecticut River.) Boats were also deployed. A Massachusetts state police airplane checked the banks of the river, but Awilda was not found.
The search for Awilda continued into February of 2011. The Enfield police reached out to the media for help from the public. Nothing came of their requests.
Her social security number has not been used since that day.
Detective Bailey said, "We haven't had a sighting or remains that matched up to her since."
Lt. Willie Pedemonti said, "We have no reason to believe it was a homicide." He continued. "She could have started a new life, she could have changed her identity, and hasn't looked back." Angelica says the police believe Awilda killed herself.
But, Angelica just doesn't agree. Angelica stated that Awilda loved being a grandmother to her son, Jacob. She had bought clothes in anticipation of her second child, which was born as expected, five days after Awilda went missing. Her new daughter was named Tiara. Detective Bailey admits, "There was motive for her to stay."
Angelica says, "I think she got into a car," but was unable to speculate beyond that. No matter what happened, she wants closure. She says, "If she's dead or alive, we don't know."
