PHOENIX — The mystery surrounding the disappearance of a Phoenix mom deepened Tuesday night after her car was located but she was nowhere to be found.
Irene Luevano, a 37-year-old mother of six, went missing over the weekend.
She was last seen at a west Phoenix bar Saturday night, and Luevano’s family said she called them in the early hours saying that she had been stabbed in the neck by her boyfriend.
No one has been able to contact her ever since.
Authorities from multiple agencies have been searching for Luevano and her car, a 2007 Chevrolet Impala, after being contacted by her family.
The car was located in the West Valley near 107th Avenue and Lower Buckeye Road. Blood was found inside the Impala, but Luevano is still missing.
“It is the car, but my sister is not in [there],” said Sandra Mercado, Luevano’s eldest sister. “At least we know the car has been found, but my sister is still missing.”
Exclusive surveillance obtained by 12 News showed the car being driven to that location on Sunday at 10:45 a.m. The video glitches and no one is seen exiting the vehicle.
That was 45 minutes after Luevano’s second oldest daughter said she spoke to her mother’s boyfriend, Jorge Quintero Lara, who police said was the last known person the single mother was with.
“He talked to me and I was telling him ‘where’s my mom, where’s my mom?’ and he was like ‘she’s okay, I’m going to take her to the hospital,” the daughter, who did not want to be identified said.
Quintero Lara was arrested on forgery charges, after court documents said he bought a fake ID and social security card about a year ago. He was taken into custody after being questioned at a hospital where he was being treated for self-inflicting stab wounds.
Court records also allege Quintero Lara admitted to working for the Sinaloa cartel, where he sold and delivered illegal pills in Arizona. Before being arrested, investigators said information from his cellphone showed he was headed to Mexico before returning to Phoenix.
The family, along with a group of volunteers, search crop fields near where the car was found in Avondale on Tuesday night.
“We just want to find her, we need peace, it’s already been three days,” said Mercado. “We just want her, now that’s going to be our next clue, to go look around and find her, to see where could she be.”
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Her family has desperately been asking people for tips that may bring Irene home safely.
"She means the world to me," one family member said. "For me, she's my other half. We've been through a lot."
Luevano’s boyfriend, Jorge Quintero Lara, was taken to the hospital after police said he stabbed himself. He has since been arrested for forgery charges unrelated to Irene’s disappearance.
Luevano is described as a Hispanic woman who is about 5-foot-4 and 180 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.
She was last seen wearing a black dress and black shoes.
Anyone with information is urged to call Phoenix police at 602-262-6151, 911 or Silent Witness at (480)-WITNESS.
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