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'I Want My Daughter Back': 19-Year-Old Nayeli Rodriguez Missing For More Than A Month

MONTEREY PARK (CBSLA) — The family of a 19-year-old woman who has been missing for more than a month pleaded for help in finding her.

Nayeli Rodriguez, also known as Nayeli Rodriguez-Espain, was last seen on the morning of May 21 in the 100 block of East Florence Avenue, an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County. She was wearing a blue, short-sleeved T-shirt, black leggings, black tennis shoes, and a small backpack with green decorations on it.

"I'm desperate more than ever," Maria Espain said through a translator. "I don't know the truth….She was a good girl."

Nayeli Rodriguez missing poster
(credit: Los Angeles Sheriff's Department)

Rodriguez's family says she anticipated returning to community college in the fall and worked to help support her family by selling items in shopping center parking lots throughout the South Los Angeles area. She was known to be active on social media, keeping in touch with family and friends locally and in Mexico, but her accounts have been quiet since May 21, which her family says is unusual behavior.

She has not gone missing before, and only left home for hours at a time, according to her family.

"I want my daughter back," Espain said.

Rodriguez was described as a 5-foot-5, 130-pound Hispanic woman, with long brown wavy hair and brown eyes. She wears glasses and has braces.

Anyone with information about Rodriguez or her whereabouts can contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Missing Persons Unit at (323) 890-5500.

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