Search continues for missing siblings who disappeared within days of each other

HOUSTON – The search continues for two missing adult siblings who disappeared within days of each other.

Relatives and Texas EquuSearch volunteers have been looking for Rogelio and Dina Escobar, days after Dina’s van was found burned on a Galveston beach.

On Tuesday, family members searched a field near West Orem and Almeda.  

Ligia Salamanca is hoping she can find her mother, 61-year-old Dina Escobar and her uncle, 65-year-old Rogelio Escobar.

“Each day gets harder,” Salamanca said. “In the beginning, you think you’re going to find them. I’m trying to keep the hope that they’re still holding on.”

But there’s no sign of Dina or her brother.  

It's been nine days since Rogelio disappeared. His family said he left his home Aug. 26 to go to a nearby convenience store and never returned.  

Rogelio lived with two of his nephews. Francisco Escobar is one of them. He said he realized his uncle on the afternoon of Aug. 27.

Then, on the night of Aug. 28, Dina came by to check on her brother.   

According to Francisco, Dina told him, "I'm going to go to the store and talk to the guy where he is known to get his beer from," and she left.

No one has seen Dina since.  

Salamanca said she saw convenience store tapes, and it appears that neither sibling made it to the store.

Then, on Thursday at 2 a.m., a burned van was found in Galveston.

It was Dina's van but neither Dina nor her brother was in it.

“I definitely, from the beginning, have suspected there's something definitely wrong,” Salamanca said.

Yet, the family holds out hope, so family members will be at it again tomorrow, searching areas near Rogelio's home on Prudence Street in southwest Houston.  

“I don't want to believe that she's not there,” said Salamanca of her mother. “I want to know that I'm going to see her again.”

Texas Equusearch told KPRC that its volunteers searched for the siblings in undisclosed locations today.

Searchers will be on the job again tomorrow, looking for the siblings in Galveston.