Julie Ann Gonzalez

• Missing Since 03/26/2010
• Missing From Austin, Texas
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race Hispanic
• Date of Birth 10/16/1988 (36)
• Age 21 years old
• Height and Weight 5'0 - 5'1, 135 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description Black Converse shoes and a silver and black necklace.
• Associated Vehicle(s) Gold 2006 Chevrolet Impala (accounted for)
• Distinguishing Characteristics Hispanic female. Black hair, black eyes. Gonzalez's ears are pierced. She has previously pierced the left side of her face above her lip, but the hole may have closed by the time of her disappearance.

Details of Disappearance

Gonzalez was last seen in Austin, Texas on March 26, 2010. That day she was supposed to pick up her two-year-old daughter at the home of her estranged husband, George De La Cruz, on Garden Oaks Drive.

They normally shared custody of the child, each keeping her for one day at a time. De La Cruz stated Gonzalez was acting "spaced out" and seemed depressed when she arrived at his home. She asked him to keep their daughter for the weekend, and he agreed. She has never been heard from again.

A week after Gonzalez's disappearance, her gold 2006 Chevrolet Impala was found in the parking lot of a Walgreen's pharmacy in south Austin. She had recently bought it used it and it still had the paper tags. The pharmacy had it towed. Gonzalez actually worked as a pharmacy technician at another Walgreen's, but it's unclear why her car was left at that particular location.

After she was last seen, Gonzalez's cellular phone was used to add postings to her MySpace page saying she was sick of her life and wanted to run away. These posts led authorities to think she'd left on her own, but they reconsidered this theory as weeks and months passed without anyone hearing from her.

The only activity on Gonzalez's financial accounts since her disappearance was a movie purchase at a Best Buy store twelve days after she was last seen. The woman who purchased the movie has not been identified, but she was not Gonzalez.

Gonzalez's family stated she initiated the divorce from De La Cruz after less than a year of marriage, and by the time of her disappearance she was seeing another man. She was upset because De La Cruz played video games too much; he even played on his video game console while Gonzalez was in labor with their child.

De La Cruz was reportedly despondent over the breakup, didn't want the marriage to end and refused to sign the divorce papers. Investigators searched his home and impounded his two vehicles after her disappearance, and stated he wasn't cooperating with the investigation. His use of the video game console dropped markedly in the days following Gonzalez's disappearance.

In September 2013, De La Cruz was charged with first-degree murder in Gonzalez's case. A photo of him is posted with this case summary.

At his trial, a cellmate testified that De La Cruz told him he and Gonzalez had gotten into a physical altercation at his home that left her bleeding and unconscious. Cellular phone records indicate De La Cruz had her phone after her disappearance, and his mother found an empty trench dug beneath the shed in her backyard, as well as a knife and some burned clothing.

De La Cruz was convicted in the spring of 2015 and sentenced to life in prison.

Gonzalez's loved ones describe her as a responsible person and a devoted parent. Foul play is suspected in her case due to the circumstances involved.