Monica Arellano

• Missing Since 07/26/1999
• Missing From Yuba City, California
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race Hispanic
• Date of Birth 04/10/1992 (32)
• Age 7 years old
• Height and Weight 4'6, 60 pounds
• Distinguishing Characteristics Hispanic female. Brown hair, brown eyes.

Details of Disappearance

Monica was last seen at her home in Yuba City, California on July 26, 1999. She disappeared with her younger brother, Victor Arellano. Their mother, Blanca Alicia Duenas Arellano, was murdered in the bedroom of the family's home in the Park Terrace apartment complex in the 600 block of Queens Avenue. She had been strangled with a telephone cord, which was wrapped four times around her neck, and stabbed multiple times with a butcher knife, which was left with the body.

Authorities stated they believed Blanca's estranged husband, Francisco Arellano, had killed her, taken Monica and Victor, and gone on the run. He is the biological father of Monica and Victor, but isn't related to Blanca's other three children.

The couple's relationship had been troubled. In August 1997, Francisco served sixty days in jail for spousal abuse. Blanca had gotten a restraining order against him that year, claiming he'd abused her an average of twice a year between April 1991 and May 1997. She said he threatened to kill her and take their children to Mexico.

In November 2022, Francisco was located in the state of Morales in Mexico, arrested and extradited to the United States to stand trial for Blanca's murder. At his trial in 2024, he argued he had killed Blanca in self-defense, but the jury rejected that defense and he was convicted of murder. Photos of him are posted with this case summary.

Victor and Monica have never been located. They may still be in Mexico.