Family pleading for help to find missing loved one who is presumed dead

SAN ANTONIO – A Houston family is asking for help finding a beloved mother of four who was last seen entering her bedroom in her West Side home.

Mireya Lopez said her sister, Cecilia Huerta Gallegos, called family members to warn them that something bad might happen to her. She was on her way home to check on her kids when she made the call.

“She had money put up because she was trying to get a house and to put an alarm system in case for their safety,” Lopez said.

Lopez said Huerta Gallegos and her husband were having problems.

Reyes Gallegos was arrested this week and charged with making a false report to police in the case.

According to an arrest affidavit, police viewed cameras placed inside and outside the couple’s home. They showed inconsistencies with a report he filed July 8 when Gallegos claimed his wife cut him and ran away.

Lopez said the couple’s four children were inside the home on July 7 and heard them arguing. The children were kept in their bedroom. 

Huerta Gallegos works at St. Francis Nursing Home. Her children range in age from 6 to 14 years old. She shares two of those children with Gallegos.

“They didn’t have a lot of friends because he wouldn’t let anybody visit her,” Lopez said.

Neighbors said the couple kept to themselves, and they even put a lock on their gate to keep people out. On Friday evening, a U-Haul truck was parked outside the couple’s home on Southwick Road on the West Side.

On Saturday morning, the family will be conducting a search at Avril Avenue Trailhead Park near Old Highway 90 and Pinn Road. Volunteers are needed.

Lopez said they have accepted the fact that they will not find her alive, but they need to bring closure to her children.  

“We don’t want to accept it, but our hearts tell us she's no longer with us,” Lopez said.