A Las Vegas man has been arrested in association with several violent rapes of local prostitutes, and authorities are seeking help in locating other possible victims. Police say 29-year-old Denver Baoec-Ascuncion was arrested earlier this month after multiple women came forward recounting recent incidents of kidnapping and sexual assault. 8 News Now reports that the 28-year-old Las Vegas man faces multiple counts , and there may be other victims. Two separate prostitutes between December 20th and January 7th reportedly told police that Ascuncion picked them up and forced them into sexual acts. Both alleged victims claimed that the Las Vegas man used a firearm to threaten them. Non-virtual sex work (i.e., physical prostitution) is a dangerous line of work, especially in large cities like Las Vegas -- where rates of non-virtual sex work have increased by 50% in recent years. Prostitutes -- especially street walkers -- are often victims of violent crime and robberies. It's fortunat...
Arizona has a missing girl problem, with numerous cases of missing children, teens and young women disappearing without a trace. Is there something specific to blame for the increasing number of unsolved disappearances of young women in the Grand Canyon state?
The NAMUS database reveals that more than 260 women and girls are missing in the state of Arizona, with an unsettling number of these unsolved cases originating in recent years. What’s more, the majority of these cases involve teenage girls and very young women. It’s easy to opine that some of these girls are voluntarily missing, but are all of them? That wouldn’t be entirely probable.
Just this year alone, approximately 10 girls have become the focus of unsolved disappearances in the state of Arizona. The year before that, over 20 girls and women vanished without any closure in their cases. For the past decade several teenagers and young women have gone missing, one by one, in the state of Arizona. All of these cases remain unsolved, and the vast majority of them get little to no public attention.
Where are these missing girls?
- On November 2, 2020, 14-year-old Marriah Lenae Hardy disappeared from Phoenix, Arizona. The circumstances of her disappearance are unknown, and there appears to be no media coverage of her case. The NAMUS profile of her disappearance is sparse, only sharing the general location where she was last seen two years ago.
- Khaliah Mcelroy disappeared three days after Marriah Hardy. The Buckeye, Arizona girl was 17-years-old when she was last seen leaving her home to go hang out with friends. She never returned home, and her case remains unsolved.
- Twenty-year-old Hannah Adnan Al-imara disappeared from her home in Tolleson, Arizona on November 18, 2020 — just weeks after the disappearances of McElroy and Hardy.
- On May 26, 2021 a 15-year-old girl named Bruklyn Quintana disappeared from Litchfield, Arizona. The circumstances of her disappearance aren’t readily known aside from the claim that she ran away from home. No media coverage exists on her case.
- The same month that Bruklyn Quintana vanished, a 29-year-old First Nations woman by the name of Amberis Estelle Jose disappeared from San Tan Valley, Arizona. The circumstances of her disappearance are unknown.
- In September 2021, another First Nations girl vanished. Fifteen-year-old Yalacia Francisco disappeared after running away from a group home. She hasn’t been seen or heard from since.
- Danielle J Sullivan disappeared from Anthem, Arizona in July 2021.
- 17-year-old Phelani Geneva Rojo was last seen getting into a white truck in September 2021. She had gotten into an argument with her mother and left her home, and still hasn’t been located.
- 17-year-old Angelina Samari Herrera also disappeared in September 2021.
- 13-year-old Kar Meh vanished from the Phoenix, Arizona area in September 2021.
- 17-year-old Marisol Esperanza Elias vanished from an Arizona group home in October 2021.
- 14-year-old Kaley Chilel Lopez disappeared in October 2021 after an argument with her mother.
- 14-year-old Aunum Cara Conyers disappeared in October 2021 and hasn’t been found.
- 15-year-old Caprice Styx disappeared in Phoenix in October 2021
The above-list is just a small sample of the suspiciously large amount of teenage girls and young women who have vanished in Arizona since 2020 alone. There are far more than what you see above, including young girls who have gone missing as recently as the past month. These are all unsolved disappearances, and many of them are being disregarded as cases of runaway youth. The majority of these missing girls are also people of color — either Black, Mexican-American or indigenous-American. A few of these missing girls are enrolled members of some of Arizona’s Native American tribes. Only a small portion of these unsolved cases involve white girls or women.
As stated earlier, it isn’t logical to assume that every one of these missing girls are runaways. Furthermore, even if they were originally runaways, some of these girls are as young as 13-years-old and they cannot survive in the world on their own safely. Young runaways are vulnerable to a number of dangers, including sexual predators and potentially violent people. Runaways, prostitutes, homeless people and other “ignored” members of society are also most commonly targeted by serial killers.
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