UPDATE: An El Paso family is in a desperate race against time to find their 24-year-old daughter, Sydney Marquez, who vanished while visiting friends in Houston on December 11, 2023. Authorities confirm that critical surveillance video from a METRO bus she may have boarded has been retrieved, marking a significant development in this urgent search.
Sydney was last spotted near the 9100 block of Bellaire Boulevard, where surveillance footage shows her leaving a friend’s car. Witnesses informed her father, Raul Marquez, that she might have caught a northbound METRO bus at the intersection of Gessner and Harwin, heading towards the Little York area.
“The car was running. We have video of her going northbound. That’s the last solid evidence we have,” Marquez stated. He emphasized the critical nature of the bus video, stating, “That footage is a matter of life and death.”
The METRO Police Department has confirmed that the requested bus video was initially unavailable but has since been manually downloaded and handed over to the Houston Police Department (HPD), which is now the lead agency in the investigation. MPD officials express hope for Sydney’s safe return and are committed to assisting HPD as the situation unfolds.
According to her father, Sydney lives and works in El Paso but was in Houston at the time of her disappearance. He suspects that she may be experiencing a mental health crisis, stating, “She was diagnosed with late-onset bipolar disorder with a bit of schizophrenia.”
Texas EquuSearch, a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding missing persons, is actively involved in the search. Founder Tim Miller stressed the urgency of the situation, saying, “Time’s not on our side. She’s a young girl who was walking late at night, not knowing the area. We just want to get her home safe.”
Sydney is described as being 5 feet 4 inches tall, approximately 120 pounds, with short reddish-brown hair, brown eyes, and wears glasses. She has a distinctive four-leaf clover tattoo on her left wrist. Reports suggest she may have boarded the bus with two men who allegedly stopped her from using a phone offered to her at the bus stop.
In a heartfelt message to his daughter, Raul Marquez said, “Sydney, you need to come home now. We miss you. We love you. Christmas is around the corner.”
Anyone with information regarding Sydney Marquez’s whereabouts is urged to contact the Houston Police Department at (832) 394-1840 or Texas EquuSearch at (281) 309-9500. The family and authorities are counting on the public’s help to bring Sydney home safely.
