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Julie Ann Gonzalez was a 21-year-old medical assistant from Austin, Texas, who went missing on March 26, 2010. She seemingly disappeared into thin air after she dropped her daughter, Layla, at her estranged husband, George DeLaCruz's, home.
According to Oxygen, although her family tried to report Julie Ann missing to the Austin Police Department, they were told that since she was an adult, she was able to leave on her own. Due to this, the police didn't feel there was much they could do.
However, they did look into the disappearance, and while they didn't find any clues initially, a deeper investigation revealed several clues. These included fake social media posts, financial activity, and digital evidence.
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The police also noticed that George DeLaCruz's statements and actions were contradictory. They used his digital records and banking activity to piece together a case for Julie Ann Gonzalez's homicide, as they began suspecting that she wasn't a missing person anymore.
An episode of 48 Hours, titled Missing Piece, took a look at Julie Ann Gonzalez's disappearance. The episode focused on how the police determined that she had been killed by her estranged husband and how there are parts of her story that are still missing.
5 key details about Julie Ann Gonzalez's disappearance
1) Social media activity proved to be fake after the disappearance
The Austin Police Department's investigation revealed that Julie Ann had been making posts on MySpace, indicating wanting to go away for some time. However, a deeper look into the posts suggested that they were made at the same IP address that George DeLaCruz used.
CBS News reported that George allegedly made the posts in an attempt to mislead police and Julie Ann's family.
2) Julie Ann Gonzalez's car was abandoned in a public parking lot
As investigators looked into Julie Ann's disappearance, they found her abandoned car in the parking lot of a Walgreens, which was close to her place of work. The Charley Project reported that while there was some CCTV footage from the parking lot, it didn't show who left the gold Chevy Impala there.
Investigators didn't find the car keys inside it, and neither did they see any signs of forced entry. This led to the speculation that the car was left in the parking lot intentionally, as the killer wanted to misdirect the investigators.
3) Julie Ann Gonzalez's debit card was used several days after her disappearance
According to Bite-Sized Crime, Julie's debit card was used about two weeks after her disappearance. CCTV footage from Walmart showed George De La Cruz purchasing children's items and a movie with that card.
However, Julie was nowhere to be seen in the footage, and this fact was presented in the trial to show George trying to control her financial resources.
4) Forensic investigation found burned evidence in the backyard
According to CBS Austin, investigators found a burn pit behind George's house that contained charred clothing items, a purple shoelace, and metal fragments.
They also discovered that the pit had been dug under a shed. While no human remains were found in the burn pit, the clothes and shoelace were enough to be used as evidence in court.
5) Abnormalities in phone location data and Xbox use
Investigators tracked Julie Ann's mobile phone location and found that it was consistently in the vicinity of George's home on the night of March 26 and March 27. However, they were suspicious of this as she was known to avoid the area.
They also discovered that George's Xbox was turned off for an entire day, which raised suspicions as he was known to play games all day long.
While George DeLaCruz was found guilty of killing his estranged wife and sentenced to life in prison, Julie Ann's family has yet to receive closure. The investigators were unable to find Julie Ann Gonzalez's body, which, according to 48 Hours, is still a topic of discussion.
The 48 Hours episode Missing Piece featured the case, it is currently not widely available on most streaming platforms. It may occasionally re-air on Investigation Discovery (ID) or be found on CBS’s platforms, depending on licensing rotation.
