Ashley Rosales is a woman missing from Belen. She was last seen by her sister Amity when they had an argument and Ashley stormed away on September 9, 2017. Someone else allegedly saw her on September 16. But she has been missing since.
Ashley is half Hispanic, half Native American. She was 29 when she went missing and would be 36 today. Per the Charley Project:
- 5’2, 140 – 150 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description: A sheer white or cream-colored shirt over a red or orange undershirt, and dark blue or black leggings.
- Distinguishing Characteristics: Biracial (Hispanic/Native American) female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Rosales is of Navajo Indian descent. She has a circular scar on her back, and the following tattoos: her name “Ashley Rosales” and a Playboy bunny on the center of her back, a woman holding a dragon on her hip, the astrological sign for Cancer on her left hand, another Cancer sign on her foot, and a rose on her right calf. Her upper lip is pierced and she has several ear piercings.
At the time Ashley went missing, she was in the process of getting her life back together. She was living with her sister Amity after her home in Jarales, NM, burned down, which is thought to be an arson committed by her abusive ex-boyfriend. Her two kids lived with her paternal aunt, but she had a court date to get them back. She planned to attend cosmetology school to make a living doing what she loved, makeup and fancy French braid hair designs. Though she struggled with substances, she was doing her best to recover from a sad childhood, where her mother was murdered and she and her sister were adopted by an aunt.
Then she disappeared in September, never making it to her custody hearing or cosmetology school. She has never been heard from again. It isn’t like her to abandon her family that way. Many people, including members of her family, think that she did not leave Belen willingly.
Her sister Amity last saw her on the 9th after an argument. But someone else (it is not clear who) saw her on September 16 after she was discharged from Presbyterian Hospital for unknown reasons. Her niece, Megan Armijo, did not report her missing until January 30, 2018.
Per the report, Megan Armijo said that Ashley’s sister Amity had told her a sickening rumor. Amity said that Ashley and a woman named Kelly Ortega had been taken to Oklahoma. There, they were sold as sex slaves by Kelly’s cousin, Corey Ortega. The women were held in a house and raped. Ashley was killed, but Kelly escaped and made it back to Belen. Armijo reported this to Oklahoma police, who investigated the family and the house where the women were supposedly held and found nothing out of the ordinary.
Megan Armijo’s sister, Mariah Saucedo, also confirmed parts of the story. She said that Ashley caused a domestic disturbance at her boyfriend’s home in Tome, near Belen, in September. She then fled to Eric, OK, in the middle of nowhere, with her friend Kelly. Kelly hated the job, which was sex work, and returned to New Mexico. Ashley stayed, where she was raped and beaten. Saucedo had not heard Ashley was murdered.
Police attempted to talk to the Ortegas. When they showed up at their house, however, they found another man there, Vidal Ortega, who is Corey’s cousin. Vidal Ortega’s name might ring a bell if you read my post on Kenneth Bolagh. He was the one who supposedly killed Bolagh due to thinking Bolagh was a rat. Ortega said Ashley was in Oklahoma and didn’t want to return home, suggesting that there was at lest a kernel of truth to this awful rumor.
Ashley Rosales’s case is weirdly connected to Kenneth Bolagh’s. You see, they both associated with Vidal. When Bolagh called his mom and said he was lost with a head injury, he mentioned he had been abducted by certain people, whom he mentioned by name. He said those people were the same ones who took Ashley.
Eric, OK, is in the middle of nowhere. It seems really weird that Ashley would relocate there for a job. Given that Eric is near I35, however, it makes sense she may have been held there as part of a trafficking operation. Since she was trying so hard to get her kids back and go to school, it seems especially odd that she went there willingly for a job. Was she abducted and forced there against her will? Was she trick into going there, thinking she was going to make some great money to help support her kids?
Ashley Rosales has now been gone for seven years. She may or may not be alive, but either way, she has been through some terrible things that she did not deserve. I think Vidal, Kelly, and Corey need to be investigated more thoroughly. It seems odd that Amity knows so much too, and Amity had an argument with Ashley just before she vanished. I’m not saying any of these people are definitely guilty, just that they seem to know more than they are saying.
Ashley Rosales has two kids and a family that miss her dearly. If you go on the Facebook page her family created for her case, you will see her family members and friends expressing how much they love and miss her. According to that page, Ashley is funny, stylish, and beautiful. She has been a source of inspiration and encouragement to her family members.
If you know anything, please call Crime Stoppers at 505–843–STOP. Let’s bring Ashley Rosales home.