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The young mother of a 4-year-old boy has been missing for nearly two weeks. Claudia Reyes, 21, has been missing for almost two weeks ago, according to ABC 7. She was last seen on May 6 in the company of her husband by the landlord at the couple's apartment at 2015 N. Bush Street in Santa Ana. Her husband, Eddy Reyes, said he spoke to her on the phone May 7 at about 10:45 p.m., when she told him she was going out with some friends.
Reyes works at an El Pollo Loco restaurant in Garden Grove, and did not show up for work on May 7, according to NBC Los Angeles. Eddy Reyes reported her missing on May 11. She has not contacted anyone since telling her husband she was going out, and was last active on social media on May 6.
The couple has a 4-year-old son, currently staying with Eddy. Reyes' family in Guatemala say it's unlike her to not contact them regularly, and her co-workers say she doesn't often miss work.
A building manager at the couple's apartment says that Eddy Reyes and a few of his friends moved everything out of the apartment on Sunday. Eddy Reyes is not at this point being considered a suspect in his wife's disappearance by police.
The couple's relationship has been troubled in the past. Authorities have gone to the their home a total of nine times on disturbance calls, though no one has ever been arrested, the OC Register reports. Claudia has, in the past, filed both domestic violence complaints and for a restraining order against her husband. However, Eddy was never charged and there is no restraining order in place at this time.
Eddy Reyes has hired a lawyer, Marlin Stapleton. He told the OC Register his client and Claudia had recently been in the process of a divorce, but had ultimately reconciled.
Stapleton said that while Eddy's actions may appear suspicious—waiting multiple days to report his wife missing, and moving them out of their apartment—"it can be very easily explained."
Stapleton says that Claudia had also disappeared in March, prompting Eddy to file a missing persons report with police in Orange. However, Claudia turned back up in less than a day. This time, Stapleton said a family attorney advised Eddy not to take action so soon. Stapleton also stated that the couple's lease was up and they were already planning to move, "so it's another suspicious circumstance that's not suspicious at all once you look at the facts."
Claudia Reyes is 5 feet, 5 inches tall and 160 pounds with brown hair and dark eyes. Anyone with information should contact the Santa Ana Police Department at 714-245-8700.
