The Texas Missing Podcast
Two best friends who are previous law enforcement officers seek to highlight active missing person cases in Texas.
Contact kate@thetexasmissing.org for case recommendations.
The Texas Missing Podcast
07 Part 1: Elisa Roberson
On August 6th 1989 a thirteen year old girl left her home to meet a friend at a local school in Aransas Pass, TX. Unfortunately, she was never seen again. 34 years later and her family is still fighting for answers. This is the story of Elisa Roberson.
If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Elisa Roberson please contact Tri-County Crime Stoppers at 800-245-8477.
Special thank you to Ruby Roberson Hall for the countless hours of communication and contributions to this episode.
As always make sure and follow The Texas Missing Podcast on instagram, facebook, Tik Tok and threads @thetexasmissing
References:
https://www.caller.com/picture-gallery/news/2018/10/31/elisa-roberson/1739661002/
https://www.kristv.com/homepage-showcase/aransas-pass-girl-still-missing-after-32-years
https://www.kiiitv.com/article/news/local/3news-special-report-cold-case-elisa-roberson/503-487841158
https://police.aptx.gov/missing-child-elisa-roberson/
https://www.instagram.com/thetexasmissing/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550699270048
https://www.threads.net/@thetexasmissing
Hey y'all, it's Kate and welcome to the 7th episode of the Texas Missing Podcast. I hope that everyone enjoyed their holidays. I do know we've been gone for a little bit. We had a very much needed break, but I promise I have been working on something. Around mid-November we received a message on our podcast Facebook page from a person named Ruby Roberson-Hall and it stated Hello, my 13 year old sister disappeared 34 years ago, on August 6th 1989, from Aransas PT. Would you be willing to tell her story?
Speaker 1:I immediately did a pretty basic Google search of the case and her sister's photo was one of the first things to pop up and I was immediately just kind of taken back and I began reading over the case and I just knew that I really wanted to help Ruby tell her sister's story. I was able to speak to Ruby over the phone and we had such a great conversation. She's so open and honest and she's truly doing everything she can to advocate for her sister, even after 34 years. After our initial conversation I began to really dive into the case and I quickly realized that there was so much more to this case than meets the eye. At surface level, it seems like a cut and dry case, but there are many layers, which is why I decided to make two separate parts to ensure I can cover all the main points. So, with that being said, this is the story of Blanca Elisa Roberson, and I do want to note that for the remainder of this episode and the next episode, that we will be referring to her as Elisa, as that is what her family and her friends called her.
Speaker 1:So Elisa Roberson was born on January 12, 1976 in Bluefields, nicaragua, to her mother, marina Quintana. Now, unfortunately, this was during the Nicaraguan Revolution, so an incredible amount of violence, just a lack of resources, and women were being targeted for kidnapping and other unspeakable crimes. But a short time later, marina met a man named Eugene Roberson, a fisherman from Texas who was in Nicaragua at the time, and, in short, they fell in love and Eugene was able to move both Marina and Elisa to Texas, where they settled in Aranda's past. Eugene and Marina then married and Eugene happily adopted Elisa as his own. Marina and Eugene went on to have two more children, ruby and Tony.
Speaker 1:Now Aranda's past is in South Texas. It's located about 18 miles from Corpus Christi and was originally settled as a fishing village Around 1989, the population was approximately 7,500 or so. So what's interesting about Aranda's past is, although it is a small town, it has a high crime rate, which is directly linked to gang activity, which we will talk about later. Aranda's past is actually included in the most recent gang threat assessment that is put out by DPS. So, unfortunately, after a few years, marina and Eugene did file for divorce.
Speaker 1:Ruby described her dad as a really good man that never abused or hurt her mom or siblings, but kind of always seemed to find himself in trouble. Eugene ended up going to prison after a large bar altercation and he didn't want Marina having to wait for him on the outside, so they ended up separating. Now, around the time that Elisa turned six, marina met a man named Ralph Gonzalez, who she would have a tumultuous relationship with for the next seven years and would subsequently end in 1989, just months before Elisa disappeared but we will go more in depth with him later. Ralph and Marina also did have one child together, named Alex. So on August 6th of 1989, just a couple weeks before the start of the school year, elisa had asked her mom if she could go meet her friend Debbie Green. Debbie was a longtime family friend and Marina knew her family well, especially her father, bob, who she had previously rented property from. Now, because of the time, marina was a bit wary because it was getting late. So Elisa and Debbie decided that they would meet halfway at Keyburger Elementary, which was only a three block walk for Elisa, and then they would both walk to Debbie's house together and that was only about eight blocks and later that night Debbie's father would then drive Elisa home, which was not uncommon as Bob had driven the kids back and forth on multiple occasions. Marina agreed and Elisa took off on foot down her driveway.
Speaker 1:But what Marina thought was a routine plan shifted into a nightmare. Hours later, elisa was last seen at the corner of Whitney Street and Good Night Avenue, where she stopped and talked to neighbors that she had known for years. Those neighbors last saw her walking towards Keyburger Elementary School, which was just a couple streets up Now Whitney Street and Good Night Avenue. Ruby really wanted me to drive home that this is the specific location that Elisa was last seen, as there are numerous reports that have this location wrong. So she really wanted me to drive home the fact that the last place that Elisa was seen was this corner, so Whitney Street and Good Night Avenue, which, like I said, was just a couple streets away from Keyburger Elementary School.
Speaker 1:So when Debbie arrived at Keyburger Elementary School and realized that Ruby was not there, she went home and called Elisa's mother, marina, to let her know. In talking to Ruby she mentioned that her mother did speak English, but Spanish was still her first language and English was still difficult for her. So when Debbie called, ruby was at home, so Marina had handed the phone to Ruby. At first Ruby said that both her and her mother weren't too concerned because Elisa had a ton of friends in the neighborhood. So when Debbie told them that Elisa didn't meet her at the school, they assumed that maybe she had gotten caught up talking to another friend close by Now. At some point, within maybe an hour or so, debbie's father called Marina and told them that he had just gotten home and would go out and search for Elisa Around this time Ruby said that they began to panic a little bit.
Speaker 1:Ruby said she started to call friends around the neighborhood to see if they were with Elisa or had seen Elisa. While this is happening, bob, debbie and Debbie's friend pull up in Bob's truck without Elisa. Bob says they couldn't find her, but something they do have is ice cream. While they went out searching for Elisa, they had stopped and picked up ice cream cones and had brought one back for Elisa. Ruby told me how weird she thought that was at the time. Even for her age, she remembers just being taken aback by the odd timing of it. But at this point Ruby says that the police are called.
Speaker 1:Ruby shared the police report and it's the only one that she has, and the only information on this police report is the statement which Ruby says is her statement to police because she is the one who called police, and it says my sister hasn't come home yet and my mom wants a policeman to come over. And according to the report, it is time stamped at 9.49pm. So based on a couple of different time frames given between around 4 and 6pm, at this point Elisa has been missing possibly between 4 and 6 hours. I asked Ruby once she called the police what type of response occurred and I couldn't help but be disappointed in her answer. Ruby said that a police officer made contact at their residence but that he didn't seem to concern that Elisa was missing, and Ruby believes that the officer told her mother that Elisa was most likely just over at another friend's house and kind of seemed to brush it off. The report was taken and the officer left that night with no other investigation being conducted.
Speaker 1:Now I do want to drive home the fact that not only was Elisa just 13, but she was not a problem child. She was not a regular runaway, or was she the type that disappeared from her family for hours at a time without any communication. This was uncommon behavior for Elisa. This was not something that Elisa did. That alone should have been a red flag and that should have pressed the officer for further investigation. But instead the family was left to sit in their home and wait.
Speaker 1:Ruby described Elisa as her protector. They were really close, as they were only about a year and a half apart from one another. She said Elisa was the funny sibling, always laughing and joking around. Ruby said she truly looked up to Elisa as her big sister. They even shared a room together so they were always kind of in each other's space. You could hear how she talked about her, just how much she admired her. So in that instance, that person that Ruby looked for the most in that series situation her big sister she didn't have and I just remember Ruby. Just you could hear it in her voice, describing how just horrific that night was being alone in that house without Elisa.
Speaker 1:So the following morning, when Ruby awoke and realized Elisa didn't come home, her siblings and her mother went down to Aransas Pass police station. There they met with Lieutenant Linda Thompson who, with the help of her husband, captain Mike Thompson, headed the investigation from the beginning. Unfortunately, they may have started behind the eight ball, as neither had been notified of Elise's disappearance until the following day, and that is something that still haunts both of them. You know, often detectives have that one case that stays with them, that kind of wraps them up whole, the one that sticks to their bones. Well, this is that case, for Linda Ruby explained that because the Thompson's weren't notified until the following day of Elise's disappearance that they quickly scrambled to begin investigating to make up for the lost time.
Speaker 1:At this point Elise was missing for approximately 14 to 16 hours if we use those initial time frames, with the assumption that they arrived at the police station around 8 am, which that's a large amount of time. Think about what you can do in that amount of time. For instance, the drive from Aransas Pass to Denver, colorado, is just shy of 15 hours, and I think that really puts it into perspective how important it is that information is disseminated quickly and efficiently, especially in cases of missing children. But although they were starting behind the eight ball, lieutenant Thompson quickly initiated an investigation that started with bringing in a tracking canine, who was a bloodhound from Rockport Police Department, which was just north of Aransas Pass. The initial search began at the Roberson's home for the canine to obtain Elise's scent, but also for officers to search the home in Elise's belongings. It's important to note that during the search of the Roberson's home by Aransas Pass PD, there was no evidence of foul play found, but something else was. Ultimately, the bloodhound latched onto Elise's scent and was able to track her all the way to Keyburger Elementary where, unfortunately, her trail went cold.
Speaker 1:Throughout the next few weeks, the Texas Rangers joined the investigation. Marina seemed to be their first person of interest, as she was interviewed on multiple occasions and was asked to take a polygraph, to which she passed. Now, this is pretty normal, though, in a potential kidnapping, missing child investigation where the police do suspect foul play. Eugene, elise's dad, was actually in the Gulf of Mexico for work when Elise disappeared, so I think they essentially eliminated him entirely. I do want to note that immediate family are almost always examined by police first, so the fact that police looked at Marina immediately isn't a big surprise, nor is it out of the norm, and that doesn't automatically imply that police suspected Marina of being involved.
Speaker 1:Along with interviewing witnesses… persons of interest and following up on leads received through the community, lieutenant Thompson, as well as other detectives and partners from other agencies, conducted exhaustive searches of the surrounding areas and unfortunately there was no sign of Alisa. But while the police continued to follow leads, the Roberson home was anxious and perhaps fearful, but for good reason. From Marina Felt, she possibly knew the suspect who had taken her Alisa, and it was someone that had lived in her very home for several years, someone who she shared a child with her ex-boyfriend, ralph Gonzalez. Ruby explained to me that Ralph was incredibly abusive to not only Marina but the children for their entire relationship and, as Ruby stated, they were all completely and utterly terrified of him and believed that he was fully capable of hurting Alisa. Marina was convinced that Ralph had either killed Alisa or kidnapped her, and even thought he was going to sex traffic her. According to Ruby, ralph was a part of the Mexican mafia, which is an incredibly dangerous and prolific gang that is known for drug distribution. So Marina had every right to be afraid and it made sense that she would suspect it was Ralph. They had only broken up a few months prior to Alisa going missing and Ruby had said Ralph told Marina something to the effect of I'm going to do something that will always haunt you. So Marina thought that this was that moment. In fact, marina pushed Ralph so strongly as the suspect and didn't think the police were taking it seriously enough, which led to Marina doing something that she would deeply regret.
Speaker 1:The Aransas Pass Police Department began receiving anonymous letters stating Ralph as the culprit for Alisa's disappearance, and the letters were not handwritten. They were put together using cut out words from magazines and newspapers. Eventually, lieutenant Thompson figured out that Marina was the person sending in the letters when she found cut out magazines in her garbage can. Although Linda did not want to press charges, the Texas Rangers were pressuring her too. Fortunately for Marina, she had Linda on her side and no charges were filed. Ruby stated to me that her mother still regrets that decision to this day Now.
Speaker 1:Aransas Pass PD did end up looking more into Ralph after receiving the letters from Marina. But they determined that Ralph was actually locked up in a Mexico prison in May of 1989, when he had tried to bring firearms across the border. Once the PD announced this information, they scratched Ralph as a suspect. Eugene Roberson had even went down to Mexico himself and found Ralph and had determined that Ralph did not take Alisa. But in 1992, even though Ralph was supposedly not in the area at the time of Alisa's disappearance, marina was still terrified that the person that took Alisa was going to come back and take her other children, as Ralph had a large network of friends and acquaintances to which she knew were dangerous and capable of violence. So, with the help of their church, their entire family moved to Idaho.
Speaker 1:Ruby and I discussed how hard it was for the family to remain in the town and she said it was really difficult to be there and to have all those memories. Ruby said that her mom faced a lot of scrutiny too for leaving and people were asking her how could you leave when Alisa is missing? And essentially stating that it looks suspicious. Ruby mentioned it was just a lot to deal with having your sister being gone and also having your own community in a way sort of turned on you. Ironically, ruby and her family leaving Texas was not the only thing that occurred in 1992.
Speaker 1:1992 also happened to be the same year that another person of interest in Alisa's case was convicted of a crime Just 30 minutes away in St Texas for a specific crime that would raise suspicions and would lead to years of more questions than answers. That and much more will be covered next time on part two of Alisa Roberson's story. If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Alisa Roberson, please contact Tri-County Crime Stoppers at 800-245-8477. As always, make sure and follow the Texas Missing Podcast on Instagram, facebook, tiktok and Threads at the Texas Missing, and a special thank you to Ruby Roberson-Hull for the countless hours of communication and contributions to this episode. And, with that being said, I'm Kate and this is the Texas Missing Podcast.