Missing 69-year-old woman found dead in uncovered manhole in northeast Harris County, family says

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- A family is searching for answers after their loved one's body was discovered in a manhole behind their home.

Josefina Montesdeoca, 69, was reported missing from the home she shared with her daughter, Stephanie Lopez, her son-in-law, and her husband on Friday, Sept. 13.

Lopez said they searched the area of FM-1960 and Kuykendahl for her mother but came up short. She even shared her mother's location on her phone but said it appeared the phone was off.

The frantic family contacted the Harris County Sheriff's Office that day to report her missing.

Lopez said a deputy asked a few questions, gave them a case number, and left. When they did not hear anything from the missing person's unit on Saturday, she said they called and were told the unit was closed on the weekends.

Lopez said a search and rescue group wouldn't help them because they didn't want to interfere with the investigation without the sheriff's office's approval.

HCSO responded to ABC13's question about the unit being closed on the weekends by saying, "HCSO Missing Persons/Runaway Unit is on call seven days a week and after hours. In exigent circumstances, where the missing person (minor or adult) is in immediate danger, suffers from mental illness, or needs life-saving medications, on-call procedures are initiated."

Fortunately, Lopez said friends from church stepped in to search on Sunday and found her quickly.

"They're like, 'They found her! They found her!'" Lopez recalled. "'Oh my gosh. Yes, they found her!' I came running to this field. I thought she was sitting up here, not in that hole. I was never able to see her there. They didn't let me, but she was down there. They told me she was sitting like she was praying."

Lopez believes her mother was praying at the bottom of the manhole that someone found her and that she did not suffer.

She said she had been in that area yelling for her mother without knowing she was at the bottom of the hole.

Behind Lopez's home is a long, narrow greenspace. Beyond that is an apartment complex. The complex has completed buildings facing Kuykendahl, but at the back of the property is a chain-link fence that separates the apartments from an overgrown area with unfinished construction.

Apart from Lopez's home, nothing besides the brush separates the green space and the property.

The manhole that Lopez said was found uncovered is located on the apartment property.

"The guy that found her had to move (the grass) just so he could see the body," Lopez's husband said.

They are still determining why Montesdeoca was in that area. They said they did not know her to go back there.

The property is extremely overgrown, but Lopez said they found several uncovered manholes.

Since her mother's death, she said "do not enter" and "private property" signs have been posted, and they covered the manhole.

"It is ridiculous, and nobody cares until something happens," Lopez explained.

During the search for her mother, Lopez said they found what they believed to be an unfinished pool and saw a dog stranded in the bottom of it.

They rescued the dog and named it Joseph after Montesdeoca, who loved dogs.

"Even if a person falls (into the pool), they cannot jump and grab on and get out," Lopez explained.

ABC13 is actively working to learn who is responsible for maintaining the manhole.

The medical examiner's office has not ruled on Montesdeoca's cause or manner of death. Her family is told it could take months.

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