Monday, August 16th 2021, 4:16 pm
Police found a body near an apartment complex Monday in northwest Oklahoma City. Family and friends believe it may be Haylie Gonzalez, who has been missing for over a month.
Police were on the scene for several hours, searching the wooded area behind the apartment building.
However, investigators have still not identified the body as Gonzalez.
"She meant the world to me," Gonzalez' mother Yvonne Turner said. "That was my daughter."
Police got to the scene around 8 a.m. as they set up a perimeter near NW 16th and Rockwell. They've been searching for 17-year-old Gonzalez for several weeks.
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Turner said she received a call from one of the detectives Monday morning.
"We believe that we found her," Turner said. "We believe that we might have found Haylie."
Gonzalez was last seen on July 4 at a party at Eduardo Bonilla-Lopez's home. Records show that night Bonilla-Lopez FaceTimed a friend asking for help dumping a body, while Gonzalez was seen in the background bleeding from the head.
He was arrested on a murder complaint, along with his father and sister who were accused of helping cover up the crime.
Since Gonzalez's disappearance, some have volunteered to help look for her throughout the city.
"We've been working with the detectives, with the family and like I said I wasn't going to stop until we find her," Adriana Mendoza said, who helped with the search.
Detectives haven't said who alerted them to the body, but the area is only about a mile from where Haylie reportedly went missing.
Family said it's been an overwhelming wait.
"A sense of relief, and at the same time sadness because I know she's not coming home," Turner said.
Police are now waiting for the medical examiner to identify the remains. Turner said if it is Gonzalez, they plan to bury her in Texas where they're from.
August 16th, 2021
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