In 2013, She Planned To Visit Friends In New Jersey But Never Arrived, So She Was Reported Missing By Her Estranged Husband
In 2013, 31-year-old Melissa Ortiz-Rodriguez was still married to her husband, Jose, and they had two daughters together. However, the pair were separated at the time, living in a home located on Lafayette Avenue in Collingdale, Pennsylvania.
On February 25, 2013, authorities were also contacted in response to a domestic dispute at their home. Melissa reportedly tried to leave her husband, and he allegedly became enraged – tossing bags of their clothes onto their front lawn. Then, she filed for a protection-from-abuse order – which was denied pending a hearing.
Melissa ultimately withdrew the application about two weeks later, before the hearing, and reportedly told her friends that Jose had been treating her better.
Still, according to Melissa’s loved ones, she was trying to get a divorce from her husband after finding out he had another family in New Jersey. She wanted to move on from her marriage and reportedly entered her own romantic relationship with a different man in Morris Plains, New Jersey.
Yet, on April 19, 2013, she mysteriously disappeared. That day, she was last seen by her husband at their house. Afterward, she allegedly dropped their daughters off at school. Then, she supposedly took a train to Newark, New Jersey, and had plans to visit her friends for a weekend.
Melissa never arrived at her friend’s home, though, and was never seen or heard from again.
She was supposed to start a new job on April 22, 2013. However, she failed to arrive for her shift. Melissa also did not pick her children up from school that day.
So, on April 23, 2013, her husband, Jose, contacted the Colingdale Police Department and reported her missing.
When initially speaking with authorities, Jose claimed that Melissa had been getting their daughters ready for school on April 19 when he left and headed to work sometime between 8:00 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. But, according to his cell phone records, Jose was still in the Collingdale area from 12:00 p.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Facebook – pictured above is Melissa
Later, Jose reportedly changed the timeline of events – claiming that he’d watched Melissa and their children leave the house that morning before he left for work. He also stated that he and Melissa spoke on the phone on multiple occasions over the weekend – even though phone records show no calls between the two of them.
Additionally, a witness claimed to have seen Jose signing out two mop-heads, as well as a one-gallon container of interior cleaner, from the Amtrak facility he worked at in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on April 21, 2013. At the time, he was reportedly driving his pickup truck with an unidentified passenger in the car.
However, Jose was not named a suspect in Melissa’s case. He reportedly stopped cooperating with the investigation as well and ultimately moved to New Jersey with his two daughters, where they lived with his girlfriend and infant son.
After moving to New Jersey, Jose pleaded guilty to mail fraud in 2022. He reportedly stole over $76,000 worth of chain saws from Amtrak – where he was employed as a senior engineer – and sold them online. Jose received a sentence of 18 months in federal prison.
Prior to her disappearance, Melissa left her car at home since she planned to travel via public transportation to New Jersey.
Her phone has also been turned off since April 19, and she did not have a credit card at the time she vanished.
While foul play is suspected in her case, the exact circumstances surrounding her disappearance are unclear, and she remains missing.
At the time she vanished, Melissa was five foot five, weighed 130 pounds, and had brown hair and brown eyes. According to Jose, she was last seen wearing a yellow flowered dress and glasses.
If you have any information regarding her disappearance, you are urged to contact the Collingdale Police Department at (610) 586-0502.
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