A Florida woman who went missing four months ago in Los Angeles could be a victim of human trafficking, according to police.
Leah Rose Altmann, 27, was last seen leaving her Los Angeles apartment on Aug. 28. She only took a small backpack and left behind most of her possessions.
It wasn’t uncommon for her to travel and leave things behind, but this was different.
It’s been the first time she hasn’t contacted her family for so long. She didn’t even check in for her November birthday, which, her family said, was out of character. She also left behind her makeup—another unusual move for her.
Leah ’s mother, Lynda Santamaria, lives in Royal Palm Beach, Florida, and has been very worried.
“I have two children and each have half my heart,” she said. “I literally feel like I’ve been functioning with half a heart.”
The sheriff’s office didn’t specify why it believes Leah could have been trafficked.
But the prospect unnerved her father Paul Altmann.
Still, it’s hard for him to believe that’s all there is to Leah’s disappearance.
“I want to believe that she’s okay and that she voluntarily went off the grid,” he said. “But when my eyes close at night, that’s not what I see. I think about the bad things that may have happened to her.”
“There are so many explanations,” he said. “Could it be drugs, alcohol, mental illness? Sure. Could she have been kidnapped? Yes. She’s this little girl, and I think about what could have happened to her. But we are holding out hope.”
Leah has done audio-visual and stagehand work in Los Angeles. She went through some personal issues that estranged her from her family, but the relationship has improved over the past year, her mother said.
Both the sheriff’s office and the Los Angeles Police Department have put out missing person posts, asking the public to help find Leah.
