Cristina Ase was 62 years old when she went missing from Vancouver, Washington on March 26, 2024. She has never been found.
Cristina was born in Argentina on April 26, 1962. While she lived in Argentina, she worked as a biochemist. Cristina moved to the United States in the mid 2000’s, in search of a more comfortable lifestyle.
When she arrived, she obtained work as a cook at a nursing facility. Her co-worker Amy Schauer said “She then was offered a job to do medical records,” Amy said. “While she was doing that, she completed her RN and BSN.” According to Amy, Cristina then got a doctor of medical science (DMS) degree.
“She knew no English when she came here — and she taught it all to herself,” another coworker, Nicole Oquist said. “She’s a pretty extraordinary woman.”
Amy described Cristina as the “true epitome of a nurse,” citing her above-and-beyond commitment to her patients and the staff. “She gave her whole life to helping others,” she said. “She never put herself above anybody. She went out — she took care of our residents like — like it was a family member.”
At some point, Cristina married a man named Anibal Diaz. I can’t find any public record of their wedding date, but from media reports, it seems like they were married in Argentina, prior to their US move. They were reportedly still together at the time of her disappearance. They had no children together. Anibal had two sons from a previous relationship.
Cristina was reported to be very close to her sisters back home and would call them every day.
In March 2024, Cristina was employed as the nursing director at the Rose Linn Care Center in West Linn, Oregon. Her workplace was around 35-40 mins drive from her home in Vancouver.
The Rose Linn community proudly offers a continuum of care. As your loved one’s needs change, we are here to support them. Rose Linn Vintage Place offers memory care and residential care services. Rose Linn Care Center offers extended and skilled (24-hour) nursing care. In both settings, residents feel at home. Our staff believe that caring for your loved one requires not just an understanding of symptoms, but an understanding of people.
Cristina disappeared in late March but there were some weird incidents in the weeks and months prior. On both February 27 and March 1, Cristina messaged her boss and said she would be late for work. Both of these texts were sent around 20 minutes after she left her home for the day. On March 5, 2024, she called her boss at 7.30am to tell him that she would be late for work as she had a scheduled mammogram. After her disappearance, it was discovered that she did have an appointment on that day, but it was not until 4.30pm.
Cristina arrived at work as per usual on Monday March 25, 2024.
“[Cristina] came in her happy, chipper self,” Nicole said. “Came into her office like she did every morning, got her cup of coffee, had her lunch with us like she always did.”
Amy and Nicole both said Cristina was excited to come in the next day to attend a training day with several other staff members. “She kept saying, ‘Don’t forget, the training’s tomorrow,’” Amy recalled. “‘You need to be there, Amy. I want you to be there.’”
On Tuesday March 26, 2024, Cristina texted Amy and Nicole’s mother (who also worked at the Rose Linn Care Center) at 6.34am. She told them she would not be in until 8.30am, which was an hour after her scheduled start time. She did not give a reason why.
Amy and Nicole thought it was “weird” that Cristina only texted their mother instead of the three of them at once. “She knew, like, if she was gonna be late, we’d worry if she wasn’t there,” Amy said.
8.30am came and went and there was no sign of Cristina. “Everybody started calling and texting her ‘cause we all knew something wasn’t right,” Nicole said. “She wouldn’t just not come in.”
According to kptv.com, Cristina had not missed a day of work in 15 years.
Amy requested that Cristina’s boss call her husband, Anibal. He was listed as her emergency contact. When he was contacted, he told her colleagues that he had no idea why Cristina would have been starting work later that day.
“At that very moment, we knew we were right,” Amy said. “Something was very wrong.”
Anibal reported her missing that day. This is part of a statement made by the Vancouver PD:
On March 26, Cristina Ase, a Vancouver woman, was reported missing to the Vancouver Police Department by her husband. Coworkers of Cristina also called police when she did not show up to work earlier that morning. Cristina was last heard from at about 5:30 a.m. on March 26.
On Wednesday March 27, 2024, Cristina’s dark gray 2013 Toyota Rav4 with the Washington license plate number AQT1726 was found abandoned. Her lunch bag was found in the car, along with a roll of duct tape. The rear view mirror was said to be ‘ askew.’
This information about the vehicle is from Reddit:
Only a day later, her car was found, parked by her apartment with a powdery residue coating several surfaces inside it– surmised by authorities to be some sort of cleaning agent. Utilizing her mobile pings, authorities were able to track her movements the day she disappeared, and they narrowed things down to a small area surrounding Glenwood Park in SE Portland. Her location bounced between several homes in a mostly residential neighborhood, before cutting out at the intersection between SE Flavel Street and SE 92nd Avenue.
The intersection between Flavel and 92nd is one of relatively ill repute. It is the location of a large and sprawling encampment, and is in the Johnson Creek floodplain, which is unfortunately a hotbed for crime and drug use. It is located right next to I-205, a major highway which runs through the entirety of east-central Portland. The corridors around 205 are also considered some of the more crime-ridden areas in the city– including the Gateway Transit Center, 82nd Avenue, and the neighborhoods of Lents and Centennial.
As we previously mentioned, Cristina had messaged her boss multiple times prior to her disappearance to say that she was running late. These messages were sent around 20 minutes after she left her home, and that would put her location right near Glenwood Park at those times.
Some more info from Reddit about her phone use:
Cristina’s phone showed that she left her home at 6:34 AM and travelled southbound on Interstate 205 into Portland. At 6:47AM, Cristina took the Southeast Foster Road exit and drove a few blocks through residential neighborhoods. After that, her phone showed that she spent about three hours in Glenwood Park. Phone data showed that during that time Cristina was moving between the park and one or more homes close by. At around 10 AM, the phone moved to the intersection of Southeast Flavel and 92nd Avenue, where it pinged for about five minutes, and was then turned off.
According to the Charley Project, Cristina’s phone has remained turned off. It does not appear that her phone has ever been recovered.
Coworkers and friends started the search for Cristina. Authorities used boats and “They [have also put up] hundreds, if not thousands, of flyers,” Nicole said.
Amy enquired with an advertising company about getting a billboard for Cristina. She was told it would be $13,000 per billboard which the search effort could not afford. Lamar Advertising ended up donating seven billboards during the search, for free.
Shortly after her disappearance, the investigators shared a plea to anyone who lived in a quarter mile radius of following locations to check any home security systems they had for any recordings of Cristina or her car between 4 p.m. Monday, March 25 and 5 p.m. Wednesday, March 27. The locations were:
501 SE 123rd Ave, Vancouver WA (Her home)
Glenwood Park – 8800 block of SE Claybourne Street, Portland OR
Flavel Street & SE 92nd Ave, Portland OR
Anibal told authorities that Cristina did not access their joint bank account after she disappeared.
He also said that Cristina had her medical appointments at Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center, which is about 3.3 miles (5 km) away from Glenwood Park.
Weeks after Cristina disappeared, Anibal moved back to Argentina. Police spoke with him after Cristina vanished but have not disclosed whether or not they believe him to be involved. Nicole and Amy have said they still check in with Anibal around once a month. They say he is devastated by her absence. “He said that it was just too much for him here, and he couldn’t stay here or in that apartment without Cristina,” Amy said.
Amy said that she and Nicole also check in with Cristina’s sisters regularly. Nobody in the family has heard from her.
In April 2024, police said they believe there’s probable cause to believe that Cristina’s disappearance is “related to a serious crime or imminently dangerous medical emergency.”
“We’re never gonna give up. We’re gonna always find a way to look for her. She deserves answers. [And] justice — if it’s needed,” Nicole said. “We just need one person to have the courage to come forward and say what they know. ‘Cause somebody knows something.”
“She kept us all in line; when everyone was stressed out, she would tell us not to worry,” Amy said. “We don’t have the glue anymore. The building is still running, it just isn’t the same. We all come in and do our jobs the same way, but it definitely has changed.”
Cristina is 5’8” with gray/brown hair. She weighs approximately 150 pounds. It is unknown what she was last seen wearing, but she may have been carrying a black purse with white stitching.
SOURCE LIST
https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/cristina-ase
