Florida woman celebrating her 36th birthday in Costa Rica vanishes from her Airbnb om her last day – Carla Stefaniak’s family fear she has been kidnapped after texting that the power was going out and ‘It’s pretty sketchy here’
‘Uber driver, Airbnb host and security guards all claim they saw Carla Stefaniak leaving the Airbnb with her luggage around 5am and getting into an unknown car, although she had booked her Uber ride for 8 am, and her flight was not until that afternoon with the airport was only 30 minutes away’ – Now she’s vanished. It’s not adding up’
Miami woman who went on vacation to Costa Rica to celebrate her 36th birthday vanishes from her Airbnb, hours after sending a text message to her family back in Florida
Carla Stefaniak went to Costa Rica with her sister-in-law, April Burton, to celebrate her 36th birthday
The birthday girl dropped Burton off at the airport to board a flight home the day before, on Nov 27, Carla was expected to follow the next day
Carla never showed up to her 1pm flight the next day, Nov 28,- now her family fear she has been kidnapped
April said Carla texted her around 8pm that the power was out in her Airbnb and it was ‘pretty sketchy’ – that was the last she heard from her
The Stefaniak family think Carla was kidnapped and have traveled to Costa Rica
An Uber driver, Airbnb host and guards all say she was last seen getting into an unknown car with her luggage at 5am the morning of the flight
The family believes the stories do not match up
Carla Stefaniak [photo], never showed up to her 1pm flight home on Nov 28, the day after her last text to her family
A Florida woman celebrating her 36th birthday in Costa Rica has vanished after texting her family that the Airbnb she was staying in was ‘pretty sketchy’.
Carla Stefaniak traveled to Costa Rica with her sister-in-law April Burton last week and was due to fly home to Hallandale Beach alone Wednesday, the day after she dropped April off at the airport.
Carla checked into her 1pm flight, but never showed up to the airport the next morning, November 28.
Her family and friends say they have not heard from her since Tuesday at 8pm when she texted her sister-in-law from the Airbnb to say it was raining and the power was going out – a scene she described as ‘sketchy’.
Now her family are on the ground in Costa Rica, working with local authorities and questioning any witnesses as they believe Carla has been kidnapped.
Missing: Carla Stefaniak went to Costa Rica with her sister-in-law to celebrate birthday and has been missing since Nov 27. Her family believe she has been kidnapped
Carla’s sister-in-law April Burton [left], and the missing woman pose for a beach photograph while together in Costa Rica. She took a flight home the day before Carla [right], and they were last texting around 8pm that night, Nov 27
A spokesperson for the family said Carla, who works at a Miami insurance agency, dropped her sister-in-law off at the airport in San Jose on November 27 and returned the rental car.
She then took an Uber to an Airbnb about 30 minutes from the airport. It was the same Uber that drove Carla sightseeing and shopping for the afternoon.
Carla seen [photo], enjoying her vacation days before her disappearance was last seen online around 9pm on Nov, 27, the night before her flight back to Florida. Carla never showed up to her 1pm flight the next day, November 28
The family believes that Carla, seen here with her mother and two brothers, has been kidnapped. They have traveled to Costa Rica to help local authorities with the investigation
Carla’s brother Mario Caicedo, who is married to her travel companion, April Burton, has flown to Costa Rica where he’s been working with law enforcement agency Organismo de Investigation Judicial to find his sister.
‘She never got back online to check all these birthday wishes,’ he said.
‘This is one more thing telling us that she was abducted.’
An Uber driver, Airbnb host and guards all say Carla, seen [photo] at the airport heading to Costa Rica, was last seen getting into an unknown car with her luggage at 5am the morning of her home bound flight from her vacation., but her family say the stories ‘don’t add up’
‘The Uber driver arrived around 8am to pick up Stefaniak but could not find her,’ Gardner said.
‘However, her family says the story does not make sense since her flight was not until that afternoon and the airport was only 30 minutes away.’
However, to their consternation, according to the family’s Facebook page, Finding Carla, local officials “will not pursue the matter” because Stefaniak appeared “rational at the time of her disappearance and got into a taxi of her own free will”.
Her family said “We know she was abducted. There’s no reason for her not to contact anyone.”
According to NBC News, Carla had a FaceTime call with a friend and mentioned that she might ask a security guard at the Airbnb to buy her water because of the storm.
She was last seen online on WhatsApp at 8.20pm before her phone died at 9pm. She has not been online or posted since.
Carla moved to Tampa from Venezuela in 2000 and then settled in Miami in 2012.
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