IL IL - Estefania Herrera, 18, Chicago, 18 October 2025

[Mmcgirl13]

This young lady is a student at my alma mater. She's a senior and a member of the swim team. It's been picked up by the local Chicago media, but so far they and the CPD have released very little on the circumstances of her disappearances. Facebook comments from family members have more specifics, but I'm not sure if we're allowed to discuss them here. Some articles report her as missing since Friday, but later ones seem to suggest she was last seen Saturday morning. Overall, I'm very worried for her given how long she's been missing and how little detail has been made public. I feel she'd stand a better chance of being found if her last known location and circumstances of her disappearances were being shared more widely.

Search underway for missing Mother McAuley high school student Estefania Herrera

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago police are searching for missing high school student Estefania Herrera.

Herrera, 18, was last seen on Friday. She is a senior and part of the swimming team at Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School.

She was last seen wearing a black and white checkered fleece top and blue jeans, police said. She regularly wears a red backpack and a blue one.

The 18-year-old is about 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs about 200 pounds police said.

Chicago Police Department

This is my first time posting a thread so please let me know if I inadvertently broke any rules or left anything out.

 

[GraceG]

This young lady is a student at my alma mater. She's a senior and a member of the swim team. It's been picked up by the local Chicago media, but so far they and the CPD have released very little on the circumstances of her disappearances. Facebook comments from family members have more specifics, but I'm not sure if we're allowed to discuss them here. Some articles report her as missing since Friday, but later ones seem to suggest she was last seen Saturday morning. Overall, I'm very worried for her given how long she's been missing and how little detail has been made public. I feel she'd stand a better chance of being found if her last known location and circumstances of her disappearances were being shared more widely.

Search underway for missing Mother McAuley high school student Estefania Herrera

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago police are searching for missing high school student Estefania Herrera.

Herrera, 18, was last seen on Friday. She is a senior and part of the swimming team at Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School.

She was last seen wearing a black and white checkered fleece top and blue jeans, police said. She regularly wears a red backpack and a blue one.

The 18-year-old is about 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs about 200 pounds police said.

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Chicago Police Department

This is my first time posting a thread so please let me know if I inadvertently broke any rules or left anything out.

You did great! I live in Chicago and most of the TV stations are reporting the same information. The only disparity is the Chicago Police listing shows her as being seen on the 17th, not the 18th. https://www.chicagopolice.org/news/cpd-missing-estefania-herrera-18/

I live in Chicago - there is FB info from the family on how far they were able to track her travel on the CTA (last known location) since they know what specific swim meeting she was traveling to, but it's not in mainstream media yet so I can't link, It does appear that there are concentrated efforts to drill down from that info.

 

[Mmcgirl13]

You did great! I live in Chicago and most of the TV stations are reporting the same information. The only disparity is the Chicago Police listing shows her as being seen on the 17th, not the 18th. https://www.chicagopolice.org/news/cpd-missing-estefania-herrera-18/

I live in Chicago - there is FB info from the family on how far they were able to track her travel on the CTA (last known location) since they know what specific swim meeting she was traveling to, but it's not in mainstream media yet so I can't link, It does appear that there are concentrated efforts to drill down from that info.

Thank you! Yeah, it's interesting to me that the CPD still have the 17th on their website since all the statements from family and friends on FB are saying definitively it was the morning of the 18th, and that's what the school's post says as well. I also wonder when the details about her last known wherabouts will be released by the police or added to MSM articles.

The fact that she was on her way to a swim meet makes me nervous. If she had gone somewhere of her own accord, I would think she wouldn't choose to leave at a time when she was expected somewhere. I know some people on FB were speculating she could have been mistakenly detained by ICE, but it seems like the family has been looking into that and haven't found her, and I imagine that LE would be looking into that possibility as well. Hoping that we hear good news very soon!

 

[GraceG]

Thank you! Yeah, it's interesting to me that the CPD still have the 17th on their website since all the statements from family and friends on FB are saying definitively it was the morning of the 18th, and that's what the school's post says as well. I also wonder when the details about her last known wherabouts will be released by the police or added to MSM articles.

The fact that she was on her way to a swim meet makes me nervous. If she had gone somewhere of her own accord, I would think she wouldn't choose to leave at a time when she was expected somewhere. I know some people on FB were speculating she could have been mistakenly detained by ICE, but it seems like the family has been looking into that and haven't found her, and I imagine that LE would be looking into that possibility as well. Hoping that we hear good news very soon!

She would likely have had a school ID on her had she any kind of interaction with law enforcement. Chicago LE, as well, can easily check if she's been detained by any other federal agency.

I'm hoping this is a teenage emotional/stress related event, and she went to a friends, as opposed to being a victim of the crime on public transportation (which you know if you are from here, is a real threat to everyone).

 

[bluestsocks]

She would likely have had a school ID on her had she any kind of interaction with law enforcement. Chicago LE, as well, can easily check if she's been detained by any other federal agency.

I'm hoping this is a teenage emotional/stress related event, and she went to a friends, as opposed to being a victim of the crime on public transportation (which you know if you are from here, is a real threat to everyone).

I work somewhat in this space and I can say that law enforcement to ICE communications aren’t what they were previously. Getting confirmation that ICE is holding someone used to be relatively simple, but it can sometimes take weeks now. I think it’s more likely something else is going on here, but I mention it only because it is a real concern to consider with missing people

Thank you! Yeah, it's interesting to me that the CPD still have the 17th on their website since all the statements from family and friends on FB are saying definitively it was the morning of the 18th, and that's what the school's post says as well. I also wonder when the details about her last known wherabouts will be released by the police or added to MSM articles.

The fact that she was on her way to a swim meet makes me nervous. If she had gone somewhere of her own accord, I would think she wouldn't choose to leave at a time when she was expected somewhere. I know some people on FB were speculating she could have been mistakenly detained by ICE, but it seems like the family has been looking into that and haven't found her, and I imagine that LE would be looking into that possibility as well. Hoping that we hear good news very soon!i

It’s not impossible. I’m not sure it’s the most likely explanation, but local LE has had a lot more issues trying to confirm ICE detentions than it used to, and often detainees aren’t showing up in the system as quickly and accurately as before.

 

[GraceG]

I work somewhat in this space and I can say that law enforcement to ICE communications aren’t what they were previously. Getting confirmation that ICE is holding someone used to be relatively simple, but it can sometimes take weeks now. I think it’s more likely something else is going on here, but I mention it only because it is a real concern to consider with missing people

It’s not impossible. I’m not sure it’s the most likely explanation, but local LE has had a lot more issues trying to confirm ICE detentions than it used to, and often detainees aren’t showing up in the system as quickly and accurately as before.

Thanks for updating - it's been a number of months since I retired as a fed, and I know we used to be able to check someone's status with ICE pretty quickly if such person was involved in one of our investigations. I can understand why that is changed, but given her age, on the way to a swim meet on public transportation, I personally can't see her getting caught up in an arrest/detention situation.

 

[Mmcgirl13]

Thanks for updating - it's been a number of months since I retired as a fed, and I know we used to be able to check someone's status with ICE pretty quickly if such person was involved in one of our investigations. I can understand why that is changed, but given her age, on the way to a swim meet on public transportation, I personally can't see her getting caught up in an arrest/detention situation.

I had a lot of the same thoughts as both of you. It seems like getting confirmation or action from ICE in the case of a detainment has become a lot more difficult at the moment, but this many days seems excessive to not have any information if that's really where she was. I will say since it was a Saturday she may not have had her school ID on her, I never wore mine for out-of-class events, and I often left the house with no ID on me at all, especially since I didn't drive at the time. Still, I feel that ICE is a relatively unlikely explanation in this case.

The thing that's troubling me is the lack of reporting on her last known location and the circumstances of her disappearance. All the news articles are quoting the CPD's information and the school's social media post, which only has what she was wearing and what she looks like. It seems like from comments on FB by family and neighbors that they've been out looking and personally able to verify exactly how far along on her commute she got; she made it onto her first bus, caught the train and got off, but there's no indication she made it onto the final bus that would've taken her to the school. Am I allowed to post the route she supposedly took? Or is that off-limits because it's information taken from Facebook?

My biggest concern is that none of this has been officially released yet, so the only people who have these details are those who see it in Facebook posts and comments, not anyone who's reading or watching the news. If people aren't being told what area she was in at the time, she went missing, it seems like it'll be much harder for people to realize they may have seen something than if they know, "oh, I was also on that same bus/train that morning, could I have seen something?" I wonder if anyone in the press has talked to the family yet, even if the police aren't releasing those details publicly yet, they can still report on information given to them by the family, right?

 

[GraceG]

I had a lot of the same thoughts as both of you. It seems like getting confirmation or action from ICE in the case of a detainment has become a lot more difficult at the moment, but this many days seems excessive to not have any information if that's really where she was. I will say since it was a Saturday she may not have had her school ID on her, I never wore mine for out-of-class events, and I often left the house with no ID on me at all, especially since I didn't drive at the time. Still, I feel that ICE is a relatively unlikely explanation in this case.

The thing that's troubling me is the lack of reporting on her last known location and the circumstances of her disappearance. All the news articles are quoting the CPD's information and the school's social media post, which only has what she was wearing and what she looks like. It seems like from comments on FB by family and neighbors that they've been out looking and personally able to verify exactly how far along on her commute she got; she made it onto her first bus, caught the train and got off, but there's no indication she made it onto the final bus that would've taken her to the school. Am I allowed to post the route she supposedly took? Or is that off-limits because it's information taken from Facebook?

My biggest concern is that none of this has been officially released yet, so the only people who have these details are those who see it in Facebook posts and comments, not anyone who's reading or watching the news. If people aren't being told what area she was in at the time, she went missing, it seems like it'll be much harder for people to realize they may have seen something than if they know, "oh, I was also on that same bus/train that morning, could I have seen something?" I wonder if anyone in the press has talked to the family yet, even if the police aren't releasing those details publicly yet, they can still report on information given to them by the family, right?

I didn't report the details the family posted as to where she specifically became unaccounted for along her CTA route because it was FB and not backed up by any LE or media source.

I agree with you in that would be really helpful to the community if we knew exactly where she was last accounted for so residents of that area could looking around their neighborhood, checking their home security video, etc. to see if she'd passed that way. In a city of 6 some million and 234 square miles just saying a teen is missing somewhere, a teen that may look like thousands of other teens isn't helpful,, in my opinion.

 

[SimplyCass]

All the news articles I've seen/read/are linked here are just press releases, info put out by the police's info department, which are then republished by news organizations and percolated to unofficial missing persons pages or community page groups or etc. I have not seen any actual mainstream media reporting, things like interviewing family members or the detective or PD assigned to the case.

There's no case number or point of contact (like a specific detective name)?

I dug in deep and found that the Bridgeport area is served by Chicago Police Department Area 1 (Central), District 9. https://www.chicagopolice.org/9th-district-deering/

Honestly I don't even know where to start.