FL Maria Cecilia Gaminde, 45 - Missing mother of three

[kkgirl]

NameUs Case
Maria moved to the United States with her husband, and most of her family still resides in the Philippines. She has three young children with her husband who all reside in DeBary, Florida.

Maria last spoke with her family in January of 2024 and has not been heard from since.

Her husband did not report her missing. Her brother was only able to file a missing person report in July of 2024, with the assistance of relatives in Canada.

Her husband, Epifanio Gaminde, was arrested in March of 2016 for Domestic Battery. In the police report it states, Epifanio followed Maria into the bathroom, he grabbed her right arm and pinned it behind her back. Maria stated Epifanio told her “I will kill you right now!” and then began to choke her by placing both of his hands around her neck. Bruising was observed on the front of her neck. Arrest Report

There have been very few news reports run of this case, but this is one I was able to find:

"Her husband said she might have fled," said Timothy Sumegang [Maria's Brother]. "He didn't do anything so we had to report that she was missing."

"Our suspicion further grew in May," said Asha Vallador, Sumegang's girlfriend. "We felt that something was wrong because when we messaged her in Bolinao language, she couldn’t respond to it."
ABS-CBN News​

 

[floridafreshsqueez]

I have a number of questions but I do need to get to bed so I’ll settle for this one…

If she was a school teacher at University High School in Orange City…why didn’t anyone she worked with mention her disappearance? Very strange.

The Gaminde’s current address in Debary returned results for a home in a gated community, a very large home (quote garish IMO). I’m curious what the husband did for work that they could afford such a large home.

The DV incident was in 2016, and the charging affidavit details are quite alarming.

I fear that with the amount of time gone and the fact that this is in FL (not far from me either) Maria is going to be extremely difficult to find.

Yes, both of them have mostly family in the Philippines, which clearly gave him an advantage, but you’re telling me she didn’t have any friends or coworkers who would be sounding the alarm here in FL?

Ugh, this one is going to drive me nuts. It’s not fair that after immigrating and settling here her husband took advantage of the fact that she seemed to have an almost non-existent network of family/friends in the US. He knew she could disappear and it would be very difficult for her family to get the search started and that is so sinister.

As a Filipino myself, these cases make me so angry and sad.

 

[kkgirl]

I have a number of questions but I do need to get to bed so I’ll settle for this one…

If she was a school teacher at University High School in Orange City…why didn’t anyone she worked with mention her disappearance? Very strange.

The Gaminde’s current address in Debary returned results for a home in a gated community, a very large home (quote garish IMO). I’m curious what the husband did for work that they could afford such a large home.

The DV incident was in 2016, and the charging affidavit details are quite alarming.

I fear that with the amount of time gone and the fact that this is in FL (not far from me either) Maria is going to be extremely difficult to find.

Yes, both of them have mostly family in the Philippines, which clearly gave him an advantage, but you’re telling me she didn’t have any friends or coworkers who would be sounding the alarm here in FL?

Ugh, this one is going to drive me nuts. It’s not fair that after immigrating and settling here her husband took advantage of the fact that she seemed to have an almost non-existent network of family/friends in the US. He knew she could disappear and it would be very difficult for her family to get the search started and that is so sinister.

As a Filipino myself, these cases make me so angry and sad.

I completely agree with your idea that her husband believed this would be easy to get away with.

I worked with her for a very short time at a different school before she transferred to University High. It has been driving me absolutely crazy since I saw her brother's post last year. I believe I remember reading somewhere (but I can't find it now) that she allegedly resigned from her job at University by email, asked them to pack up her things, and that someone would come by to pick them up.

Maria owned a children's clothing store in Daytona Beach called Zeke & Emma's Closet. In August of 2023, a lawsuit was filed against her for an injury that occurred on the property. The court documents show her signature on a document from November 15, 2023. On January 8, 2024 a Request of Admissions was sent to Maria but it doesn't appear to have ever been answered. On February 20, 2024 the plaintiff advised the court of a settlement made between himself and Maria. However, on March 20, 2024 a motion was filed by the plaintiff that they had agreed on a settlement on January 15, 2024 of $15,000 in full and Maria has not paid that. Since then there was a hearing on June 19, 2024 where both Maria and her lawyer failed to appear.