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FBI Joins Search For Missing New York Woman Who Disappeared After Having Dinner With A Friend

Jessica Lopez has been missing since Nov. 1 after her brother said her friend dropped her off at her Newburgh home and she was seen getting into her own car.

By Jill Sederstrom

The search for a missing New York woman—who disappeared earlier this month after having dinner with a friend—is intensifying as the FBI joins the effort to find the former teacher.

Jessica “Yessica” Lopez disappeared the night of Nov. 1 after she had dinner with a friend at a Chili’s restaurant in the town of Newburgh, according to Times Herald-Record. Her brother, Ernesto Lopez, said the friend drove Jessica to the home where she lives with her family after they dined together and that Jessica was last seen getting into her own vehicle.

Ernesto said his sister sent a few text messages the following day but never showed up to take their parents to church that Sunday, WHAM-TV reports.

Her car was found a few days later abandoned at a nearby movie theater, but there was no sign of Jessica.

Authorities have been tight-lipped about the case; however, they did confirm that the FBI Safe Streets Task Force has now joined the investigative effort to find Jessica, according to WHAM-TV.

Jessica had worked as a substitute teacher in the Newburgh school district from 2007 to 2012 before taking a job at a health clinic. Ernesto said his sister recently left that job to help care for her father who has been sick.

Yessica Lopez Pd

The family was already grieving from the death of Ernesto and Jessica’s brother, Franklin Lopez, in December 2018, when Jessica disappeared.

The Lopez family is hopeful Jessica will be found safe.

“We just want to have her home,” Ernesto told the local paper.

She has been described as 5’3” and weighing about 135 pounds with brown hair with blonde highlights and light brown eyes.

Anyone with information about the case is urged to contact authorities.