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CRIME, POLICE + COURTS

No sign of missing woman who was kidnapped in Kearns 1 week ago

UPDATED: DECEMBER 29, 2022 AT 12:56 PM
BY
Digital Content Producer

SALT LAKE CITY — In the week since Nicole Solorio-Romero went missing from her Kearns apartment, the Unified Police Department said new information has not been forthcoming.

Solorio-Romero was forcibly removed from her home near 5400 South and 4800 West in Kearns on the afternoon of Saturday, Feb. 6, police said. 

Despite asking for help from the public, and despite having doorbell video of the scene, police say they have received only a few leads about the missing woman from Kearns. 

“We have received leads,” said Unified Police Sgt. Melody Cutler. “However, none of them have panned out and led us to anything that has been concrete.”

However, Solorio-Romero’s sister spoke with KSL TV about the chilling phone call she got from Nicole saying she was crying and scared.

Sister recalls the details leading up to her kidnapping

Julian Bersamin, who lived in the basement apartment with her sister, recalled her sister telling her on the phone there were three men threatening her with a gun to come outside. Bersamin, who was at the mall at the time, told her help was on the way. 

Bersamin then called her cousin, asking her to pick Solorio-Romero up. 

Shortly after that, Bersamin said she thinks her sister walked to the corner of 5400 South and Nez Perce Drive to wait for her cousin to pick her up. That’s where home surveillance video caught kidnappers forcing her into a green, four-door Toyota Camry at about 2:28 p.m.

“That’s the last thing I heard from her because when I had gone back to the house, there was no trace of her at all,” Bersamin said. “My cousin drove around the block looking for her. I looked inside the house, we couldn’t find her.”

Police say they suspect Nicole may have been taken to a secondary location where she was shot and injured badly. Investigators have now expanded their search to hospitals in neighboring states. 

Unsure of a cause

Investigators say they have no reason to believe the kidnapping was related to any domestic violence cases and they don’t have any evidence showing Solorio-Romero was involved in any kind of illegal activity. Cutler said police found evidence from the victim’s house which led them to another home in Salt Lake County.

“There was evidence in that house that led us to believe that she has been shot and is seriously injured,” Cutler said.

They have very little information about the man who reportedly took her, other than he’s a Hispanic man wearing a white hoodie.  A second man, a driver, was seen accompanying the suspect, but investigators were not able to get a clear description.

So, for now, the two vehicles seen in the video are still their most solid leads in the case of the missing woman from Kearns.

“Being able to find either one of those vehicles would be incredibly helpful,” Cutler said.

Vehicles of interest in kidnapping

The first vehicle is a green four-door Camry.  The other is a white pickup with an orange or red snowplow attached to the front.  Cutler said the pickup has no writing or markings on the sides.

Anyone with information about this kidnapping is asked to call the Unified Police Department, Kearns division, at 385-468-9488.