A 21-year-old Arizona woman remains missing after vanishing on Sunday, while her boyfriend has been taken into custody on charges not directly linked to her disappearance.
Disappearance in Avondale
Isabella Comas was last seen near West Van Buren Street and North 111th Avenue in Avondale. She disappeared after leaving a friend's house and was reported missing when she failed to pick up a friend for work, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
Comas did not report for work the following day and has been unreachable. Her mobile phone was later tracked to a recycling centre in Phoenix, approximately 18 miles from where she was last seen.
Boyfriend Arrested and Named Person of Interest
Her boyfriend, 39-year-old Tommy Rodriguez, was arrested on Wednesday. He faces charges of theft of means of transportation and criminal damage. While not arrested in connection with Comas's disappearance, authorities have labelled him a person of interest in the ongoing investigation.
Prosecutors from the Maricopa County Attorney's Office have expressed serious concerns about Rodriguez's actions. They allege he took steps to tarnish evidence connected to Comas's stolen vehicle, a red 2011 Hyundai Sonata, which was found near 67th Avenue and Indian School Road in Phoenix.
Deputy County Attorney Dawn Sauer argued Rodriguez could attempt to destroy further evidence and stated he likely knows Comas's whereabouts. Notably, after his girlfriend vanished, Rodriguez left Arizona on a one-way ticket. He claimed this was a pre-scheduled work trip and that he booked a return flight immediately to cooperate with investigators.
A Troubled Criminal History
Prosecutors have highlighted Rodriguez's extensive and violent criminal past. He previously served over twelve years in prison after accepting a plea deal for second-degree murder related to a fatal shooting in January 2002.
More recently, while on parole in 2020, he was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after stalking a former girlfriend. In that incident, he allegedly blocked her car, brandished a machete and hammer, attempted to run over her and her ex-boyfriend, and fired a shot.
Rodriguez took another plea deal and served three years for that offence. Prosecutors now fear he is a flight risk, noting he currently lives in his father's garage. A judge has set his bond at $50,000. If released, he would be required to surrender his passports and submit to electronic monitoring.
The search for Isabella Comas continues. She was last seen wearing a white shirt with a distinctive black logo featuring silhouettes of a man and a woman wearing headphones and the word 'HARDSTYLE' above them.
