Seattle woman missing in Mexico

By Staff
Northwest Asian Weekly

Jenny Chen

Jenny Chen, 26, is missing after leaving the city of Oaxaca, Mexico for Cancún, where she was supposed to meet up with her husband, Jonathan Reinhard of Seattle.

Reinhard said on the “Help Find Jenny” GoFundMe page, “Jenny is a curious, passionate woman who loves to experience new things. I had planned to meet with her on April 15th in Cancun for a nice five-day vacation. She was located in Oaxaca and planned to travel across Mexico to meet me in Cancun — this was April 11th, and the last time any of her friends and family talked to her.”

Reinhard fears his wife has been sold into human trafficking. “Please help me find my wife,” he said. “My heart is broken about this whole situation, and I just want to see my beloved alive and well.”

According to information on Chen’s page at couchsurfing.com, a hospitality exchange and social media site, Chen was born in China and moved to the United States in 2013.

Her husband says Chen’s citizenship makes it difficult to get help from the U.S. Department of State. “I have contacted government and press agencies, local friends of Jenny in Mexico, and my local congressman and senator’s office. So far, there are no leads,” said Reinhard. He’s been talking with consulates from the United States and China, and Mexican authorities. But he gets no sense that any agency is doing anything to find Chen.

Reinhard is trying to raise $15,000 on his GoFundMe page for a private investigator and possibly “more for ransom money.”