Melrose Park woman with special needs reported missing

MELROSE PARK, Ill. (WLS) -- A 22-year-old Melrose Park woman with special needs was reported missing by her family, who said they have not seen her for more than a week.

Xiomara Ortiz, 22, is deaf and has the mental capacity of a 12-year-old, her father said.

She has been missing since Nov. 3 and family believe she may be in danger. Xiomara Ortiz didn't take her cellphone or jacket, and deleted her social media accounts.

"She left everything, only she take with her I.D.," said father Jason Ortiz.

Jason Ortiz said his daughter had been communicating with a man who lives on the East Coast. She met the man on social media and described him as her boyfriend.

Her father discovered the relationship a few weeks ago.

"I said, 'Xiomara, how could that be your boyfriend? You don't know him. You don't know for sure where he lives because he says he lives in New York,'" Jason Ortiz said.

Concerned about that interaction, her father took her cellphone. Hours later, she disappeared from their Melrose Park home and the couple's social media profiles disappeared.

"At 3 o'clock everything was erased on the web. Her information. His information. Everything," he said.

Jason Ortiz doesn't know if the man is involved with her disappearance, but he said his daughter has never run away before.

The family has passed out flyers and praying that she returns home.

"We're desperate over here. We miss her a lot. ... I don't know what else we can do," Jason Ortiz said.

The family filed a missing person report with Melrose Park police, who said they do not believe she is in danger.