Hairdresser from Paraíba Mônica Maria da Silva, 36, has been missing for more than 40 days in Barcelona, Spain. She went to live in the European country for the first time in 2021, returned to Brazil some time later and returned in 2024, as her sister, Cristina Silva, informed g1, this Tuesday (18).
Mônica has a six-year-old daughter who lives in Brazil. The child lives in Pedras de Fogo, Paraíba, with Cristina Silva. On her professional profile on Instagram, the native of Paraíba presents herself as a specialist in hair straightening.
According to Mônica's sister, the last contact with the family occurred on July 4th, via a video call. After a few days without news, Cristina reached out to her sister's friends who are in Spain through social media. During the conversations, she discovered that Mônica's relationship was troubled.
"15 days passed, we waited, she didn't return the call and we waited. Then the girl [the daughter] asked to send a message when Spain won the World Cup and I noticed that the message didn't arrive. Then I started asking my friends if anyone knew anything, that's when little things started to appear, like that she wasn't doing well in the relationship, that he had already hit her, he had already cut off her head, that kind of situation", said the sister.
The family does not know the name of the man with whom Mônica has a relationship. The only information that the family from Paraíba has is that the man is from the Dominican Republic, is also an immigrant in Spain and has two children.
To g1, Itamaraty informed that it is aware of the case and is in contact with the family, to whom it has provided consular assistance. The agency did not inform, until the publication of this report, whether there is any investigation underway by the Spanish authorities, nor did it provide details about Mônica's whereabouts.
The sister demands information from the authorities. According to her, the Civil Police and Federal Police have already been contacted. A police report was even registered.
"(The consulate) said that it doesn't have the power to investigate and that I have to reach Interpol, which is what I'm trying to do. I see that it's very difficult to achieve this. It's very difficult. One police force throws you to one side, another to the other, you know? And we don't have the contact. We can't resolve this without them", said Cristina.
Cristina also stated that she received information from the Brazilian Consulate in Spain that the Spanish police had said that Mônica was fine and that the family could rest assured. According to the report, the woman from Paraíba was seen during a police approach around 20 days ago, but the family claims that they did not have access to any official records confirming the approach or the information that Mônica was fine.
According to Mônica's sister, she would have gone to Spain for the first time in 2021. After spending time in Brazil, she returned to the European country in 2024. In October of that year, according to her sister, she was in Brazil again, accompanied by her daughter, who was four years old at the time. The child stayed with his grandmother, and Mônica returned to Spain.
The family managed to identify the address where Mônica lived, close to the Can Cuiàs metro station, in the Ciutat Barcelona region, close to Santa Coloma de Gramenet.
During attempts to locate Mônica, a hairdresser's client contacted the family. According to Cristina, the woman claimed to have spoken to Mônica and sent photos, videos and messages she had received from her.
According to her sister, in one of the messages, sent in April, Mônica had asked the client to keep the material because she feared being without her cell phone. The family was unable to say why Mônica expressed this fear.
Cristina states that, in some of the images, Mônica appears next to a man who was not known to the family and who could be a possible boyfriend. The sister also reports having received photos in which Mônica appears with her nails injured or torn off, in addition to information that she had been attacked by the man.
The family also received information that Mônica had, at some point, sought out SARA (Servicio de Atención, Recuperación y Acogida), a care and reception service for women in situations of violence in Catalonia.
Furthermore, Mônica's friends informed her family that they had not spoken to her since June 15th.
Information about the alleged attacks was presented to the family by third parties and, to date, has not been confirmed by the Spanish authorities.
