Missing Student : She left home to go to school and did not come back.

"It's terrible, we have been searching for a week already and we are very worried. We have hardly slept or eaten at all. The tension is almost unbearable and one's strength begins to wane, but we trust in God that she will appear". These are the words of Marta León, the anguished mother of student María Loreto Sepúlveda León, age 19, who has been missing for one week. In a conversation with El Mercurio, the woman sustained that her daughter disappeared shortly after 8:00am on August 29, after leaving home on her way to school. "She had no problems and no reasons to flee from home. Not with her family, and she was not in a relationship either", stated Marta grasping for an explanation. She added "We have looked with family members and friends, we have been out searching with the police until three in the morning, showing people her photo and asking for her whereabouts, but nobody knows anything". The missing young woman was wearing a checkered purple and grey skirt, a grey sweater, shoes and socks. "I beg her to come home, if she had some problem we can talk about it and take care of it together", added the distressed mother. EMOL 05/09/2008