Investigators search home where Conover mom of 2 was last seen a year ago

CONOVER, N.C. — It’s been more than a year since anyone has seen a mom of two young children in Conover.

Isabella Arenas disappeared from her home in December 2022. For 14 months, police have been trying to figure out what happened to her.

Channel 9′s Dave Faherty learned a search warrant was executed at that home along Eastway Lane on Friday. Police said they also used cadaver dogs to search the property for the 28-year-old.

The police chief said Monday morning they have a lot of questions about Arenas’ disappearance. According to the search warrant, investigators went to the home looking for firearms, knives or other items “that may have been used to facilitate a murder.”

Police confirmed they dug up some areas of the backyard as part of the search and seized cuttings from the master bedroom carpet and from the mattress.

“They were digging in the backyard,” one neighbor said. “I thought that was crazy because I heard about this missing persons case a long time ago, and now, it’s been a year.”

They also took electronics and women’s clothing.

Police said the father was the last person to hear from her in December 2022.

Channel 9 has confirmed that police were called to the home three months before her disappearance because of domestic violence complaints.

Court documents show in September, Arenas took out a domestic violence restraining order against her husband, claiming he had strangled her after pushing her to the floor. She also claimed he pulled a gun on her earlier that year and threatened to kill her and put her body in the patio.

Weeks later, she asked for the DV order to be dismissed.

Faherty spoke with family members of Arenas by phone Monday afternoon who said she was scared for her safety.

“Disappeared out of nowhere. I mean there’s no way,” said her uncle Magdiel Ramos. “Leaving back the phone, her keys, her car, her clothes. Come on.”

Arenas’ children still live at the home with their father. Faherty spoke with him briefly Monday morning and he said his wife left on her own. He said he filed a missing persons report, but court documents say he appears to have more involvement than he’s disclosed so far to police.

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