A mother and daughter vanished in 2019. The story left behind has baffled investigators.
On November 22, 2019, 34-year-old Amber Aiaz and her 12-year-old daughter, Melissa Fu, disappeared from Irvine, California. They have not been found.
According to Amber's husband, Cheng Zhang, two strangers came to their apartment that evening. He claimed that one of them used an unknown substance that caused him to lose consciousness. When he woke up, Amber and Melissa were gone.
Zhang did not report their disappearance to police until December 2, more than a week later. He said he had received threatening notes instructing him to clean the apartment and act normally. Investigators found blood evidence in the home, including evidence they believed belonged to Amber.
The investigation initially focused heavily on Zhang. However, in a 2021 report, the Los Angeles Times described how investigators said they could not establish his involvement and had been unable to disprove key parts of his account. He was not charged in connection with their disappearance.
Authorities considered several possibilities, including a kidnapping connected to Amber's past. However, no definitive explanation has been established in the sources cited below.
This case is one of those that seem to have an obvious reason and solution, but at the same time, it doesn't.
Questions that remain:
• Who were the two people Zhang said came to the apartment?
• What happened to Amber and Melissa after November 22, 2019?
• Why did the disappearance remain unexplained despite an extensive investigation?
Sources:
• Irvine Police Department: https://cityofirvine.gov/news-media/news-article/irvine-police-seek-publics-help-locating-missing-persons-who-may-have-been
• Los Angeles Times (June 14, 2021): https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-06-14/mother-and-daughter-vanish-in-irvine-the-husband
• The Charley Project, Amber Aiaz: https://charleyproject.org/case/amber-aiaz
• The Charley Project, Melissa Fu: https://charleyproject.org/case/melissa-fu
