Family says Dallas area man missing at border
Noel Shankle’s family was deep in prayer Saturday hoping for the missing man’s safe return.
“There’s some people praying everywhere, but we’re gathering tonight at the church,” said his mother, Nellie Shankle.
As of Saturday afternoon the family had received no new information in the case.
“Unfortunately at this time there’s not, but we’re prayerful, prayerful,” she said. “We’re just exhausted. I’m just nauseous. We just want our baby home.”
Shankle, 28, left his home in Carrollton just north of Dallas on Feb. 3 and flew to Valley International Airport in Harlingen. He’d planned to get some dental work done across the border, but the family doesn’t know which city.
His sister Natalia said he rented a silver 2011 Altima from Hertz and then called his family twice that evening. The family hasn’t heard from him since. He was supposed to have returned two days later.
The Harlingen Police Department is handling the case and the Brownsville Police Department is assisting. Brownsville police Detective David Martinez spent most of Friday afternoon on the phone with the family, but he would not discuss the case. Currently law enforcement agencies are not revealing whether they believe Shankle ever actually crossed the border.
A U.S. Customers and Border Protection spokesman has declined to comment on the case.
Sgt. Jesse Mendoza of the special investigations unit at the Brownsville Police Department said he had very little knowledge of the case. However, he said hypothetically that if an American citizen disappears in Mexico, numerous agencies on both sides of the border get involved, including the U.S. State Department, FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The U.S. Consulate also gets involved because it has its own contacts on the Mexican side of the border.
Shankle’s sister, Natalie, described her brother as standing about 6 feet tall, weighing about 240 pounds, and having a goatee and short black hair. He works as a bouncer in a nightclub and has a 4-year-old daughter.
Saturday afternoon the family had just held a moment of silence.
“We had friends, family over,” Nellie Shankle said.
She said she appreciated the attention that the news media and law enforcement have given to her son’s disappearance.
“Praise God, praise God,” she said.
