The Disappearance of Bianca Carrasco : An Anthology of True Crime

By Jessi Dillard

A BEAUTIFUL MOTHER OF THREE...GONE MISSING 
Before twenty-nine-year old Bianca Carrasco went missing in San Antonio on May 1, 2016, she was overwhelmed by the strain of her unhappy marriage. While Bianca's family said she was trying hard to laugh through her tears, it was clear to see that things between the mother of three and her forty-year old husband, Joe Daniel, were becoming increasingly difficult. 

"Things were not normal in her life when she went missing – there are a lot of things happening behind the scenes that are troubling," said Jovanna Burney, Bianca's older sister, during an interview with Dateline May 23, 2016. "The situation is difficult, because we are trying not to be judgmental." 
What happened to Bianca Carrasco? 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trellis Publishing
• Release date: Jul 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201531126

Book preview

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF BIANCA CARRASCO

Jessi Dillard

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BIANCA CARRASCO

RHONDA JOHNSON

AMY ALLWINE

VALENTINES DAY MURDERS

ASHLEY FALLIS

BROOKE WILBERGER

CAROL TAGGART

FAITH HEDGEPETH

BIANCA CARRASCO

Before twenty-nine-year old Bianca Carrasco went missing in San Antonio on May 1, 2016, she was overwhelmed by the strain of her unhappy marriage. While Bianca’s family said she was trying hard to laugh through her tears, it was clear to see that things between the mother of three and her forty-year old husband, Joe Daniel, were becoming increasingly difficult.

Things were not normal in her life when she went missing – there are a lot of things happening behind the scenes that are troubling, said Jovanna Burney, Bianca’s older sister, during an interview with Dateline May 23, 2016. The situation is difficult, because we are trying not to be judgmental. You just don’t know what happened.

The family wedge

The details of Bianca’s disappearance are fuzzy, but it’s clear from talking to Bianca’s friends and family that the young mother’s home situation was rapidly disintegrating.

Bianca and her husband Joe Daniel were married for almost ten years, and they were struggling in their marriage, said Alexa Dunson, a reporter with CBS7 who covered the story when Bianca was first reported missing. She was kind of done with the relationship, from my understanding.

The couple had gotten married when Bianca was just 18 years old – and Daniel, who was eleven years older, was Bianca’s uncle. Though the two eventually had three children together, the relationship seemed to be doomed from the beginning, according to Bianca’s sister, Jovanna Burney.

From the beginning of their marriage, it was always kind of rocky, Jovanna recalled. The way they argued was very childish – it was, ‘I’m going to hide your keys,’ or, ‘I’m going to touch you if you don’t want to be touched,’ with like, a tapping on the shoulder. She told me about that a lot, you know, that it would drive her crazy.

But it wasn’t just the frequent arguments between the couple that the people close to Bianca took issue with. The way the couple had met was also somewhat concerning.

Daniel was married to my sister, Brenda, said Bianca’s mother, Barbara Talamantez. They have an 18 year old daughter. Daniel and Brenda were going through a divorce, and kind of to get back at her, he started wooing Bianca.

But the relationship between the two became a bit more serious when Bianca ended up getting pregnant. With their family already started, Daniel and Bianca got married – a move Barbara believes was out of malice, to get back at my sister.

Since that time, Barbara said, the subject of Daniel became a sore spot for the entire family. She described him as a wedge that came between Bianca and the rest of her relatives.

Daniel very much manipulated trying to keep Bianca away from all the family, he tried to keep her away completely, she said. The last time I saw Bianca was probably five years ago. Bianca and I were not on speaking terms when she went missing. I blame Daniel for that.

But Barbara admitted her daughter might have been partially responsible for their relationship struggles. According to Barbara, Bianca had a tendency to throw herself into whatever she had on the go.

She was a very strong woman, Bianca’s mother said. She was very passionate about whatever she was doing. She was a great mother, but of course, like all of us, we have our own inner demons.

She was really funny, if I needed to laugh, I could call her and I would laugh, Jovanna added. She had this way of making really hard things funny. If she was crying, she was still laughing.

Ready to move on

And at that time in Bianca’s life, she was trying hard to laugh through an awful lot of tears. Although her marriage was on the rocks, Bianca had started becoming more and more independent as her children grew up and became more self-sufficient, themselves. In fact, Jovanna said, Bianca had recently graduated as a Registered Nurse.

I was so proud of her, to see her in October walk across that stage, she was proud of herself, she said. And good for her, and I was proud of her.

But not everyone in Bianca’s family was quite as supportive of her new direction in life, according to Barbara.

There’s a picture of the day Bianca graduated. She’s hugging my grandson, and you can see Daniel’s profile, she said. You can see him looking, and it’s... not the look of a proud husband.

Even when Joe Daniel was married to Barbara’s sister, she recalled – Bianca’s aunt – he felt threatened when she did anything to better herself. And it wasn’t just the new career on the horizon that was causing change in Bianca’s life. According to Barbara, she’d also been preparing to leave her husband.

Bianca had asked Daniel for a divorce – if you look on her Facebook, she had already listed herself as divorced, Barbara said. She was already, I guess, beginning to live as if she was single.

According to a close friend of Bianca’s, Morgan Nevarez, Bianca had been fairly open about the state of her marriage in the days leading up to her disappearance. The two women had been friends since 2009, after they met at work at a hospital in Odessa. Morgan was also friends with Bianca’s husband, she said, but Bianca had confided in her shortly before she went missing that she intended to leave Joe Daniel.

She didn’t give me details, but she was sure she wanted to separate from her husband, Morgan said during an interview with Dateline.

Reporter Alexa Dunson was informed that Bianca had even begun talking to other men – and one man, specifically. But Jovanna said that although Bianca was using her phone and social media to meet potential suitors, she wasn’t fully ready to move on.

I think maybe she’s met with one of them once or twice, but it was nothing serious, she admitted. I had a conversation with her about it, and I just kind of told her like, you know, ‘Y’all have been married for a long time, it probably feels good to have the attention from him,’ and she was honest and said that yes, it was. And I just told her, like, you know, don’t let it consume your life, you know, because you don’t know what kind of trouble this can cause.

And it might have led to a bit of trouble. While no one could confirm exactly how long Bianca had been carrying on with this other man, her husband eventually found out about it – and Jovanna said Daniel’s discovery came just a few days before her sister seemingly vanished.

The Wednesday before she went missing, she was scared, he was angry, Jovanna said. He had just found out about her communications on her phone, who she was talking to, other males, and she was scared.

Daniel also saw that most of Bianca’s messages were going to one specific recipient, Barbara added. Then, he took the desperate action of attempting to exert what little control he had left over his soon to be ex wife.

I knew that he wasn’t ready to let her go, but she was – she was done and he wasn’t, Jovanna recalled.

Jovanna received a message from Bianca that day that read: Daniel emptied the account and opened another account without my name on, so I have no access to money except my credit card which is almost at the limit.

I will not be controlled by a man and money, she added in a message sent April 28.

There is something seriously wrong.

Just four days later, on May 1, 2016, Jovanna and Bianca had their last conversation. The sisters spoke at about two in the afternoon, Jovanna recalled.

It’s interesting, because the days leading up to her missing, she was pretty frustrated with everything that was going on, Bianca’s sister said. There was a lot of chaos and there was a lot of arguing. She was just kind of venting to me about personal issues.

According to Jovanna, Bianca told her she was planning to meet with a lawyer to see what her options were with Daniel, moving forward.

We talked a little about the kids, what was going to happen with them, and she wasn’t too sure because he wanted the kids, and they were kind of arguing about that, Jovanna explained. The positive is that I did get to tell her that I love her.

That day was the last time anyone saw Bianca Carrusco – on a Sunday night in San Antonio. According to CBS7’s Alexa Dunson, the official police record from that day details a confrontation between Bianca and her husband.

What we know is that she and her husband, Joe Daniel, got into an argument over her speaking to another man, over her possibly wanting to leave him, she said. She walks out the door and goes down the street. Joe Daniel picks up their youngest child, puts her in the car, drives past her, leaves the other two children in the house.

But Bianca never came back. Jovanna didn’t find out that her sister was missing until fairly late the following day. At around four in the afternoon, she said she received a call from Daniel, letting her know that he and Bianca had been fighting and that she’d walked away from the house.

And I said, ‘Where are the kids?’ and he said, ‘The kids, they’re at home,’ she recalled. They were left alone.

The story didn’t sit right with Jovanna, who was suspicious about Daniel’s played down role in her sister’s disappearance.

So she just kept walking and left the kids? That doesn’t make any sense. I called her phone. Well, her phone was off – totally out of character, she’s never turned her phone off, Jovanna said. "It was another red flag for me, because she would have never turned her phone off – she is always on her phone.

There is something seriously wrong.

After Jovanna learned that Bianca also hadn’t shown up to the oncology office where she worked, she sent a text to Daniel and asked him to talk to his aunt and see if she’d spoken with Bianca. Daniel refused, telling Jovanna just to let [Bianca] be for a little bit.

He said, ‘She probably left with one of those guys,’ and my reaction to that was, ‘Leaving her kids, with no car, that’s not my sister.’ At night – just, it’s not her, not her at all, Jovanna confirmed.

Jovanna also struggled to accept that her sister would have just not shown up for work. While Bianca was a dedicated mother, she’d moved her family from Odessa to San Antonio to pursue her education and to take the position at the oncology clinic.

She was very caring, she loved her job and her patients, Jovanna said. She was very devoted to being a nurse. She gave 1,000 percent to that.

The coworker Jovanna spoke to at the clinic had also expressed concern about Bianca’s absence, she said, since they said it wasn’t like Bianca to miss work without at least a phone call to let someone know. Increasingly frustrated with Daniel’s lack of interest in dealing with the situation, Jovanna texted him again.

I spoke to her husband that day and I said I was going to make a police report, she said. He said, ‘Don’t call the police, this is what she wanted,’ and I said, ‘No, I am calling the police – there is something not right, I can feel it.’

He requested she call him as soon as she was done speaking with an officer, but instead, Jovanna went to the police station to meet with the officers and explain the situation.

Something that just sticks out in my head is that one of the police officers, he asked me why hasn’t the husband called, and I said I don’t know, I don’t know, and he said, ‘Well, give me his number, I’ll call him,’ Jovanna said. And he calls him, right in front of me, and he lies and says he had the wrong number.

But Daniel didn’t maintain the lie for long. Shortly after, he reportedly placed a call to the police on his own and made a report about Bianca’s disappearance. That night, Jovanna said, is when her sister was finally officially listed as a missing person – and Daniel was brought in to answer some questions.

In these cases, one of the first things we look at is the immediate loved one or the relative of the missing person, explained San Antonio Police Officer Doug Greene. Mr. Carrasco has been cooperative with our investigators. It’s our understanding that he thought that Ms. Carrasco was going to return home, so he didn’t raise really any concerns and felt the need that he needed to make a report.

During the questioning with police, Daniel detailed the alleged affair Bianca had been involved in, and officers then followed up by bringing in the man she’d been speaking to for additional questioning.

We’ve talked to other male individuals that may have known her, and still, nothing has developed, Greene said.

However, no suspects were publicly announced, and police never released any clues as to Bianca’s whereabouts. Or even any evidence that a crime had been committed. He added there is also no evidence to support Joe Daniel’s involvement with the disappearance, or to indicate where Bianca’s whereabouts might be.

"Some people, they go