Weird Posts From Julie Gonzalez's MySpace Account Led to Police Investigate Her Disappearance

In March 2010, strange posts began popping up on Julie Gonzalez's MySpace page. The 21-year-old mother of one was going through a difficult divorce but was otherwise doing pretty well. She had gotten a promotion at work and had recently run into an old crush.

They began dating and were planning a weekend getaway. Then she disappeared.

What happened to Julie Gonzalez? Here's what we know.

The night before Gonzalez vanished, she went over to her new boyfriend's house to watch movies. The next morning he went to work and she drove to her estranged husband's house to pick up their daughter. According to the Texas District & County Attorneys Association, George De La Cruz would later tell police that Gonzalez was acting strangely and was "out of it." Evidently she asked him to keep their daughter for the weekend as she had some things to do.

The bizarre MySpace posts started after Gonzalez allegedly left De La Cruz's house. One said, "Going away hate all this BS want to run away [sic]." When her loved ones saw the messages, they began calling but Gonzalez didn't pick up. Instead, she sent texts that were just as uncharacteristic as the MySpace posts. She told everyone, including her boyfriend, that she wanted to be left alone. Everyone struggled to believe it was actually Gonzalez. They would later find out it wasn't.

The day after the odd Myspace messages and texts were supposedly sent, Gonzalez's aunt found her car in the parking lot of a Walgreen's near De La Cruz's house. Police went over there to speak with him and were surprised when he let them look around. They found a few suspicious things such as a fresh ditch that had recently been dug beneath his shed. De La Cruz told the officers a plumber did that.

Gonzalez's family and friends began spreading awareness about her story. This caught the attention of the Dr. Phil show, which resulted in De La Cruz and the Gonzalezes being part of an episode. It was after this that De La Cruz's mother began to suspect her son and done something horribly wrong. During another search of De La Cruz's home, police found "ammunition, latex gloves, a knife, remnants of burned clothing from a pit in the backyard, various cleaning products, and digging tools."

What ultimately secured an arrest in September 2013 was suspicious activity on Gonzalez's debit card, which was traced back to De La Cruz. When he was eventually charged with her murder, the lack of a body made things more complicated. Despite that, the jury handed over a guilty verdict after deliberating for six hours. He was sentenced to life in prison.

For more on this story, watch How I Caught My Killer which is available to stream on Hulu.