Mom certain foul play to blame for daughter’s disappearance

A Maricopa family’s frantic search for their missing daughter continues. Angela Russo, 24, left the home she shares with her family at The Lakes at Rancho El Dorado Tuesday evening and has not been heard from since.

Her mother Diana Schalow said “absolutely foul play” is involved.

Russo said she was leaving to go to dinner and out with friends Tuesday. Schalow said she received a text from Russo later that she “won’t be home tonight but promised she will be home tomorrow night.”

Schalow was unconcerned at that moment: “She’s 24 years old; she occasionally spends the night somewhere.”

But Russo did not show up to work Wednesday at her job as a medical assistant in Ahwatukee.

Schalow said she reported her daughter missing to Maricopa Police Department Thursday, after which MPD notified law enforcement agencies statewide to “be on the lookout” for Russo and her vehicle.

Schalow said she left all her daily items at home, including her medications, toothbrush, curling iron and work clothes. “Everything is pointing to absolutely unusual behavior,” Schalow said.

She said her daughter is also very particular about having her phone charger, but “her phone is not on; her phone is dead.”

Police say the last ping from her cell phone was in the Maryvale area of Phoenix. Schalow said neither family nor Russo’s friends are aware of friends she has in the area.

“Everything we’ve reported to the police … in our eyes it’s foul play,” Schalow said.

Schalow said the family is “doing our own investigation” and notifying police but coming up with dead-ends.

“We’ve had search parties all weekend long,” she said, with family and friends combing the area of 51^st Avenue and Indian School Road.

“All avenues are being explored right now.”

Jason and Diana Schalow have four children – Anthony, 28; Angela, 24; Andrea, 18; and Ryan, 7 – and have lived in Maricopa 10 years. Both Jason and Diana work for State Farm, Diana at the local Lance Lane agency.

Russo was driving the family’s blue 2007 Honda Accord with Arizona license BNL 1629.

“We haven’t heard anything,” Maricopa Police spokesman Ricardo Alvarado said of the active case in the criminal investigation division. He said MPD is “waiting to hear if the car turns up, she turns up or she returns home.”

Contact MPD at 520-568-3673 with any information about Russo or her vehicle. If you wish to remain anonymous, you can submit a tip using the MPD mobile app or call an anonymous tip line at 520-316-6900.

Angela Maria Russo
Gender:           Female
Race:               White
Born:               5/10/91
Height:            5’3”
Weight:           150 lbs.
Eyes:               Crystal blue
Hair:                Brown with burgundy highlights
Tattoos:           Ladybug behind left ear, wings on wrists, songbird on right foot, water-colored rose on right hip, the “promise” on ring finger, Tigger and Eeyore hugging each other with a tree on her left back, Bella botch a Nono and Nona scrolled between flowers on right back.