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Transgender Woman Vanishes at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport

Pauline del Mundo

Pauline del Mundo's relatives fear she may have come to harm, given a rash of crimes against trans people in Dallas.

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Family members and police are searching for a Florida transgender woman who went missing during a layover at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

Pauline del Mundo, 59, was bound from Tampa to Cozumel, Mexico, for a vacation, with a connecting flight at the DFW airport September 14. She never didn't board the flight, Florida TV station WTSP reports, and didn't check in at her hotel in Cozumel. Sounding confused and depressed, she had called one of her sisters and said she had decided against going to Cozumel and needed an airline ticket back to Tampa. She hasn't been heard from since.

"We were alarmed," sister Lilia Acebron told WTSP Monday. "We tried to reach her on her cell phone, but her cell phone was dead."

Del Mundo had become depressed over a rotator cuff injury that had impeded her work as a certified nurse assistant, Acebron said. It was a definite change of mood for del Mundo, who was usually positive and outgoing, according to her sister.

Family members fear that del Mundo could come to harm because she's transgender. There has been a rash of crimes against trans women in Dallas this year. At least two trans women were murdered there in the spring, and another was shot several times last Friday and has been hospitalized.

Two of del Mundo's other sisters met with DFW airport police Monday. Airport police released surveillance video of the missing woman Tuesday. She is Filipina-American, stands 5 feet 6 inches tall, and has long brown hair.

Anyone with information on del Mundo is asked to call DFW Airport Detective Sgt. Karl Ross at (972) 391-7221.

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Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.