Parents seek answers in missing woman case

Cathy Scott

Thursday, May 8, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

For Denise and George Rios, the last month has been the worst of their lives.

Their 20-year-old daughter, Ginger Rios, has disappeared without a trace. For them, not knowing what happened to their daughter means sleepless nights. Neither parent has gone to work since she disappeared on April 4 because they've been searching for her.

Ginger Rios, a Las Vegas native with an 18-year-old sister and extended family all living in the valley, was last seen at the Spy Craft store at 3507 Maryland Parkway at 4 p.m. that day. Her husband, 34-year-old Mark Hollinger, said that while he waited in the car, Ginger ran in to buy a book on how to clean up her credit report. She left her purse behind, but carried her wallet with $200 in it.

"If she wanted to run away with somebody, I wouldn't like it, but if she called me and told me, I'd say, 'OK,'" Denise Rios said. "It's not knowing that's horrible. It's like a part of you is gone."

George Rios, Ginger's father, agreed: "We need to know if she left of her own free will. We're worried sick."

Rios was a dancer and backup singer in the six-member band, the Salsa Machine, which plays regularly at the Santa Fe hotel-casino. The band has since replaced her.

"Life goes on and the show must go on," Denise Rios said sadly.

She described her daughter as ambitious, with a keen intelligence for reaching her goals.

"She said to me once, 'I'm going to be Miss Las Vegas one day,'" Denise Rios said. "She wanted to get her own musical group and have her own show here in Vegas. She was taking professional voice lessons."

She said they were close and enjoyed shopping together, or just talking on the phone. That's why her leaving without any word has left them perplexed.

"She would always check in with me to tell me what she was doing," Denise Rios said.

Today, Metro Police say they are no closer to finding her than they were a month ago.

Detective Jeff Rosgen is investigating five possible scenarios in the woman's disappearance. He has yet to rule out any of them. They are:

* She met with foul play while in the Spy Craft store.

* She walked out of Spy Craft, her husband didn't see her and she's voluntarily missing.

* She walked out of Spy Craft and was kidnapped.

* Her husband had something to do with her disappearance "because in most cases, the spouse is obviously the first suspect we're going to look at," Rosgen said.

* "That somehow Ginger and her husband have conspired to create this disappearance for whatever reason," Rosgen said. "I haven't been able to completely clear this scenario."

"I always develop scenarios," Rosgen said. "I haven't been able to clear any of the five. Then I try to do a timeline. This one is pretty simple: She was seen going into the store at 4 o'clock and hasn't been seen since."

Hollinger said he never saw his wife come out the front door.

Until Rosgen can rule out each scenario one by one, he said he has two suspects: Hollinger and John Flowers, the owner of Spy Craft.

According to Flowers, who owns Spy Craft, Ginger Rios walked into his store, stopped at the bookracks, went to the checkout counter and purchased two books, then walked out of his store. He claims she was seen on a surveillance videotape while in the store. Flowers, however, said he didn't keep a copy of the tape and it has since been recorded over. The police haven't seen it, Sgt. Al Salinas said, and Flowers has not cooperated with police.

"He has not made himself available yet for an in-person interview," Rosgen said. "He's a suspect. One of the scenarios is she met with foul play in that business, and I can't rule that out until I have the opportunity to speak with Mr. Flowers. As uncooperative as he's been so far in the investigation, I would question whether a tape ever existed. Based on how uncooperative he's been to date, I'd question anything he said."

Flowers also said he has a cash register receipt, dated and stamped at the time Rios was in the store. He has also refused, however, to show that to detectives.

"I'm trying to determine whether or not she's been the victim of a crime," Rosgen said. "The majority of the cases turn out several days or a week later when we learn that they voluntarily left. There have been no changes in the case, no earth-shattering new leads."

Rosgen said people often have their own reasons for leaving, if that's what happened in the Rios case.

"People do completely disappear sometimes," he said. "I hope that that's the case with Ginger, because it means that nothing bad's happened to her."

Police have asked anyone with information as to Rios' whereabouts to call the missing persons unit at 229-2907 or Secret Witness at 385-5555.