Two Arrested in Mobile Missing Family Investigation
By Dale Hines
Blue RAM Media/Gulf Coast News
February 11, 2026
MOBILE, AL.
Police and FBI agents have made arrests in Baldwin and Mobile Counties related to a missing mother and her children, but the victims are still missing.
For several days, multiple law enforcement agents have worked together, searching several areas and chasing down leads, and on Tuesday, Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch reported that two arrests were made related to the missing person’s investigation.
Aurelia Choc, 40, and her two children, 17-year-old Niurka Zule-Ta Choc and 2-year-old Anthony Garcia Choc, were last seen at their home on Friday, Jan. 30.
Monday, deputies and FBI agents went to two locations, a home on Apache Run Drive and a mobile home park off Old Pascagoula Road, both located in Mobile County.
Minutes later, in what appears to have been a coordinated effort, Baldwin County Sheriff’s deputies and FBI agents attempted a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by another wanted person in Bay Minette. The driver led them on a chase that ended with the driver being taken into custody but another person, a passenger, fled from law enforcement on foot into a wooded area.
That person was also soon apprehended.
Today, Sheriff Burch gave updates on the case during a press conference.
Burch updated where they were at in their investigation but said more work needs to be done to find those who are missing.
Burch reported that Juan Argueta has been arrested and charged with first-degree kidnapping in connection to the missing family but did not release further details.
The Sheriff reported that Silverio Garcia, one of the men apprehended, was reportedly in a relationship with the missing mother’s adult daughter.
He has been arrested only on a firearm charge.
Garcia was the employer of Aurelia, the missing mother, Burch said.
He said Garcia and the father of 2-year-old Anthony Garcia are related, with one being the other’s uncle.
Burch said Garcia is an illegal immigrant from Guatemala and was in possession of a handgun. He was charged with certain persons forbidden to possess a firearm and has a hold for ICE.
The sheriff said that further details cannot be released but that search warrants have been executed, including one that was taking place as he spoke. He said a black van that had been at the missing family’s residence was also seized and was being searched.
He said he hopes the arrests will lead to information about where Aurelia and her family are. “We’re hoping someone will tell us where they are,” he said. “Anytime you arrest someone, you’re in hopes they will tell you what occurred. Our main goal is to find them safely and bring them back home.”
“I’m hoping we’ll find them alive,” Burch said.
The FBI has been working closely with local authorities and Sara Jones, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Mobile Field Office, said with the updates, it is important for residents to know the investigation is far from over. “Our work here is not done,” she said. “Our work will not be done until we locate Aurelia, Niurka, and Anthony.”
Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood echoed that statement and said law enforcement will do everything they can to find the missing family.
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