Texas Bureau of Public Safety Caitlin Denison
Caitlin Denison is a Reno Nevada woman who went missing in January 2018 after saying she was going to Texas with a man her family doesn’t know.
There was briefly hope that Denison might be found when her sister, Rachael Denison, told Daily Mail she may be the frightened woman in handcuffs who was captured on surveillance video at a Sunrise Ranch, Texas home.
However, authorities now say they have found the woman in the video, according to ABC 13. They haven’t named her or said whether it’s Denison. But they said she’s from Dallas County, and Denison is from Reno, Nevada. Furthermore, the woman in the video is 32 and Denison is 25. Police say the woman’s name is not being released because she is a domestic violence victim; her boyfriend committed suicide in the home where authorities found her in a story in which the details are still emerging.
Rachael Denison had told Daily Mail that she thinks the woman in the much-viewed video is Caitlin, and she says tattoos on the woman in the surveillance video match Caitlin Denison’s tattoos. The video was released by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office in August 2018 because they were seeking information on the woman’s identity.
The Texas Bureau of Public Safety had already listed Denison as an endangered missing person.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Caitlin Told Her Family She Was Going to Texas With a Man She Just Met & Then Disappeared
Caitlin Denison
Denison’s family members have been looking for her since January 2018. A June 2018 news story by CBS 7 reported that she told her family she was going to fly to Midland, Texas with a man she had just met.
However, that’s all the information that Denison’s family has on the man, and Caitlin hasn’t been seen or heard from since that time. She met the man in Reno, Nevada, where she lived, the news station reported, adding that Caitlin’s last words to her sister were, “She said ‘this guy makes me scared for my life.’”
Her full name is Caitlin Marie Denison.
2. Authorities Released the Disturbing Video of a Woman in Handcuffs
You can watch the disturbing surveillance video above.
Jennie Drude, the homeowner who first shared the video, wrote on Facebook, “This girl rang the door bell of several neighbors in Sunrise Ranch, montgomery, tx on 8/24/18 around 3am. She looked to be coming from the back of the neighborhood wearing only a T-shirt, no shoes, and has what appears to be broken restraints on both wrists. The video also shows she was hiding from someone and being very quiet. When neighbors got to there doors, she was gone. This girl belongs to someone. She has people. Family. Someone must be missing her. Please call our local police with any tips!” More than 2 million people have viewed the post.
The Sheriff’s Department is seeking information and had not commented on the claims the woman might be Caitlin Denison before the suicide occurred and the woman was found. “The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the suspicious incident that occurred in Montgomery, Texas,” the sheriff’s office said on Facebook. “If you have any information regarding this or if you know the woman or if yoy are the woman in the pictures please contact us.”
You can also contact the Missing Persons Clearinghouse Texas Department of Public Safety at (512) 424-5074 or through the Helpline:(800) 346-3243.
3. A Friend Says Caitlin Was Pregnant & Wouldn’t Vanish on Her Own
Emily Watson, who identified herself on social media as a friend of Caitlin Denison, also wrote that the woman in the video is believed to be Denison.
“When Caitlin cried, her mouth made this shape,” she wrote. “Caitlin had a silly walk, which the girl has in the video. Caitlin has a tattoo on her forearm of a Libra scale, and a tattoo on her knuckle. Both of which can faintly be seen.”
The post says that Caitlin was suspected to be a month pregnant when she went missing and appears pregnant in the video.
She added, “Caitlin is short, very small/slim. She has a freckle right below her lip on the right (I believe) side. Before she left, her hair was growing out but had bleach blonde ends. She knows her sister’s and her dad’s numbers by heart. She talked to her sister every day. It is EXTREMELY unlikely that Caitlin would just drop everything and not continue to contact her sister, which is why we believe she is in danger, and why we believe the girl in the video is her.”
4. Caitlin Has Tattoos That Say ‘Alien’ & ‘M’
Caitlin Denison
The Texas Department of Public Safety has been seeking the public’s help in finding the missing woman. “Ms. Denison has a petite build and was last seen wearing a fur vest over a black shirt, black leggings with braiding down the sides of the legs and furry boots,” the department says on its website.
“She has a tattoo on her left knuckle of the word ‘Alien’ and the letter ‘M’, a tattoo on her right forearm of a libra scale, 2 piercings in her nose on each side, a piercing in her bottom lip, a tongue piercing and medusa piercing, and scars on her legs and arms. Ms. Denison flew to Texas from Reno, Nevada with an unknown adult male, who resides in Midland, Texas.”
The website lists Denison as “endangered” and says she’s 19-years-old.
5. Authorities Canvassed the Area Looking for the Woman in the Video
An image of the woman in the surveillance video
On August 26, 2018, which was three days before Caitlin’s sister claimed she was the woman in the surveillance video, authorities wrote in a press release that they had not found any missing women in the area who matched the woman’s description.
They had canvassed the area, interviewed residents and people at businesses, and done a door-to-door check in the area to no avail, the press release said. Police said the homeowner was awakened by the sound of the doorbell and later reviewed their home surveillance camera, discovering the images of the woman. The woman was seen in the Sunrise Ranch Subdivision in Montgomery, Texas.
Another woman told KPRC-TV that her doorbell rang too. “We were dead asleep in our beds. My husband was woken up by doorbell ring. It rang probably 20 to 30 times. He walked outside no one was in sight. It’s like she disappeared in thin air,” she told the news station.