Police Join Search for Runaway Jose

Fifteen-year-old José Veloso was missing for three months.

He slipped out the bedroom window of his grandparents' Reston, Va., home at two in the morning on Saturday, May 7, of last year.

José's grandparents had raised him and his year-older sister Daniela since they were born in Venezuela. The children's mother worked and their father left the family when both were infants. In 1997, when José was seven years old, the family migrated to the United States, settling in Reston.

Silvia and Mario, José's grandparents, took full charge of the pair five years ago when their mother died of cancer. Grandpa Mario works as a building engineer, and his wife Silvia, who is blind, cares for the kids and their quaint, two-story house, which she keeps immaculately clean.

The children speak Spanish at home and English at school.

By leaving home that night in May, José became one of some 200,000 Latinos who go missing in the United States annually, according to Department of Justice statistics and estimates by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

José's hair is black and cut short. He's thin and tall, about 5' 10" and still growing. He has a chocolate-milk complexion and clean, smooth facial features.

He's a great kid, according to the friends with whom he spent time with before running away. He had goals and ambitions, one friend said, working in auto mechanics among them. On weekends he used to accompany his grandmother to church and attend movies with his sister and cousins.

José's also a kid who was caught smoking marijuana and put on long-term suspension from South Lakes High School, where he was a freshman. Prior to running away, he spent his days at home with his grandmother, working with school-supplied tutors to continue his education.

The time at home may have driven José away. His cousin Joshua, 14, said he heard José was telling people he was treated like a slave, made to clean the house tirelessly. (José's sister Daniela contradicted, "My grandma cleans everything.")

Grandmother Silvia explained that she asked José to help with some of the house cleaning so he wouldn't sit in the basement watching television and eating all day. She laughed ...