- Mother-of-two Melissa Ortiz-Rodriguez, 31, has been missing since April
- Her estranged husband made contradictory initial statements to police but has now hired a lawyer and will not speak to police
- Ortiz-Rodriguez had been separated from Jose Rodriguez since she discovered he had fathered a baby with another woman
- He had been living with his new girlfriend when his wife disappeared
- Rodriguez was the last person to see Ortiz-Rodriguez
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A Pennsylvania mother of two has been missing for six months and the case grows increasingly cold as repeated attempts by police to question her estranged husband - the last person to see her - are refused.
Melissa Ortiz-Rodriguez, 31, was last seen by Jose Rodriguez at their Collingdale home on April 19, according to initial statements from Rodriguez.
He reported his wife missing four days later when Ortiz-Rodriguez failed to pick their two daughters, aged eight and 11, up from school or turn up for her first day at a new job.
Missing mother: Melissa Ortiz-Rodriguez disappeared on April 19 and has not been seen since
Loving mom: Since she disappeared, Ortiz-Rodriguez has not contacted either of her beloved daughters, something friends and family say she would never do
The pair had been separated since Ortiz-Rodriguez discovered Rodriguez had fathered a child with another woman but relations had reportedly been warmer before Ortiz-Rodriguez's disappearance and he had been spending time at the family home.
Police investigating the case have been stymied by Rodriguez's refusal to answer questions about inconsistencies in his initial statements to police.
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ShareRodriguez had one interview with police after reporting Ortiz-Rodriguez missing. Since then, he has hired an attorney and refused to undertake a polygraph test or submit to further questioning.
Melissa Ortiz-Rodriguez had planned to stay with friends in New Jersey on the weekend of April 19, planning to leave her car at home and take public transport. She never arrived.
Rodriguez told Detective Daniel Leight that he had left the house first that day, but later told police his wife left the house first to drop the children off at school. He said she was wearing gray pyjama pants and a t-shirt, but later said she was wearing a yellow dress.
Troubled marriage: Ortiz-Rodriguez filed for a protection order from her husband following episodes of physical and emotional abuse
Leight told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Ortiz-Rodriguez had seen an attorney about getting a divorce from her husband before she disappeared.
The two had been separated since Ortiz-Rodriguez found a receipt for a baby carseat and bottles and learned her husband had been having a relationship with a fellow Amtrak employee named Sarah Seclow, and that the two had had a baby.
Court records also show a troubled relationship before Rodriguez's extra-marital affair.
In February, Ortiz-Rodriguez filed a protection-of-abuse order against her husband. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, he had previously locked Ortiz-Rodriguez and the children out of the house and disassembled parts of her car engine.
When she'd tried to leave him, he had ripped the suitcase from her hand and strewn its contents over the front lawn, broken her cell phone and pushed her.
She withdrew the complaint two weeks later. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer she had told a friend that he 'was being nicer' to her, and had allowed him back into the house.
Investigators want to know where Rodriguez spent the weekend when his wife was supposed to be in New Jersey.
Rodriguez had been living in New Jersey with his new girlfriend and their baby, but the week before Melissa Ortiz-Rodriguez disappeared, he was in Collingdale with her and their two children.
Police have executed search warrants on both the Collingwood home and the home Rodriguez shares with Seclow in New Jersey as well as his Amtrak vehicle, and obtained cell phone records for him and Ortiz-Rodriguez.
Hopeful: Ortiz-Rodriguez (top right) was excited to be starting a new job and had seen an attorney about divorcing her husband before she disappeared
'In his statement he claimed he left for work at 8, 8:30 that Friday morning,' said Leicht told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
'I have him at home [in Collingdale] at 12-12:30 [pm] that day.'
Rodriguez also told police that he spoke to Ortiz-Rodriguez several times over the weekend, but records don't show any phone calls occurring between the two.
Further mystifying police is the matter of cleaning supplies including two mop heads and a gallon of floor cleaner that Rodrguez obtained from his place of work.
Cleaning supplies: Police want to know what Rodriguez did with two mop head and a gallon of cleaning liquid he obtained from his place of work the weekend his wife disappeared
The Delco Times reports that Rodriguez signed the supplies out of the New Brunswick, New Jersey Amtrak facility where he works on April 21.
Video surveillance shows Rodriguez driving away in his red pick-up truck with another person in the passenger seat. Police want to talk to that person.
Collingdale Police Chief Robert Adams says that if Rodriguez doesn't have anything to hide, he should be helping the police with their investigation.
'If he didn't do anything, his lawyer should have him here helping us,' said Adams told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
'The man has not reached out to me even once to ask about the status of the case,' he said.
'I have heard nothing from his side of the family whatsoever or his friends.'
Meanwhile, Ortiz-Rodriguez's family and friends contact police for updates on the status of the case several times a week. In the case of her mother Olga Ortiz, it's every day.
'We are still in the darkness. We haven't gotten to the light,' said Ortiz. 'I keep hoping and praying that she is still alive,' she told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Adding to the family's misery is the fact that Rodriguez won't let them see Ortiz's granddaughters.
Since his wife's disappearance, Jose Rodriguez has been living in New Jersey. According to NBC, the same day he reported Ortiz-Rodriguez missing, tried to transfer the couple's two children to a North Jersey school.
'Mr Rodriguez is as concerned as everybody else about the whereabouts of his child's mother,' said his attorney Michael Diamondstein.
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'He's done everything he can to assist the police.'
According to police, Rodriguez has not participated in local area searches for his wife and has returned only to take possessions from the Collingdale home.
Melissa Ortiz-Rodriguez's neighbor Kathy Bauer told NBC that Rodriguez was at the home in May, and when she asked about the case to her that police had found his wife.
'I was so happy to see him,' said Bauer. 'He said they found her and were questioning her. But he wasn't real excited, just nonchalant.'
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Rodriguez has put the Collingdale home on the market.
Ortiz-Rodriguez, described as being five-feet-five-inches and 130lb with brown hair, remains missing.
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