Search on for missing Austin mom

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The search is on for a missing Austin mother last seen on March 26th.

Dozens of family members and friends of Julie Ann Gonzalez, 21, took to the streets outside Fairview Baptist Church Saturday to raise awareness about the missing Austin mother.

They passed out fliers, held posters plastered with her picture and sold barbecue to raise reward money.

"We are trying to get people to see her," explained Dora Cooper, Julie's aunt.  "Someone's got to know something, some ones got to have seen something."

 "We're hoping someone comes forward and says, 'yes, she's alive,'" said Margarita Solmine, Julie's aunt.

Gonzalez went missing last Friday.

Her family said she was last seen at her soon-to-be ex-husband's home.

The couple shares custody of their 2-year-old daughter, but instead of sticking to her routine of picking her daughter up, Gonzalez allegedly asked the father to hold on to the girl.

"She woke up Thursday, great day, beautiful day, said she couldn't wait to see her daughter, pick her up," said Sandra Soto, Julie's mother.

Days later, Julie's new car was found abandoned in a Walgreens parking lot.

Julie was nowhere to be found.

Gonzalez's family said she would have never left her daughter or her close-knit family.

"There is never a lack of communication in our family, so it just breaks my heart, I feel it in my gut, it just hurts," Solmine said.

Hope lives on that Julie will be found alive, yet, her family still fears the worst.

"I think that someone lured her or abducted her. Someone fooled her into believing something," Cooper said.

"Maybe she's somewhere she can't get to a phone, that's what I'm thinking, that she's going to come home," Soto added while choking back tears.

"I just hope that I open my door one day and she's walking down the street towards my house," said Michael Soto, Julie's cousin and close friend.

Austin Police are investigating Julie's disappearance, but her family said there has been little progress made in the case.

The family said they will continue to distribute fliers until they find Julie or find out what happened to her.

Anyone with any information is urged to contact APD.