US-linked influencer missing in Mexico after viral video shows apparent gunpoint abduction
By Rocío Muñoz-Ledo, Avery Schmitz, Michael Rios, CNN
Mexico City (CNN) — Mexican authorities are working to find a content creator with ties to the US who disappeared in the Mexican state of Sinaloa this week, after a viral video appeared to show her being abducted at gunpoint in broad daylight.
Footage purportedly filmed by cameras on her Tesla vehicle — a lilac Cybertruck — appear to show the moment several armed men violently force Nicole “La Nicholette” Pardo into another car.
The Sinaloa Attorney General’s Office has circulated a missing persons bulletin, saying that Pardo was last seen on January 20 in the Isla Musalá neighborhood of Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa in northwestern Mexico.
CNN has geolocated the footage of the apparent abduction to that same neighborhood.
CNN has contacted the Sinaloa Attorney General’s Office to confirm the authenticity of the video and whether it is part of the investigation, and is waiting for a reply.
Mexican Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said Thursday that the vehicles allegedly involved in Pardo’s disappearance are being tracked and that state authorities reported the incident immediately to the federal government. “We will provide detailed information until she is recovered,” Harfuch said during President Claudia Sheinbaum’s daily press briefing.
According to what appears to be her Instagram account, the young woman splits her time between Culiacán and Phoenix, Arizona. Public records show she has an address in Phoenix.
CNN has reached out to the Phoenix Police Department for comment.
A spokesperson for the US State Department said it is aware of reports of the situation and is actively monitoring it.
The spokesperson did not explicitly confirm if Pardo is an American citizen but said: “The Trump Administration has no greater priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens, and the State Department stands ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance to Americans in need abroad.”
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office told CNN that Mexican authorities have not reached out to offer to collaborate on the investigation but said that it “stands ready to assist in any way possible.”
Pardo is 20 years old, according to the Sinaloa Attorney General’s Office. She is a prominent voice online, where she has amassed more than 180,000 followers on Instagram and more than 145,000 on TikTok. She also has a YouTube channel and an OnlyFans account.
Her posts often show aspects of her personal life, including buying luxury vehicles, and her participation in local events, like the Saladazo, a motorized route through rural roads and natural areas south of Culiacán.
She is featured in the 2022 corrido song “La Muchacha del Salado,” recorded by Grupo Arriesgado, which has accumulated over 27 million views on YouTube.
La Nicholette’s disappearance comes amid heightened violence against women in Sinaloa and across Mexico. According to official figures from the Attorney General’s Office, the state ended 2025 with 72 femicides, the highest number recorded in the last seven years and more than double the 31 recorded cases in 2024.
More broadly, Sinaloa has seen 7,000 of the 132,000 disappearances reported across Mexico since the first cases were recorded in 1952, according to a national register.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
