Police have found the burnt-out car of a single mum who vanished without a trace after leaving her kids with a friend.
Amanda de Castro Lancha Lara went missing after leaving her children, aged five and 10, with a female friend nine days ago.
Her worried-sick mum, Mércia Lara, told local media: “She left saying she just needed to go out.
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“Left the children with a friend who lives with her, and didn’t come back.
“She was in her car.”
Amanda, 31, is from Santos, Brazil, but has been living with her kids in São Paulo for two years.
She doesn’t work, as she gets financial support from her ex-husband.
Amanda reportedly left home at 3 pm on 5 March.
She sent her friend a message around 8 pm telling her she’d take the kids out for dinner as soon as she got back.
It was the last she was heard from.
Mércia says it’s the first time her daughter’s gone missing and says she always answers her phone.
She said: “Always outgoing, a great mother, always helping everyone.
“Honestly, I don’t know what happened.”
Police on patrol found her burnt-out VW Gol on a roadside in another part of São Paulo on Tuesday (12 Mar) night.
The case has been registered as arson.
The Missing Persons Department has said: “All appropriate measures are being taken to locate the victim.”
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