<i>Los Lobos</i> Wife Still Missing

The wife of Los Lobos singer-guitarist Cesar Rosas remained missing Tuesday as Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives investigated her half-brother in the disappearance.

Sandra Ann Rosas, 47, vanished Saturday night and half-brother Gabriel Gomez was arrested Monday for investigation of kidnapping. Her van, a side window broken, was found Monday on a street in nearby La Puente.

Minute traces of what could be blood were found in the van but might have come from Gomez, who had upper body injuries at the time of his arrest, said Deputy Boris Nikolof.

Rosas said all was well when he called his wife Saturday night from New Orleans, where the band was on tour.

"We spoke and everything was cool at home," Rosas said Monday outside his home.

"I'd like to ask for everybody to say a prayer for her, that she's still alive," said Rosas.

Band member David Hidalgo came by to lend support.

The Sheriff's Department said there was a parole hold on Gomez, 39, of Whittier, but officials declined to release his criminal record.

Mrs. Rosas was last seen at home by her three daughters about 8:30 p.m. Saturday. When they returned about 11 p.m., they found the front door open, her van gone and broken glass from the vehicle in the driveway, Nikolof said.

One of the daughters called her mother's cell phone and overheard a conversation between Mrs. Rosas and someone who sounded like Gomez that led the girl to believe her mother was being held against her will, Nikolof said.

The van was found parked on a residential street near Workman High School in La Puente, where a sign noted the school is "Home of the Lobos."

Eleven-year-old Melanie Mullen, a friend of one of the daughters, said Gomez sometimes lived in a trailer at the back of the Rosas house.

"He was so nice to me every time I saw him," she said. "They seemed like they were really close."

The disappearance came as the band was touring in support of its latest album, "This Time," a mixture of rhythm-and-blues, guitar rock, Mexican ballads and other Latin-based styles. The tour was to have continued on from Louisiana to Georgia, Florida, Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota during November.

Los Lobos was formed in 1973 by Rosas, Hidalgo, drummer Louie Perez and bassist Conrad Lozano, all friends since their days at East Los Angeles' Garfield High School. Saxophone player Steve Berlin joined in 1984.

The band has received acclaim for such albums as How Will the Wolf Survive? and By the Light of the Moon but is most widely known for its recording of 1950s teen idol Ritchie Valens' songs for La Bamba, the 1987 film about Valens' life.