Investigators facing the challenge of building a murder case without the victim's body are pleading with the public for any scrap of information they might have in the death of Kira Trevino of St. Paul.

The St. Paul Police Department on Friday set up a special tip line to help collect any information that might lead to her body, or give a better sense of the movements of her husband, Jeffery Trevino, who has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder in her death.

"We know somebody out there has seen her, might have seen something suspicious, something that might be very minute," said Sgt. Paul Paulos, spokesman for the St. Paul Police Department, who announced creation of the tip line on Friday. "But we really need those answers to the questions that we have."

The phone number — 651-560-3277 — will be answered 24 hours a day, and text messages can also be sent to it. Callers can remain anonymous, but are asked to give their names and contact information in confidence to police.

Trevino, 30, was reported missing by her husband, Jeffery D. Trevino, 39, last Sunday after she had been gone for two days.

A search of the couple's East Side home in the 500 block of E. Iowa Av. revealed signs of a bloody struggle. Investigators concluded that she sustained more than one forceful blow, and that evidence, along with inconsistent statements he gave police, led to his arrest, authorities say.

Stan Schmidt — Star Tribune, Star Tribune
St. Paul Police Sgt. Paul Paulos said Friday that a special tip-line number — 651-560-3277 — had been set up as police look for clues from the public into the disappearance and presumed murder of Kira Trevino, 30, shown in the top poster with her husband, Jeffery Trevino, 39, who is in jail in lieu of $1 million bail.

Bail was set at $1 million on Thursday by Ramsey County District Judge Teresa R. Warner, and he is being held in the county jail.

Police are looking for information that might help, Paulos said. Most of the questions center on Trevino's whereabouts in a window of time between about 9 p.m. Feb. 21 and 9:45 a.m. the next morning.

Kira Trevino last used her cellphone that Thursday night, and video from a security camera at the Mall of America, where she worked, showed her car entering the parking lot on Feb. 22.

Investigators are also trying to trace the movements of Kira Trevino's white Chevrolet Cobalt, license plate XCC 572.

Paulos said the vehicle could have traveled in a 100-mile radius of the Twin Cities, so the public's help is needed over a wide-ranging area.

The information will not only help investigators, he said, but ease the grief of Kira Trevino's family and friends — who held a prayer vigil on Friday evening in Weston, Wis., near her native Wausau.

"We need closure here," Paulos said. "This is an extremely violent act, and we need closure."

Jim Anderson • 651-925-5039 Twitter: @StribJAnderson