KATE FELDMAN
New York Daily News
LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles County firefighter who went missing almost two weeks ago is likely the victim of a “violent kidnapping,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday.
Francisco Aguilar, 48, was reported missing by his family on Aug. 21 when he failed to check in after a trip to his condo in Rosarito, Mexico, something they said he always does when he heads south.
After they couldn’t get in touch with him, Aguilar’s family went to the condo, only to find it ransacked,” according to CBS Los Angeles.
His car was also missing.
“I want to say very clearly to anyone who would kidnap a member of our fire department that this is a member not just of our city government family, but of our community here in Los Angeles,” Garcetti said during a press conference Wednesday, according to CBS Los Angeles.
“If this message gets to anyone who would dare kidnap an Angeleno who serves the people of Los Angeles, let him go and make sure he is able to safely return to our city and to his family.”
Mexican authorities echoed the idea that Aguilar, a 20-year veteran of the Los Angeles Fire Department, had been kidnapped.
“We are working with technical personnel to establish his last instance when his freedom was taken,” Hiram Sanchez, the head prosecutor in the state of Baja California, told KRQE Wednesday.
“We have found a lot of evidence that leads us to believe this was an act of violence, nevertheless we have not determined for sure this is what happened to him.”
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