SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — Mexican authorities in Northern Baja California are now working with the FBI looking into the disappearance of a Los Angeles firefighter.
Francisco Aguilar, 48, traveled from his home in Southern California to San Antonio del Mar, a coastal community located about 20 miles south of the border between the cities of Tijuana and Rosarito.
Aguilar owns a condo and had gone there to check on his property, which is often rented to visitors.
According to family members,m they have not heard from Aguilar since and that his phone has been turned off.
Relatives went to the Aguilar’s condo to see if they could locate him only to find the condo had been ransacked. The firefighter’s jeep and a motorcycle were also reported as stolen.
Martha Carmona Aguilar, his mother, said she often worried about her son going south of the border.
“I always get concerned about him going over there but I just want him back,” she said. “I miss my son. And I want to be sure that my granddaughters get their father back.”
Aguilar is an Army veteran who has worked for the LAFD for 20 years, he has two daughters.
“He was just so happy last week, talking about how going to Rosarito is just like paradise and how he loves having this freedom and spending more time with his family and just being there,” Amaris Aguilar, one of his daughters, said. “He’s been to every single volleyball game, every single event my whole life and I just don’t know what I would do without my dad.”
Family members have said they were told by Mexican police that foul play is likely involved.
In a statement, the FBI says its legal attaché in Mexico is involved in the investigation for the missing firefighter.
“The FBI routinely offers assistance to our Mexican counterparts who have jurisdiction over this situation as it occurred in Mexico,” the FBI said. “The FBI will continue to offer assistance and provide resources as requested by our Mexican law enforcement partners.”
