Rosarito Beach BC: Arrests made in the Missing Los Angeles Firefighter case, 2 Mexican Nationals last seen with Aguilar

 Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat

Young couple used a “date” scam to lure the firefighter into trap

Fanny Gabriela Gómez Castellanos and Santos González Casillas

Two people have been arrested in the case of Los Angeles firefighter, Francisco Aguilar, who went missing from Rosarito, Mexico, in August.

Details are not yet available, but the arrests were said to have been taken place last night, while the suspects were driving on the highway connecting Rosarito Beach, where Aguilar has a home, and Tijuana.

Baja California state attorney general office say the detained duo were the last two people seen with Aguilar.

Using only initials for suspects last name as is customary in Mexico, the suspects have been identified only as Santos ‘N’ and Fanny ‘N.’

Aguilar’s daughters, Amaris and Bella, said that when the Rosarito property was checked, which Aguilar rents out, after he was missing, the property had been totally ransacked.

AG says that Aguilar had a date with Gomez to entice him into a trap where she and Gonzales kidnapped him.

His truck, motorcycle, laptop are among the items still missing, along with Aguilar.

From Zeta Tijuana (Zetas is one of the rare Mexican newsites that will publish full names of suspects):

Thursday, October 8, a couple was arrested for allegedly behind the disappearance of Frank Aguilar, the firefighter from Los Angeles, California, who was abducted on August 20.

Among the evidence seized were  the bank card of the missing person, however, the person remains without being located.

At a press conference held on Friday, October 9, Hiram Sánchez Zamora, central prosecutor of the State Attorney General's Office (FGE) reported that at around 7:20 pm on Thursday, Fanny “N” and Santos “N” were arrested.

They are Fanny Gabriela Gómez Castellanos, 32 years old, and Santos González Casillas, 27 years old.

At the conference, Sánchez explained that the FGE agents arrested them on the free highway to Playas de Rosarito, after an intense investigation, when reviewing their belongings, they found the bank card of Francisco Michael Aguilar Cornejo, better known as Frank Aguilar.

“The bank card belonging to Frank was found among their belongings and they were subsequently questioned about Frank's whereabouts, after which they flatly denied having knowledge of the disappearance and denied knowing Frank,”said the Central Prosecutor.

The complaint of the disappearance was filed by Alfredo Rubén Cornejo Trujillo, the victim's uncle, who reported that his nephew arrived from Los Angeles at a house in Playas de Tijuana on August 20. They spoke on the phone and he promised to accompany him the next day, to help him make repairs to his home in San Antonio del Mar. But he never arrived.

The complainant added that the night before Frank told him that he was going to see a friend in the Misión del Mar subdivision, in Playas de Rosarito and since then his whereabouts have been unknown.

Through the investigations, it was concluded that on the afternoon of August 20, Frank agreed to leave a bar near his home to Misión del Mar, to meet Fanny.

Investigators located bloodstains on the public highway, near the point where the meeting took place, and expert evidence determined that the blood was from Frank Aguilar.

Neighbors of the town reported that on the night of August 20, detonations of a firearm were heard, for which it is presumed that the victim was shot.

"Fanny summoned Frank to the Misión del Mar neighborhood in Playas de Rosarito, while Santos was to abduct him." said the state official.

Frank Aguilar's house in Tijuana had been ransacked and his vehicle or motorcycle was no longer there.

For this reason, the couple arrested and face the charge of forced disappearance of persons, which has a penalty of 25 to 50 years in prison.

Because Frank Aguilar has not yet been located, authorities will continue to investigate the case until they can locate the Los Angeles firefighter and investigate if there are more people involved.

We continue working on its location, we hope that now that we have the people who participated in it, they will provide more information that will allow us to locate him,  concluded the Central Prosecutor.

From AFN:

Both detainees have so far refused to declare the location of Frank Aguilar, so according to the law, the Prosecutor's Office can charge them only with allegedly being responsible for the forced disappearance committed by individuals, as they refuse to talk about the location of the body or of the victim.

Sánchez Zamora specified that the vehicles of the retired firefighter have not yet been located, both the truck and his motorcycle, although he stressed that the crime of forced disappearance carries a penalty of between 25 and 50 years in prison.