CA CA - Delfino "Lupe" Lopez Fajardo 47, truck fnd ransackd aft he was chasd by road rage drivr, last seen 63000 blk hwy 74, Mountain Center, 15 Aug 2024

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Riverside County Sheriff
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#MissingPerson- Delfino Guadalupe Lopez Fajardo If you have any information on Delfino’s whereabouts, please contact RSO dispatch at 800-950-2444. Thank you.

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Information from following linked video and article:

Delfino Guadalupe Lopez Fajardo, who goes by "Lupe," age 47, is a long time resident of Idyllwild, CA, and is married with two children. He has been a cook at the Red Kettle Restaurant for more than 20 years. He is highly regarded in his community and by his co-workers.

On August 15, he visited his sister in the hospital. LE told his wife that he may have nearly caused an accident while driving home, enraging another driver. He pulled into a gas station in the 63000 block of Hwy 74 in Mountain Center, and the other driver confronted him there. When the angry driver started pushing him, Lupe ran and jumped over a fence and hasn't been seen since. Riverside Sheriff's Office conducted a search of the area, but didn't locate him.

His truck was found in a different area, ransacked. The article didn't say where it was found. No description was given of the other driver.



Lupe is described as 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs around 200 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a blue shirt and gray sweatshorts.
 
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So he parked at a gas station, and then once someone believed to have followed him there started shoving him, he fled and eventually went over a fence. And he has not been found, but his car was found, which I take to mean it was found not at the gas station at which he had parked it. To move it, someone would have to have the keys. Were they left in the car or were they with Lupe?

I am surprised there is no mention of trying to find the man who had followed him. I hope they release gas station surveillance footage soon.
 
SEP 3, 2024
...his family posted the following announcement:

[...]

Please join us on TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 3 at 6 pm at Idyllwild town center (outside the red kettle) as we come together to light candles, share prayers and thoughts, and show our support for our beloved Lupe and his family. Your presence and support mean the world to us during this difficult time.

[...]
 
There hasn’t been new info from what I can tell, and none of the newer articles I’m looking at mention the apparent last time Lupe was seen, when he hopped a fence to evade a man. Are they walking that back?

The Hemet Sheriff’s station replied to a Facebook comment saying that the other party in the “road rage” incident has been “identified and interviewed.” I find it odd and troubling that that they aren’t publicizing that information, but they are sharing (IMO) passive aggressive posts about continuing to investigate. Pictures are great and all, but what do they actually represent? What is the current state of the investigation? They expect the public to come forward with information, and yet the public has not been made aware that the information about what Lupe was last seen doing (running away from a man) is apparently not relevant. Help from the public relies on keeping the case in the forefront, and with accurate information.

I know of course that law enforcement can’t always share things because of investigational integrity, or because it’s just not efficient to do so. But this doesn’t seem to even meet the basic standard of what other law enforcement agencies do these days.
 
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There hasn’t been new info from what I can tell, and none of the newer articles I’m looking at mention the apparent last time Lupe was seen, when he hopped a fence to evade a man. Are they walking that back?

The Hemet Sheriff’s station replied to a Facebook comment saying that the other party in the “road rage” incident has been “identified and interviewed.” I find it odd and troubling that that they aren’t publicizing that information, but they are sharing (IMO) passive aggressive posts about continuing to investigate. Pictures are great and all, but what do they actually represent? What is the current state of the investigation? They expect the public to come forward with information, and yet the public has not been made aware that the information about what Lupe was last seen doing (running away from a man) is apparently not relevant. Help from the public relies on keeping the case in the forefront, and with accurate information.

I know of course that law enforcement can’t always share things because of investigational integrity, or because it’s just not efficient to do so. But this doesn’t seem to even meet the basic standard of what other law enforcement agencies do these days.
Lupe doesn’t seem like the kind of man who would disappear? He’s worked at the Red Kettle for over twenty years, is well known and loved there, married with a family. I’m confused by this whole scenario in which he is said to have nearly caused an accident, then is pursued and confronted by a angry road rager after pulling over at a gas station.

The road rager gets physical, Lupe jumps over a fence in an attempt to get away and is never seen again. His vehicle is later found in a different area and was ransacked.

Help me make sense of the above.
 
Lupe doesn’t seem like the kind of man who would disappear? He’s worked at the Red Kettle for over twenty years, is well known and loved there, married with a family. I’m confused by this whole scenario in which he is said to have nearly caused an accident, then is pursued and confronted by a angry road rager after pulling over at a gas station.

The road rager gets physical, Lupe jumps over a fence in an attempt to get away and is never seen again. His vehicle is later found in a different area and was ransacked.

Help me make sense of the above.
I really want to know how they know about the road rage and fence jumping. Were there cameras? I would expect there to be cameras at any modern gas station, but if there were, there should also be footage of the truck leaving, which is not mentioned anywhere. If there weren’t cameras, there must have been a witness. A witness saw someone chase a man over a fence and just…let it be? The man never comes back for his car and the witness didn’t notice someone else driving it away?

I suppose LE doesn’t outright say that they’ve cleared the road rager of involvement, but I would hope that if they suspected he was involved, they would have put out information about him as a POI rather than staying silent. But how could they clear the road rager, really? The only reasons I can come with is they either have evidence that Lupe left the gas station without the road rager or they have reason to believe that Lupe hopped the fence and got lost in the wilderness out there or came upon something he shouldn’t have and met with foul play.

But the latter wouldn’t explain why LE has apparently not released information on what areas they have searched for him. I have been able to find no substantive updates beyond that comment from the Sheriff’s office.
 
Off to bed, but I quickly looked up the location, on my phone so can’t really get a good look at the surroundings. Should also be cameras for sure. It’s the Pit Stop, market and gas combo.

 
This new article has a bit of new information.


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"He's a good man. Fed the community, gave firewood, gave my aunties and uncles work when they needed work," said Fernando Lopez, the missing man's nephew.

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Days later, his truck was found abandoned near the Santa Rosa Reservation. Investigators have confirmed that the vehicle was ransacked but searches in the area have thus far proven unsuccessful.

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She's worried that he's lost or hurt and in need of help, especially now that his cell phone has started ringing again after weeks of being sent straight to voicemail.

They believe that he, or whoever has his phone, turned it back on, giving them some hope that he's still trying to come back home.


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The article also mentions that there is another missing man from the same area, whose car was also found abandoned near Hwy 74, but, at this time, the Riverside County Sheriff's Office doesn't think there is a connection. The man is Scott Michael Herr, age 50, who was last seen July 20, 2024 at a job site in Mountain Center. There isn't much information to be found about him, but I will start a thread for him.
 
If his phone has been turned back on, they can locate it? Such an odd story, maybe there is more that isn’t being said to protect his privacy.

Holding out hope for a positive ending.
 

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