Placerville police said Thursday they have identified the biological parents of all the children involved in the investigation and that they will be in contact with them.
Police said they are purposefully releasing few details in the case, explaining: “There is very sensitive information that if released, could jeopardize the investigation.”
Father’s friend describes day Placerville boy went missing
Also from the article:
Updated: 11:24 PM PST Jan 16, 2020
Marlei Martinez
“PLACERVILLE, Calif. —
Brian Hinton said Saturday started off as a regular workday. The electric lineman was working alongside Jordan Piper, the father of 11-year-old Roman Lopez who was found dead that night.
‘Everything was normal. You wouldn’t have expected anything. It was like any other day,’ Hinton said.
Roman was reported missing Saturday morning. He was found dead hours later. Police said
Roman’s death is suspicious and are investigating.
Investigators said
Roman’s autopsy was completed Tuesday but did not release any details.
‘We do not have the pathologist’s report and will not be providing any further information in reference to the autopsy,’ Placerville police said in a news release Thursday.
Both Hinton and Piper are from out of state. Hinton said he met Piper in October when they both started working in Placerville and became friends. Hinton said they are linemen working on a fire-hardening project to rebuild infrastructure for the electrical grid.
According to Placerville police, Piper moved from Michigan to California for work. He brought his wife Lindsay Piper, his son Roman and seven other children along with him.
Hinton said Jordan Piper and his family lived in several rentals before settling into a house on Coloma Street in Placerville after Thanksgiving. He said that foothills neighborhood is where he ended up searching after he noticed Jordan Piper left work early on Saturday around 11 a.m.
‘I said, “Hey, where’s Jordan at?” He said, “Oh, he had a family emergency. He had to run home,”’ Hinton said.
About three hours later, Hinton got a text message from Jordan Piper with photos of Roman.
‘That’s when he informed us, “My son’s missing.” You could tell that he was upset on the phone. He had a hard time talking,’ Hinton said.
Hinton met Piper at the Home Depot parking lot in Placerville to help with the search.
‘His cheeks were flush. His eyes were red. You could tell that he was crying. You could tell that he was shook up,’ Hinton said. ‘He told us that his son, they believe he ran away, that they’re certain he left between midnight and 6 a.m.’
About 40 coworkers and law enforcement teams helped search for Roman until around 10:30 p.m.
‘We went over near the house and started searching on foot, knocking on doors, looking in sheds, looking in dumpsters, garages, trailers, anywhere that we thought he might be,’ Hinton said.
He said the next morning he was shocked to learn that police had found Roman’s body. Hinton is now on the road heading back home to Ohio because their job in Placerville is done. Days later, he said he is unable to make sense of what happened.
[SBM]”
I don’t even know what to think at this point. But I can’t look at that pic again. Poor little guy.
