Francisco Aguilar, the 20-year veteran of the Los Angeles Fire Department who went missing in Mexico in August, has been found dead, fire officials confirmed Wednesday afternoon.
LAFD Chief Ralph Terrazas said authorities recently identified human remains found in Mexico as Aguilar, but gave few other details about his death.
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"This is a tragic outcome to a case we were hoping would end differently," he said in an emailed statement. "On behalf of the men and women of the LAFD, we send our deepest condolences to Firefighter Aguilar's family and we stand ready to assist them in the days to come."
The FBI had been assisting Mexican authorities in the search for Aguilar, who officials believed may have been kidnapped from his Rosarito condo.
Aguilar visited the area frequently and had been in contact with his family members through WhatsApp and FaceTime, but he suddenly stopped communicating with them, the family told KCAL-TV Channel 9. When relatives went to his condo, they found his vehicle gone and his home ransacked.
"We were on FaceTime the other day, and he was on the beach and just talking ... about how it was so much fun and this was a little taste of what retirement would be like for him," his daughter Amaris told the station in August. "I just pray with every fiber in my being that my father returns to us."
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