CA CA - Nick Vigil, 38, Fortuna, 25 Feb 2020

[mlhenn]

Fortuna Man Missing Since February; Police Seek Public’s Assistance – Redheaded Blackbelt

•last seen wearing Nike black shoes, black short socks, khaki pocketed shorts, a black belt, a white t-shirt, and a chocolate brown hoodie
•6’ 1’’, weighing 250 lbs, and having brown eyes. •he shaves his head and doesn’t have a beard or a mustache.
•he also had a black backpack with his laptop and his keys to everything.
•left his mother‘a home without indicating where he was going and never came back.
•his mother was told by a close friend of Vigil that he was supposed to go to his house that day to pick up a check; never arrived.
•last known movements on Feb 25 was a cell phone ping (in the vicinity of Blue Lake’s Titlow Rd)
•the gray 2006 Ford F250 he was driving was discovered abandoned in the Weitchpec area by a forester who passed the vehicle several times over the following days and saw signs the vehicle was getting burglarized.
•FPD and HCSO have conducted ground searches
•LE encourages “anybody that has seen or heard from him, maybe somebody who saw him at a gas station, a store, potentially anyone that might know him” to reach out to their agency.

If anyone knows anything about Vigil’s whereabouts, please contact the Fortuna Police Department at (707) 725-7550.

•a $5,000 reward to anyone who provides information that leads to Nick’s return.

 

[mlhenn]

Fortuna Man Missing Since February; Police Seek Public’s Assistance – Redheaded Blackbelt




gray 2006 Ford F250 Nick was driving that morning was discovered abandoned in the Weitchpec area shown here

 

[mlhenn]

Family Asks for Help in Locating Fortuna Man Missing Since Late February – Redheaded Blackbelt

This article states the type of phone he had on him along with his backpack & brand of laptop.

He had a Samsung smart phone and his HP laptop in a black backpack.

 

[mlhenn]

During This Trying Time: One Family Has an Additional Worry, Their Loved One Is Missing – Redheaded Blackbelt

An additional link
It’s dated March 26.

 

[mlhenn]

Fortuna Man Missing Since February; Police Seek Public’s Assistance – Redheaded Blackbelt

Noted:
•In the days before his disappearance, Vigil had been in Las Vegas for a mixed-martial-arts event and had won a significant amount of money, his mother explained. She remembered that he got home around 3:00 a.m. on the night of February 24 and was out the door early the next morning.
•LE learned in mid-April that his vehicle had been abandoned

 

[tarabull]

Also from the link above by mlhenn

Snipped...
...Nick’s mother, explained all photographs do not reflect the nearly 50 pounds of weight loss he had accomplished before going missing.
...Frisiello explained that her son was a regular at Blue Lake and Bear River Casinos. After surveillance footage and interviews were conducted, Frisiello said there was no indication Vigil visited either of those establishments the day he disappeared. According to Fortuna Police Department’s Lieutenant Matt Eberhardt and Detective Ryan Richardson, both casinos have been contacted and fully cooperated with the investigation.
...Sheriff’s Office to conduct a thorough ground search of both Vigil’s property in Weitchpec and the site where law enforcement learned in mid-April that his vehicle had been abandoned. Vigil’s mother, said her son’s property showed signs of being ransacked or broken into in her son’s absence.

 

[tarabull]

CA - CA- Virgil Owen Bussell, Jr.,52, Weitchpec, 25 March 2020

(ETA: missing a month apart both their trucks found without them...Virgil was in the Weitchpec area cutting wood and lived in Hoopa...FWIW)

 

[TatianaBarbie]

This is really concerning--two men missing, one month apart, with abandoned vehicles, in this remote location. According to Wikipedia, Weitchpec is an unincorporated community within the Yurok reservation in Humboldt County, California. Here is a map, using the locations from the OP. It is about a hundred mile trip, 2 hours and 19 minutes:


Google Maps

No addresses were given, so the route is approximate. Legend:

• Fortuna - Vigil's mother's house
• Titlow Hill Road - where cell phone pinged
• Weitchpec- area where vehicle was found

The information in the OP actually said Titlow Road in Blue Lake. There was no Titlow Road in Blue Lake, but there is Titlow Hill Road, which is located between the towns of Blue Lake and Willow Creek. If this is incorrect, please revise the map!

 

[ADKGemini]

This is really concerning--two men missing, one month apart, with abandoned vehicles, in this remote location. According to Wikipedia, Weitchpec is an unincorporated community within the Yurok reservation in Humboldt County, California. Here is a map, using the locations from the OP. It is about a hundred mile trip, 2 hours and 19 minutes:

View attachment 245053
Google Maps

No addresses were given, so the route is approximate. Legend:

• Fortuna - Vigil's mother's house
• Titlow Hill Road - where cell phone pinged
• Weitchpec- area where vehicle was found

The information in the OP actually said Titlow Road in Blue Lake. There was no Titlow Road in Blue Lake, but there is Titlow Hill Road, which is located between the towns of Blue Lake and Willow Creek. If this is incorrect, please revise the map!

Thank you! I always love your maps they give me such perspective.

 

[mlhenn]

Here’s a link on a different man. He was missing after his truck got stuck. Luckily he was found. It just shows IMO how rugged the terrain is in the area & how easily one may get turned around making it hard to be found. JMO

Around noon on April 20, 2020, a Humboldt County man was driving on rural Titlow Road east of Blue Lake when he noticed a “disheveled” man on the roadside.
A deputy later confirmed that for the last 15 days Castagnetto had been walking in the woods and lost.
It is unclear Castagnetto’s route, but it is approximately 25 miles from Castagnetto’s abandoned vehicle to where he was found as he emerged from the woods.

Missing Man Found ‘Beat Up’ and ‘Shell-Shocked’ 15 Days After His Truck Got Stuck in the Snow – Redheaded Blackbelt

Missing Humboldt County Man Emerges from Woods 15 Days After Disappearing! – Redheaded Blackbelt

 

[TatianaBarbie]

Here’s a link on a different man. He was missing after his truck got stuck. Luckily he was found. It just shows IMO how rugged the terrain is in the area & how easily one may get turned around making it hard to be found. JMO

Around noon on April 20, 2020, a Humboldt County man was driving on rural Titlow Road east of Blue Lake when he noticed a “disheveled” man on the roadside.
A deputy later confirmed that for the last 15 days Castagnetto had been walking in the woods and lost.
It is unclear Castagnetto’s route, but it is approximately 25 miles from Castagnetto’s abandoned vehicle to where he was found as he emerged from the woods.

Missing Man Found ‘Beat Up’ and ‘Shell-Shocked’ 15 Days After His Truck Got Stuck in the Snow – Redheaded Blackbelt

Missing Humboldt County Man Emerges from Woods 15 Days After Disappearing! – Redheaded Blackbelt

It is really rugged terrain, with very little human development. An absolutely beautiful area, but not to get lost in, especially in the winter. That man was lucky.

I wonder what Nick's cell phone was doing on Titlow Hill Road. This is from google map walking Hwy 299, showing the sign for the turnoff to Titlow Hill Road, looking south. This area is just prior to the turnoff, and shows the steep mountains, and lots of trees. Titlow Hill Road starts off following the ridgeline for 1.5 miles before descending. Google maps did not drive this road.


I counted 10 residences, or farm structure sites, on Titlow Hill Road before it crosses into National Forest property. If Nick did indeed visit someone on that road, in should be easy for LE to figure out who Nick might have seen.

 

[TatianaBarbie]

Thank you! I always love your maps they give me such perspective.

Thanks, @ADKGemini! I really need the maps in order to figure out what happened. Until I did the map, I didn't realize how far Weitchpec was from Fortuna, so the map surprised me. I also didn't realize that Weitchpec was on tribal land. Since a NF Ranger spotted Nick's vehicle, the vehicle might have been on the NF lands right next to Weitchpec.

 

[mlhenn]

Fortuna man still missing - KIEM-TV | Redwood News
additional link; no new info

Unable to find any updates either.

 

[mlhenn]

Redwood News

Few comments
No additional info

 

[mlhenn]

Fortuna man still missing - KIEM-TV | Redwood News

Fortuna Man Missing Since February; Police Seek Public’s Assistance – Redheaded Blackbelt

No updates found

 

[GraceG]

Bumping for Nick.

 

[mlhenn]

Cold Case Mendocino

TELLING THE TALES OF THE EMERALD TRIANGLE’S MISSING AND MURDERED PEOPLE


Sadly, still missing.

 

[mlhenn]

Redwood News

No update provided.

 

[mlhenn]

Human Remains Located in Northeast Humboldt – Redheaded Blackbelt

Posted due to area

 

[YaYa_521]

Nick is still missing.

Human Remains Located in Northeast Humboldt – Redheaded Blackbelt

Posted due to area

Sheriff's Office Seeking Homicide Suspect After Identifying Remains Found Last Week Off Highway 96 As Belonging to Missing Person

The Humboldt County Coroner’s Office has identified human remains recovered on August 20, 2020, as that of missing person Julius Barthel Tripp.

Snip

On August 20, 2020, human remains were located in the area of Highway 96 between Hoopa and Weitchpec. The decedent was later positively identified as Tripp.
#

Rest in peace, Julius.