Friends, Family Of Colfax Man Frustrated Deputies Didn't Do More To Find Him
COLFAX (CBS13) — Friends of a missing Colfax man expressed grief and some frustration after his body was found more than a week after he left to get his wallet.
Eric Garcia was discovered on Sunday at the bottom of a steep embankment off of Interstate 80 near the Weimar exit.
After more than a week of searching, Richard Nopales received the news he didn't want to hear.
"He was a really great person. He would do anything for you." Nopales said.
Garcia left Rancho Murietta on Dec. 7 to get his wallet in Colfax. His car was spotted on Sunday in a ravine.
Nopales is expressing not just grief, but some frustration with Placer County Sheriff's Deputies, insisting that as friends and family spent time searching, not enough was done by deputies.
"We could never find him. We were looking in the wrong spot," he said. "We think that they didn't search quick enough, but there's nothing we can do about it now."
Placer County Sgt. Ty Conners says the search area was huge and the information was limited. When Garcia was reported on Dec. 8, Conners says deputies were immediately on the lookout for Garcia's car.
Search crews weren't sent out until three days later, only to finally find him on Sunday.
"I feel we did a good job dealing with the limited information that we had," Conners said.
As for Garcia's friends, they're left with one hop.
"I hope that he went quick, because he didn't deserve to suffer that much," Nopales said.
