For more than four years, firefighter Carlos Baltazar has been missing, after a mysterious disappearance following the death of his fire chief. Now, remains found in October in a remote part of the San Bernardino Mountains have been identified as those of the 35-year-old. Per SFGate, Baltazar had been part of a US Forest Service crew in September 2020 that fought the El Dorado Fire, sparked after a gender reveal party gone wrong. Charles Morton, serving as the squad boss for the crew, died in the fire, and Baltazar's family told local media that Baltazar had seemed depressed in the days after Morton's death.
Then, a week after Morton died, right before his funeral, Baltazar vanished; his crashed car and backpack turned up on Highway 18. "Carlos went to report to the barracks to prepare for the funeral services and was not seen after talking with co-workers," a relative writes on a GoFundMe for Baltazar. "Apparently, he left the barracks a short time after arriving."
Per a release from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, a hunter north of Cactus Flats stumbled upon a human skull on Oct. 26, which sheriff's office spokesperson Mara Rodriguez notes was about 3 miles from where Baltazar's car had been found years earlier, reports the Press-Enterprise. Rodriguez says that coroner's officials found more remains when they searched the area, and family members say DNA tests confirmed they were Baltazar's.
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"The remains were in a very remote, mountainous area," Rodriguez said. "There are no trails or roadways where the remains were at. Not an area that appeared to be frequented by hikers." She also notes that how Baltazar died is still undetermined, and that his cause of death "was likely to remain a mystery," per the Press-Enterprise, which adds that "the reason for his disappearance has never been explained." (More firefighters stories.)
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