Police Say 4-Day Search for Officer Was Routine
Los Angeles police and Ventura County sheriff’s authorities who conducted a massive four-day search in Ventura County for an LAPD officer, who mysteriously vanished only to turn up unharmed, said Monday the manhunt was launched under routine missing person procedures, not because he was a police officer.
They said the search for Sgt. Christopher Vasquez by more than 250 people was launched because his disappearance last week was such a departure from his work habits and reputation for dependability as a 20-year LAPD veteran, and because evidence at his home indicated something was amiss.
The search for Vasquez, 41, began shortly after he failed to show up Dec. 10 for his 3:30 p.m. shift.
Vasquez showed up at his estranged wife’s Simi Valley home Saturday night. He told officers that he had hitchhiked to Salinas because he needed time to think about personal problems, then hitchhiked back.
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