Food Vendor and 4 Helpers Missing; Truck Ransacked

A popular North Hollywood food vendor, his son and three employees are missing and their catering truck has been found ransacked and bearing some bloodstains, Los Angeles police said Monday.

Relatives and police found the truck Sunday afternoon about two miles from its usual place of business in the 6800 block of Lankershim Boulevard after the five people, ages 13 to 43, failed to return from work Saturday night.

“We are seeking the public’s assistance in this unexplained and uncharacteristic disappearance,” Los Angeles Police Lt. John Zorn said Monday. “We have absolutely no idea what the motive is.”

Zorn said the youngest of the missing, 13-year-old Ismael Cervantes Jr. of North Hollywood, has a recently diagnosed heart condition that requires daily medication to regulate his blood pressure. The boy, who was visiting his divorced father for the weekend and often helped him clean his truck after a night’s work, did not have his medicine with him, Detective Mike Mejia said.

The other missing men were identified as truck owner Ismael Cervantes Sr., 43, of Sylmar; cook Francisco Gasca, 31, of North Hollywood, and two North Hollywood brothers who did odd jobs for Cervantes--Heriberto Sandoval, 19, and Jesus Sandoval, 16.

With the name Tacos Tlaquepaque painted on its side, Cervantes’ truck has been a fixture in the bustling, predominantly Latino neighborhood for the last 10 years, police said.

“They’ve been here years and years,” said bartender Gary Johnson, who works at the nearby Palomino nightclub. “They were part of the neighborhood, the neighborhood taco truck.”

“It’s scary,” he said. “I hope they are all right.”

Johnson and others said the truck could be found at its usual spot in front of the See & Save furniture store six days a week, from late afternoon until late at night. Cervantes caught hungry auto mechanics as they headed home and later served the patrons of several popular nightclubs.

“People would come here after dancing,” said Arturo Sida, who works in the furniture store. “They sold sodas and tacos.”

Sida, who lives nearby, also recalled often seeing the truck after midnight with a long line of customers. “They would do a pretty good business. They always had people out there in line.”

Cervantes emigrated from Mexico nearly 20 years ago and initially worked as a restaurant cook, his sister-in-law Rachel Cervantes said. He saved his money, bought a catering truck about 10 years ago and has grown very prosperous, she said. He had no debts, vices or enemies to explain his disappearance, she said.

“We have no clue as to what could’ve happened and why,” Rachel Cervantes said. “He knows a lot of people, he’s very friendly. A lot of people are in shock because he’s always there.”

Cervantes was last seen between 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Saturday doing a brisk business, Rachel Cervantes and police said. His brother-in-law swung by, invited him to watch a fight on TV, and Cervantes said he would join him as soon as an employee arrived.

When Cervantes did not show up, his brother-in-law drove by the truck’s usual place near Vanowen Street on Lankershim about 9 p.m. and noticed that it was gone, although Cervantes’ station wagon was there, Rachel Cervantes said. He became alarmed and contacted police about 1 a.m.

About 4:30 p.m. Sunday, relatives and police found the truck abandoned behind a tire store in a shopping center near Lankershim Boulevard and Strathern Street. The truck was ransacked and contained a small amount of blood--”not too much,” said Mejia, “just enough to know we have some foul play here.”