Family prays for missing Warner Robins man as GBI suspects foul play. ‘We still have hope.’
More than a month after a Warner Robins man vanished, family and friends of Jesus Mancilla-Velez cling to hope that he may still be found alive.
The GBI suspects foul play.
“We don’t have the imagination that somebody could hurt him, no,” said his sister-in-law, Gisela Mancilla. “But we still have hope we can find him — alive — because we’re waiting on him.
“We still have too many things to do.”
Mancilla-Velez, 35, a native of Mexico, has worked as a server at El Jalisciense Mexican Restaurant on Ga. 96 in Kathleen for the past 10 years.
His friends and family describe him as a kind, beautiful soul who brightens the lives of those who know him with his infectious humor and zeal for life.
Formerly married, Mancilla-Velez has two daughters who live in Arizona with their mother. He has a small dog named Missy.
“Everybody we talked to at his work speaks highly of him,” said Todd Crosby, special agent in charge of the GBI’s Region 13 Office in Perry. He heads up a task force of multiple, local law enforcement agencies investigating Mancilla-Velez’s disappearance.
Vanished
On Sept. 5, the Saturday before Labor Day, Mancilla-Velez was last seen getting into his black 2015 Chevrolet Tahoe alone and driving away from his Red Fox Run mobile home by a neighbor washing their car. The neighbor estimated the time between 9 and 10 a.m.
The Tahoe, with the driver’s window half-way down, was found later that same day abandoned in bushy overgrowth at the edge of a wooded area off a dirt road in Crawford County.
“His friends and family, from talking with him, they were all very close,” Crosby said. “He’s not contacted any of them. He’s not called work. So, yeah, we suspect foul play in this.”
Mancilla-Velez’s Tahoe was registered under the name of one of his brothers, Leo Mancilla, who lives in Byron, according to a Crawford County Sheriff’s Office incident report. When a deputy couldn’t reach Mancilla by phone Sept. 5, a police officer was sent out to the home.
Byron police Officer Vivian Garcia arrived just after 7 p.m., according to a 911 dispatch report. But Mancilla’s step-daughter was in the shower when the officer knocked on the door, and Mancilla and his wife were at work, Mancilla said.
Sunday morning, a worried Ursula Lunce reached out to Mancilla through Facebook messenger. Lunce, a healthcare administrator, had made tentative plans to go to Savannah on Saturday with Mancilla-Velez, whom she described as a dear friend.
But she hadn’t heard from him that morning, and he hadn’t answered any of her texts or calls, Lunce said.
“I’m starting to freak out at this point as the hours are going on because if he’s going to be 10 minutes late, he calls me,” Lunce said. “He’s always on time, always punctual, and if he’s not, he’s so courteous and he will let me know.”
The Friday night before Mancilla-Velez went missing, he, Lunce and some mutual friends were in downtown Macon with Mancilla-Velez driving. They’d returned to Lunce’s home early Saturday morning, and she last saw him about 4:30 a.m. when he left for his home.
Lunce recalled Mancilla-Velez had been on his cell phone a lot that night. She also saw him using a dating app, but she didn’t think much about it until after his disappearance.
After hearing from Lunce, Mancilla and his wife, Rosa, went to his brother’s Red Fox Run mobile home.
The door was locked, Mancilla said. He used a tool to get inside.
His brother’s dog was in the home and the clothes his brother had worn while out with friends were found inside. A gold chain with a Virgin Mary pendant that his brother often wore was also inside.
Also, there were lit candles.
Based on what he saw that morning, Mancilla said he thinks his brother had not planned to be gone long.
Mancilla also called the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office, and he and his wife drove out there. They also filed a missing persons report with the Houston County Sheriff’s Office.
Mancilla-Velez sometimes carried large amounts of cash and may have had as much as $1,000 on him the day he went missing, Mancilla said. His brother likely would have had the cash to make a payment on his Tahoe and for the trip to Savannah.
Mancilla said he believes his brother did not disappear on his own, but was possibly in the “wrong place at the wrong moment.”
“Anything can happen to anybody. You know, sometimes you don’t got no gas and you driving somewhere and you stop at a little gas station and sometimes can be, you know, dangerous people waiting for somebody,” he said. “That’s why I just want to think he was in the wrong place because he already (had a) plan to go somewhere with his friend.”
Mancilla-Velez also was expected back at work Sunday afternoon upon returning from Savannah, Mancilla said.
The discovery of the abandoned Tahoe was telling for Mancilla, he said, because his brother took great care of the vehicle, keeping it maintained and clean. Mancilla-Velez had washed his Tahoe the day before he went missing.
The investigation
The GBI processed both the vehicle and the Red Fox Run mobile home. Missy’s leash was draped over a porch light next to the front door, which still had the evidence tape on it from when home had been sealed a month earlier.
What evidence may have been uncovered from the home and vehicle have not been publicly disclosed.
No blood was found in the Tahoe, and the vehicle did not appear to have been wrecked but simply driven up into overgrowth, Crosby said. The Tahoe’s tire tracks through the grass could still be seen a month later.
The Tahoe’s GPS system wasn’t activated, so its movements could not be verified, Crosby said.
The task force has released photos of a black Q-See brand security video camera that was found in the Tahoe. Mancilla-Velez’s family have no idea where it came from, and his friends who went to Macon with him the night before he vanished didn’t recall seeing it in the Tahoe.
“We’re interested in this camera to see where it came from, and if we can identify where it came from, maybe get video off of it showing us Jesus or showing us the suspect,” Crosby said.
Lime green and beige paint were visible on the side of the camera. The camera has one red and one yellow connector and appears to have been unplugged, according to the GBI.
Task force members have canvassed neighborhoods and searched by foot and by air in Houston, Peach and Crawford counties, having brought in both article dogs to look for the cellphone as well as cadaver dogs to search for a body. Two ponds have been searched. Some areas that were under water due to the remnants of Hurricane Sally passing through the region in mid-September still need to searched, Crosby said.
Investigators have also been combing through cellphone records, obtained search warrants for email and IP addresses, and reviewed video surveillance footage from multiple businesses along Russell Parkway in Houston County, Ga. 49 in Peach County and Ga. 42 in Peach and Crawford County.
They’re attempting to obtain workable prints from the Mexican Consulate and have checked for legal border crossings to Mexico. The latter was done to cover all the bases, Crosby said.
A timeline
Based on interviews from canvassing neighborhoods and reviewing security and other video, authorities have developed a timeline that may track Mancilla-Velez from when he was last seen. His keys, wallet and cellphone have not been recovered.
▪ At 10:06 a.m., a black Tahoe was captured on surveillance video passing by a convenience store and then a liquor store on Russell Parkway toward Interstate 75 in Houston County. The Red Fox Run mobile home park is located off Russell Parkway and the convenience store is near his home.
Who was behind the wheel of the black Tahoe and the vehicle’s license plate could not be seen, but a sticker on the vehicle appears to match one on Mancilla-Velez’s Tahoe, Crosby said.
If Mancilla-Velez left his home closer to 9 a.m. than 10 a.m., authorities have not found any surveillance video that might provide clues to his disappearance during that time frame, Crosby said.
▪ At 10:13 a.m., a black Tahoe was captured by a dash cam of a Byron patrol vehicle passing it on Ga. 49 in Peach County.
▪ At 10:22 a.m., a black Tahoe passing by Spring Hill Community Church at 12114 Ga. 42 in Crawford County was captured on security video. The church is about 3.6 miles from where Mancilla-Velez’s Tahoe was found.
The driver or vehicle plates could not be seen on either the dash cam or surveillance video as the Tahoe passed by the patrol car in Byron and the church in Crawford County. But based on the timeline, Crosby said he thinks it’s Mancilla-Velez’s Tahoe.
▪ At 11:30 a.m., a black Tahoe, later identified as Mancilla-Velez’s Tahoe, is spotted in the grassy area off Rowland Road by a resident.
▪ At 1:45 p.m, hunters also saw the Tahoe parked there. The property is leased for hunting, it was the start of the dove hunting season and the archery season for deer hunting was just around the corner, so they figured the Tahoe’s owner was also a hunter, Crosby said.
▪ At 6:25 p.m., a Crawford County sheriff’s deputy is dispatched to Rowland Road after the property owner reported the abandoned Tahoe as suspicious. He had thought the hunters had parked the Tahoe there, but then he talked to them.
“This is a very hard thing for us,” Elizabeth Mancilla, sister-in-law to Mancilla-Velez. “Thinking every day and night about him and we’ve been praying a lot and I know a lot of people been praying for us and for him, too, that he be coming back.
“We still have faith. We still have hope that he’s alive,” Mancilla said.
The family is asking for the public’s help in finding out what happened to Mancilla-Velez.
“Somebody knows something about him,” Gisela Mancilla said. “We really need to know what’s going on. His family ... everybody worried about him ... Any information —anything — can help us to find out what happened,” she said.
If anyone has any information, no matter how seemingly insignificant, related to Mancilla-Velez’s disappearance, please contact the GBI Tip Line at 1-800-597-8477 or https://gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online.