BIG BEAR – (INT) – The case of missing off-duty, hot shot firefighter Carlos Baltazar may have taken a turn Monday.

Investigators said Monday that Baltazar may have been picked up on September 20th near where his vehicle was found abandoned.

Investigators are not saying that foul play was involved, but that the latest vehicle, a Subaru, was occupied by someone else.

Baltazar, 35, was last seen September 20th while enroute to work near Big Bear. He was off-duty at the time. His car and a backpack were found abandoned some distance from the El Dorado Fire. Baltazar went missing some distance from where another ‘hot shot’ died three days earlier.

A memorial service was held Friday in San Bernardino for firefighter Charles ‘Charlie’ Edward Morton.

Morton, a Big Bear Interagency Hotshot Squad Boss, died while engaged in fire suppression operations on the El Dorado Fire on September 17th.

Story Date: September 28, 2020