The flyer is all over Fair Haven. 19-year-old Jos√© Ort√ɬ≠z, who disappeared off Poplar Street a month ago on Dec. 28, smiles in his photo as he wears a white t‑shirt and Nike sweatband. Below him, block capital letters compare the investigation of his disappearance to that of the teenage girl in Aruba and ask the anguished question, “Is Jose A. Ortiz not important or is it that he’s from FAIR HAVEN!!”
Many of Ort√ɬ≠z’s friends and family voiced similar questions about the commitment of the authorities to finding him at a community meeting on Saturday, Jan. 28. About 50 people, including Ward 16 Alderwoman Migdalia Castro, joined hands in a prayer for his safety at Columbus School before parading through the streets and chanting, “We want justice! We want answers!” They came to a halt at Ortiz’s family’s home, where Poplar Street meets Lombard Street, its front fence covered in flyers.
Ort√ɬ≠z’s sister Ivellise said police were passing little information on to family members, so it was hard to tell whether an investigation was going on at all.
“We don’t hear anything from them; they don’t tell us at all,” she said.
This New Haven Register article from Jan. 5 lays out the basic facts of the case as reported by the police: an unnamed fireman standing at the Engine 10 firehouse —” directly across the street from Ortiz’s home —” witnessed someone fitting Ortiz’s description dragged off of his bicycle and forced into a ’90s silver Ford Taurus by three other men. Only days later did investigators connect this narrative to the family’s report of their missing son. Family and friends say they haven’t heard much of anything since, which is what provoked the community to march.
His friends said Ortíz was not a troublemaker, and his disappearance puzzled them as much as it frightened and horrified them.
“We knew something was wrong when he didn’t come home that night,” neighbor and friend Heather Reyes said. “He’s a good kid; he wouldn’t ever stay out late.”
Reyes said Ort√ɬ≠z loved playing basketball, loved working with kids and always had a positive attitude. “He was everybody’s big brother,” she said.
Rafael Cruz, another of Ort√ɬ≠z’s friends, raised his voice in frustration at the police and fire departments, neither of which seemed to him to care at all about a missing teenager from Fair Haven.
“How’s he just watch that?” Cruz asked, referring to the fireman who reportedly witnessed the abduction. “Even if he’s off duty he should have done something.”
To Cruz, the police seem just as apathetic.
“I think Jose would not be missing if he were from somewhere richer,” he stated forcefully. “They’re not going to defend him! They don’t like Fair Haven teenagers; they think we get into trouble. But a lot of us are good kids, and Jos√© didn’t have problems like that.”
“[The police] tell us nothing,” friend Kelly Serrano added. “This was just out of the blue, and we want to know why.”
Ort√ɬ≠z’s family is offering a reward for information, and people with knowledge to share have been asked to call 203.497.8993.