Fortuna Man Missing Since February; Police Seek Public’s Assistance
![Picture of Nick Vigil [All photographs provided by Debbie Frisiello, Nick’s mother]](https://kymkemp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/unnamed-30.jpg)
Nick Vigil on an international trip. Debbie Frisiello, Nick’s mother, explained all photographs do not reflect the nearly 50 pounds of weight loss he had accomplished before going missing. [All photographs provided by Debbie Frisiello, Nick’s mother]
Frisiello was told by a close friend of Vigil that he was supposed to go to his house that day to pick up a check. The friend grew concerned when he never arrived. Frisiello said her son’s last known movements on February 25 was a cell phone ping that indicated he was in the vicinity of Blue Lake’s Titlow Road.
Frisiello explained that her son was a regular at Blue Lake and Bear River Casinos. After surveillance footage and interviews were conducted, Frisiello said there was no indication Vigil visited either of those establishments the day he disappeared. According to Fortuna Police Department’s Lieutenant Matt Eberhardt and Detective Ryan Richardson, both casinos have been contacted and fully cooperated with the investigation.
Nick Vigil’s truck photographed on the evening it was found abandoned in the Weitchpec area.
The night Vigil went missing, Frisiello reports that the gray 2006 Ford F250 her son was driving that morning was discovered abandoned in the Weitchpec area by a forester working there. In hopes of finding the owner of the vehicle, the forester posted images of the abandoned truck on the Facebook Group “Weitchpec/Down River Community,” according to Frisiello. (As of this time, that post is no longer accessible.) To Frisiello’s understanding, the forester passed the vehicle several times over the following days and saw signs the vehicle was getting burglarized.
Fortuna Police Department’s Lieutenant Eberhardt described their agency collaborating with Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office to conduct a thorough ground search of both Vigil’s property in Weitchpec and the site where law enforcement learned in mid-April that his vehicle had been abandoned. Debbie Frisiello, Vigil’s mother, said her son’s property showed signs of being ransacked or broken into in her son’s absence.
Another picture of Nick Virgil’s truck taken just days after it was found abandoned.
According to Vigil’s mother, Local Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Activist Jesse Armstrong volunteered to assist her in navigating her son’s disappearance. “Jesse has helped me speak with the police and let me talk to him about my son,” she explained. Armstrong said his primary goal in working with any family of the missing is to “support them, do search and rescue, and bring their loved one home.”
In the days before his disappearance, Vigil had been in Las Vegas for a mixed-martial-arts event and had won a significant amount of money, his mother explained. She remembered that he got home around 3:00 a.m. on the night of February 24 and was out the door early the next morning.
Debbie Frisiello said that when she last saw her son, he was wearing “Nike black shoes, black, short socks, khaki pocketed shorts, a black belt, a white t-shirt, and a chocolate brown hoodie, black backpack with his laptop, his keys to everything.”
![Picture of Nick Vigil [All photographs provided by Debbie Frisiello, Nick’s mother]](https://kymkemp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/unnamed-29.jpg)
She described her son as 6’ 1’’, weighing 250 lbs, and having brown eyes. She added that he shaves his head and doesn’t have a beard or a mustache.
Debbie Frisiello explained she is offering a $5,000 reward to anyone who provides information that leads to Nick’s return. “I think about him every day. He is my best friend. I just know somebody knows something about what happened that day,” she said.
Fortuna Police Department’s Lieutenant Eberhardt and Detective Richardson stated that they “could use the public’s assistance in the case.” They encouraged “anybody that has seen or heard from him, maybe somebody who saw him at a gas station, a store, potentially anyone that might know him” to reach out to their agency.
If anyone knows anything about Vigil’s whereabouts, please contact the Fortuna Police Department at (707) 725-7550.
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I need everyone’s help to find my son. Someone must have seen him the morning of feb 25th when he left fortuna. Any tip could be helpful contact me at [email protected]
I hope he is found soon, safe and healthy. I wonder if his truck was found facing his home direction or facing leaving his home’s direction. Would he pick up hitchhikers or stop to help someone on a road?
Titlow Hill road is nowhere near Blue Lake. Its near Berry Summit on 299, many miles from Blue Lake..
Titlow Hill addresses are shown as Blue Lake. I assume as it’s the closest post office?
Where in Weitchpec is his property? Where is his property from where his truck was found? I believe it was said that his “stolen” truck was found in Hoopa, when the post appeared on the Weitchpec page.
Iron gate area.
Ya know Mothers day is coming I sure hope she gets some good news? Mothers are great, nobody loves you like your Mom, They are great for keeping hope alive. Best of wishes and heart full prayers for the Mother.
Ok has anyone put 2 together, one man go’s missing and then another man go’s missing and both out 299 by hoopa, maybe they both know each other, is that possible and did they work for the wrong dush bag?!?!?!?
??I wasn’t going to say anything because I get my shit jumped for putting 2 and 2 together, good ?.
true that, and again with this wasted money on MET and their good ole boy satellite inforced raids so they can sit in there office and pick an chose who they are going to harass next like they do with the stoping of random vehicles on are highways (they don’t even do that when someone comes up missing) but they won’t put that money/time and technology towards what really needs to be addressed in are county such as all the people that come up missing/dead and nothings ever done (unless there making a movie of it) and then they try and turn it into a emerald triangle blackmarket pot grower issue, but the real issue is our county rep’s and law enforcement (pot growers themselves) have continuously fail the people of there county and they don’t care to fix anything or help out
Exactly!!
Get everything out to make a bust, but they have no resources when it comes to missing persons.
A shame!
Just a thought: Sometimes ” went to Vegas and won some money” really means “I just sold a bunch of weed”. I don’t know this man, or whether or not he has anything to do with the cannabis industry, but if he does I would think about that possibility. Maybe he got some pounds from someone, sold it, went to pay the grower and something bad happened.
I hope nothing like this happened, and like I said I don’t know this man, jus throwing it out there because things like this do happen sometimes. I hope you find him soon, healthy and well.
??Another good ?. ???
My cousin Virgil “Uppity” Bussell was in the Weitchpec area and lived in Hoopa. He would go to the remote areas to cut wood, was known to mushroom, and occasionally panned for gold as a hobby. His last known activity, based on statements made to the family, was woodcutting. Him being “downriver” wasnt unusual or out of the ordinary. What was out of the ordinary was him not coming back to Hoopa, checking in with family/friends.
Whether or not he was ever up Deer Horn is circumstantial at best. It strongly feels that Virgil Bussell’s truck was placed where it was located.
It is concerning that none of the valuables, not even the load of wood, was taken from his truck. If someone did something to Uppity, they were either smart enough to not take anything valuable to sell/hawk and be traced back to them, or they were only interested in disposing of evidence (both are the same thing, really). Either way, these things were valuable. Why just dispose of them if he owed somebody anything for marijuana?
The circumstances are similar. Stocky men, trucks, in a remote area, disappeared. We are quite aware. But I dont think they were working for the same person. Uppity would’ve came back to Hoopa to sell the wood, or take orders for fire wood from family/friends. He was an artisan as well, often made hair pieces or jewelry to make money. He didnt need a job in the cannabis field.
it is alarming about the other man missing in the same area, Jeff Joseph.
There are definitely murderers/abductors in this area. It is interesting that an attempted abduction occurred in Hoopa as well, actual Hoopa not the outskirts, within the last week. Someone or some people seem to think we are prime targets whose disappearances wont matter.
I agree with Amanda..im sorry.for whatever has happened to Uppity..I did know him before I moved to Alaska..im from Happy Camp….im sorry..and yes..someone..or someone’s are taking people from the river..any law enforcement that won’t admit that has something to hide
I still need the help of the community to locate my son nick vigil. I know someone saw him and knows the truth of this cruel abduction please help bring my boy home. If you can’t help from your heart then do it anonymously for the reward.
could be guy in s.f. hospital that their trying to identify
I’m sorry in advance for who this offends. Please know that I am not trying to offend anyone. With that being said I’d like to point out an issue in which I am , with heartache, familiar to. Discrimination. Call it what you want, even if you want to call it racism. Close enough. The Humboldt County Sheriffs Department is discriminating against certain communities. How? They’re not providing Eastern Humboldt County with any good police services. No I don’t mean willow creek. Now before you decide this is a rant about racist cops, understand my skin is white. Call it what you want. There are names for this. Call the way HCSO operates geological discrimination, because the reservation line marks the spot where the cops are lacking so much that people are laughing at them. My heart hurts for the family of Nicholas. My heart hurts for the family of Uppity. Though it hurts I get strength from the fact that people want answers and I’m not the only one. The cops have NOT done good police work on this and it’s NOT acceptable. There are cameras at The gas station in Hoopa and there are cameras in the gas station in weitchpec. DEBBIE. Did you ask if the officers in charge of the case if they checked this footage? I did. I think that when they told me that they did in fact check them, they were lying. The cops have responsibility. Don’t let HCSO subject you to geological discrimination, racial discrimination, or any other kind of discrimination for that matter. Where are the good cops? Where are the smart cops? The truck most likely drove by those cameras, and if not, they would have the trucks route narrowed down. It’s called police work. HCSO has a database of all calls for service. This information could possibly be used. interviews with cops on duty in the area around that time could possibly provide useful info. I could go on and on but the fact is THE HUMBOLDT COUNTY SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT HAS ACCESS TO INFORMATION THAT COULD LEAD TO THE WHEREABOUTS OF NICHOLAS VIGIL, AND THEY’RE NOT TOUCHING IT.
Well said