When New Hope resident Manuel Vasquez was reported missing on July 13, his friend, Columbus resident Paul Vega, had already been looking for him for several weeks, Vega told The Dispatch in a phone interview last week.
Vasquez had not been seen since June 24 when he apparently told friends and family that he was going on a retreat. His wife, Christina Vasquez, and other family members eventually reported him missing to the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office, according to Sheriff Mike Arledge. During the LCSO’s missing persons investigation, authorities found burned human remains in Vasquez’s yard. Vasquez’s wife and mother-in-law, Lydia Martinez, were arrested and on Monday were charged with murder. During the investigation, deputies were seen leading a man in handcuffs from Vasquez’s home.
That man was Vega, who was later released. Vega says he was framed by Vasquez’s wife, Christina, though he declined to say how he was framed because he did not want to give away too much information about the sheriff’s investigation.
Vega had known Vasquez for 27 years and became concerned when he hadn’t heard from Vasquez. He began his own search shortly after Vasquez disappeared and says he gave the LCSO all the information he had learned since. He also gave authorities documents which he says Vasquez had entrusted him with. Vega and Arledge declined to describe the contents of those documents.
Vega spoke to The Dispatch last week about his friendship with Vasquez and the events before and after the New Hope man went missing.
A long-term friendship
Vega met Vasquez when Vasquez was a preteen. Vasquez was childhood friends with Vega’s younger brother.
Vasquez was in a gang when he met Vega, and Vega’s brother tried to minister to the gang members.
“[Vasquez] was with his gang,” Vega said. “My brother started talking to [the gang members] about Christ, and [Vasquez] was the only one left. The rest of the gang just walked away. They weren’t interested. He was the only one interested.”
Vega was more than 15 years older than Vasquez, but he spent time with his brother’s new friend when he visited family in San Antonio. Vasquez asked Vega more about the Bible and the two eventually became close, Vega said.
“I felt for him,” Vega said. “He was a really good kid just brought up in a bad environment.”
Vega doesn’t know when exactly Vasquez left the gang, but estimates it was during his teenage years. Vega also said Vasquez joined the gang because he wanted a sense of family.
A move to Columbus
“There was always something about him longing for a better life,” Vega said.
This desire for a simple, family-oriented life is what drew Vasquez to Columbus, according to Vega. After Vega moved to Columbus, Vasquez would visit him. Apparently, Vasquez liked Columbus — the small town feel, the way people knew each other at the store and greeted each other in public.
“He said, ‘This is just the right size, the people are friendly…I can breathe here’,” Vega said.
“He felt Columbus was almost like one big family,” Vega added.
Two years ago, Vasquez moved to 155 Windchase Drive in New Hope. Vega had not yet met the rest of Vasquez’s family.
Vega described Vasquez as a caring man who was generous with his money. Vega said he often fixed people’s air conditioners for free and passed out Bible tracts with money in them.
According to Vega, this charitable spirit was a source of contention between Vasquez and his wife, Christina, who has been charged with Vasquez’s murder. Christina complained to her husband that he was giving away all their money, Vega said. Vasquez responded that the family already had money in abundance and they didn’t need more.
Final phone call
The last time Vega spoke to Vasquez was the night of June 23 at 8:28 p.m., Vega said. The next day would be the last day anyone would see him alive.
Though it was not unusual for Vasquez to call Vega, Vega remembers their last conversation as strange. Vega later told the LCSO about the conversation, but did not provide The Dispatch with details because he did not want to hinder the investigation. Vega did say the call was brief and that Vasquez didn’t seem like himself.
“It was almost like a message not to look for him,” Vega said.
Vega assumed Vasquez was taking a trip to San Antonio.
“I said, ‘Ok, Manuel, I’ll see you when you get back’,” Vega said.
It wasn’t unusual for Vasquez to make the trip to and from San Antonio where he still worked as general manager of Texas Air Masters, an air conditioning business. But Vega didn’t get another call from Vasquez, and that was unusual, he said.
The search begins
Eventually Vega contacted Vasquez’s family and other contacts in San Antonio. He learned from them that no one in Texas was expecting a visit from Vasquez. It was then that Vega began his own search for Vasquez — a search which he says Christina Vasquez tried to block at every turn.
“I kept looking for him and Christina did not like it,” Vega said. “At all.”
Vega said his search got Vasquez’s mother and sister in San Antonio involved, despite Christina Vasquez’s alleged attempts to pit Vega against the rest of Vasquez’s family.
“She was very good at it,” Vega said. “I found out she was saying I said things that I did not say to the family. The family told me, ‘She said you said this about us.’ I go, ‘That is not true’.”
Vega now believes this was Christina’s way of keeping the family and Vega from talking to each other and figuring out what happened to Vasquez.
“I didn’t give up and she knew it. So she was angry about that because I was messing with her plans. And I did not know it at the time — exactly what her plans were.”
Vega did not tell The Dispatch what facts he gathered but said the information didn’t add up to Vasquez having gone on a retreat, as he allegedly told family members.
“The facts looked very bad,” he said.
“I told them all the facts, the sheriff’s department. So they have all the facts that I gathered. And the last fact to give them was the documents that I had of Mr. Vasquez — Manuel — that he entrusted me with, and I was turning it in voluntarily. They didn’t find anything on me. I was offering it to them to prove that something was wrong and [Vasquez] said, ‘Take care of this for me because I don’t trust Christina’.”
Sheriff Mike Arledge confirmed Vega gave his office the documents and the LCSO did not find them on him, as had been reported by other media outlets.
“I’m not a vengeful type person,” Vega said. “I was willing to go through whatever I had to to find what happened to my friend.”
Vasquez’s three children are in the custody of family. A memorial will be held for Vasquez on Friday, Aug. 7 in San Antonio. Vasquez’s family has also set up a gofundme page to raise money for Vasquez’s children, claiming Vasquez’s accounts have been frozen. To donate, go to http://www.gofundme.com/3bb3ppwgs.
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