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Hi everyone, welcome back to Cold and Missing.
Welcome back everyone.
This is a part two episode.
So if you have not listened to part one of the episode on Tita J. Garcia Quintanilla,
stop here and go back and listen to the part one of our interview with his wife Faith.
Yes, you absolutely have to go back.
You will miss so much if you don't go back.
Please go back.
So go back, listen to that, and this is part two.
Part two.
Are you comfortable talking about the events of this past year, right?
That's like when everything started.
I may cry every once in a while, but yeah.
Oh, that's okay.
Maybe you want me to tell you.
So from our email exchanges, you and Brenley came to the United States and you were going
to start the immigration process.
Right.
Do you want to tell me a little bit about that?
So COVID had started and it was really bad.
I mean, it was bad here, but in a third world country, I just really don't know how to describe
how horrible it was.
When we left there, everybody was still in masks and they were still on, I call it COVID
lockdown.
Over there, the way that it worked was you could only go out one day a week.
The only things that were open were the big grocery stores, banks, and gas stations.
That was it.
Nothing else was allowed to be open.
The day that you were allowed to go out went by your ID, the last number of your ID.
And you were all allowed out from like seven in the morning to four in the afternoon.
When you went to go get gas to the bank or to the grocery store, you had to wait in line
and you had to be like the six feet apart.
And to do that, you had to have your ID with you.
If you were out and your ID number did not match your ID, you did not get gas, you did
not get groceries, and you did not get in the bank.
And of course, the police were around all the time.
And if it did not match, the police would come and take you.
If you were in a car, they took your car.
If you were on a bike, they took it, motorcycle, whatever.
They took it.
I said they took you to COVID jail, but basically COVID jail was like usually the big soccer
field and they set you out there and made everybody six foot apart.
You had to stay there for like 12 hours.
I was making sure I wasn't going to COVID jail.
But now me and Tito couldn't go out on the same day because his number was different
than my number.
But it was really bad over there.
I mean, people were dying on cardboard boxes outside the hospital.
Schools were trying to do classes over the internet.
I mean, it was just critical chaos.
And Tito was really afraid that with us, our immunity, we had some issues with some health
things over there because of immunity.
And he was like, look, he says, we've made it this long.
He says, y'all need to go over there.
He says, we've been here long enough.
You and Brenley go over there, get Brenley in school, getting settled in, find us a place
to live.
You start looking for a job.
We'll get in with the immigration lawyers.
We'll start my paperwork.
And depending on how long it takes, y'all can come home in the summer.
Just stay the whole summer or whatever.
We can video chat.
We'll do what we have to do until we can get my papers finished.
Totally.
And so I said, okay, well, we got everything settled and we called the immigration lawyers.
And they were looking into how lawyers are.
And this is just not the simplest process whatsoever.
Not at all.
And they went back through all the paperwork and stuff.
And I don't know how long it was.
And they said, look, we need to get on a call with you and Tito together.
And I thought, oh, yay, they're going to tell us how long it's going to take.
Totally.
And we get on the call and they're like, well, we have some bad news.
And I'm thinking, how can there be bad news?
I've paid.
We know how long it was going to be.
We've been out of the country that long.
Right.
And Tito was never arrested for anything.
Yes, he had been deported before I met him, but it was basic traffic crap.
Oh, he didn't stop at the stop sign or drive him without a license.
All that kind of stuff.
And they're like, well, some of the laws got changed when Donald Trump was in office.
And he is now permanently banned from the United States because he was deported too many times.
Oh, my God.
And I mean, I was just like, what?
I don't understand what you're telling me.
You said 10 years and we've been out for 10 years.
Right.
And they're like, sorry.
They said this is the only thing you can do.
So we can get you to we can do what you can ask for forgiveness.
And that will take at least five years.
OK.
And there is no guarantee that they'll do it.
And that will cost you about ten thousand dollars.
Now, if they say that you can do that, then we can start another process and that will take about five years.
And that's going to cost you about the same amount.
And that's something about I forget what they called it.
But then there was another step and that takes about five years in the same amount.
Oh, my.
And all of these have to be OK.
So that's 15 years and 30 thousand dollars.
OK.
At that time, Brenley is going to be 29 years old.
I'm going to be 69.
What good is even going to do us?
Yeah.
And that's if they OK every these three things as it goes along.
Right. And you don't even have that guarantee that each step will be approved.
Right. Yeah.
And I don't have 30 thousand dollars.
And what good is that going to do Brenley at 29 years old and me at 69.
Right.
So I was telling Tito, I said, what do you want to do?
I said, look, this is what I think we should do.
I think we just need to come home.
Let's just forget this.
This is not working.
This is not what we expected.
We're coming home.
I didn't buy a house.
My stepdad is letting me stay in his mother's old house.
I didn't buy furniture.
I don't have a lot of investment over here.
That's just me and Brenley are going to come home.
That's what we're going to do.
We're done.
And he's like, no, that's not what we're doing.
That is not what we said we were going to do.
And I was like, I don't care what we discussed.
We don't have any other option.
We're coming home.
And Tito never argues that is not how he is.
Yeah.
He doesn't argue, he doesn't fight.
He's not like that.
It's a discussion and we work out the discussion and we decide what we do as a family.
Yeah.
He was not having a discussion about this.
He was adamant that he was coming here no matter what.
Well, I started crying and I got upset and I told him, I said, look, I don't want to do this.
I don't want you coming like that.
It's not like it was 15, 16, 17 years ago.
You were 17 years younger.
It was a lot easier.
I said, please don't do it.
Please don't do it.
Just don't do it.
He hung up the phone and he went back home and I didn't talk to him for three or four days because he was just like, mm-mm.
He made his decision and he called me and he says, Faith, he says, I have never gone against anything that we have decided as a family.
He says, but I am doing this.
He says, my son deserves to have a good education.
He deserves to be able to go to college if he wants to.
He deserves to have a good job that pays more than $5 for 12 hours a day.
Yeah.
He deserves all of these things that are only available to him in the United States.
And he says, I don't care what it takes for me to get there, for us to be a family.
But he is staying there and I am coming.
And there was no more discussion about it.
Yeah.
And every time he would talk about it, I would just cry and beg and plead.
And he says, baby, I know you're upset.
I know this is not what you want.
He said, but this is the first.
He says, I am going against you.
And he says, I know you don't like it.
He says, but this is how it's got to be.
They're not going to let me come.
And he says, and I'm not going to let y'all come home.
And I mean, he wasn't changing his mind.
If I would have got on a plane and gone to Honduras, he would have just left us there.
And he'd have told me, well, I'll meet you over there.
I'll call you when I'm there.
That must have been really difficult for you to, like, the only thing that comes to mind is like a rock and a hard place.
You must have been really stuck.
I was, because, I mean, we have never gone against each other.
We have always talked everything through.
And, you know, even if we disagreed on stuff in the end, you know, we're like, OK, I see your point.
Look, I'll support you in that.
Right.
But I would not support him in that. And he knew I wouldn't.
He knew I would never support him to do that ever.
And I mean, he just calls me on the phone and he says, I'm in Guatemala.
Wow.
On the bus. I said, why are you on the bus?
He says, I'm on my way.
And I said, please, Tito, please just go back.
I said, just go back home.
You know, I said, it's my home, too.
I said, you know, it doesn't bother me anymore.
I love it.
Yeah.
You know, I said, I don't mind it all.
I said, we have a routine there.
You know, I said, at Christmas, me, Brenley and him always took a vacation together.
In the summertime, me and Brenley would always come back here to visit my mom, my brother.
We would stay a month.
And that's when I would visit my family.
Yeah.
You know.
And I said, you know, I said, why can't we do the same thing we've been doing for the last 13 years?
And he was like, no, Brenley is going to get an education, a real education, not what he gets here.
And I mean, when I would start arguing with him, he would just turn off the phone.
No.
Because he just didn't want to hear me anymore because I would start crying and he can't stand to hear me cry.
Wow.
You know.
Yeah.
And then next call I got, well, I'm at the border of Mexico and I'm like, you're just not going to stop, are you?
He says, no, I love you.
And I'm like, I love you too, but please.
And he's like, no.
And then, I mean, what am I supposed to do?
I mean, I've realized at this point he's just not going to stop.
So what do I do?
He says, I need you to send me some money to such and such name, you know, because I can't send money to his name.
He's in Mexico.
Right.
So here I am.
He's drug me into this, so I have to help him now.
I mean, I can't just leave him there with no money.
Of course. Yeah.
So now here I am, sending money to Mexico and next thing I'm sending money to coyotes.
And, you know, it's just like this hoarded circle he's drug me into.
And I'm just like, every time I send money, I'm thinking, oh my God.
Yeah.
You know, and every time I'm like, look, why don't you just come back, just go back home.
It's not too late.
Just go back home.
And he's like, no, he says, baby, nothing is going to happen.
I promise you.
I said, Tito, what if something does happen?
I said, don't you think it's better for us to be home?
You know, I said, so what?
You know, he can still come over here and go to some kind of trade school or whatever.
I said, he can take a test and still get into college.
You know, I said, us be a family and be over there and be home.
I said, what if something happens to you, Tito?
You know?
And I said, then he don't have a daddy.
Nothing is going to happen, baby.
I promise you.
And now, you know, December 19th, it's going to be four months.
It's been four months since you last heard from Tito?
December 19th, it'll be four months.
Oh, I'm so sorry.
And basically what happened was, I mean, I paid, I don't know how much, but in Monterey,
stayed in Monterey, Mexico for a couple of weeks, and then he went from Monterey over to Nuevo Laredo.
And he was there.
They kept him there for, I guess, a couple of weeks.
I really, I can't tell you exactly how many days without looking, like, through about a zillion notes.
My poor table in there, it's just like it's vomited paperwork and notes and stuff.
And then he called me.
No, I was working.
And we talked to him every day.
You know, like normal.
Or video chatted with him.
And I was working till 930 that night.
And he said, I talked to him that morning.
I said, look, I said, I'm going to leave my phone with Brenley.
I'm going to get my phone to Brenley.
So when he gets home from school, my mom picks him up.
And I said, when he gets home from school, I said, that way you can talk video chat with him.
And I said, then when I get in from work, I said, I'll call you and talk to you then.
Well, Brenley video chat with his daddy.
And then when I got in, there was a message on WhatsApp that says, I'm not going to be able to call.
We're leaving, going to the river.
He says, I love you.
And I thought, oh, God, here it goes.
You know, I mean, I just automatically went into like, oh, my God.
Oh, why is he doing this?
Yeah.
Was this in June that he was going to the river?
No.
He went, is it June, July, August?
At one time, see, he went to the river and he crossed.
But he got lost.
Border Patrol chased him and he got lost.
And he called me and I got the coordinates from him.
And I called Border Patrol and made Border Patrol go pick him up.
Wow.
And they picked him up.
And instead of taking him and deporting him to Honduras, like they're supposed to,
they took and put him over in Piedro Negros, Mexico.
And then he took the bus back to Monterrey and then went back to Nuevo Laredo.
Well, when that happened, see, I was so excited.
I know this sounds awful.
Because when I called Border Patrol, I told my mom, I said, thank God.
Well, he was not happy with me because I called the coordinates and Border Patrol.
Yeah.
But he was alive.
And that's all I cared about.
Of course.
I told my mom, I said, thank God.
I said, look, Border Patrol has picked him up.
They just called me because I had called them and begged them to go get him.
I said, mama, he's going to be sent back to Honduras.
All of this is finally going to be over.
I'm not giving him a chance.
I said, if I have to go over there and tie his ass to the damn mango tree,
I said, he's not going anywhere.
I'm not doing this.
I said, look what happened.
He calls me three hours after I called Border Patrol and he's in Mexico.
And I'm like, why is he in Mexico?
He's not a Mexican.
Yeah.
He doesn't know anybody in Mexico.
No.
He had his ID.
He's been fingerprinted three or four times through Border Patrol.
Yeah.
Why is he in Mexico?
So anyway, he went back to Monterey.
The same group that he was with before gets back to Nuevo Laredo.
And then, like I said, he sends me a message and tells me they're on the way to the river.
Okay.
And then every once in a while, he'll send me a message.
It's just like quickly.
And it just says, I'm okay.
That's it.
The phone goes off.
Well, then he sends me a message and he may have sent me a couple of messages in between there saying he was fine or whatever.
You know.
Yeah.
Because it's hard to remember all that because you're not writing that stuff down,
because you're not expecting that you need to remember these things.
Right.
You know.
But he called me and he said, no, he sent me a message and he says, I'll see you soon.
He says, we're resting right now.
And I thought, that's great.
You know, he turned his phone off.
I thought, good.
He's making the trip okay.
You know.
He says he's doing good.
They're resting.
So he's not, you know, obviously he's not dehydrated.
He's making the walk okay.
Yeah.
You know.
And I was just like so relieved.
Then the next day in the evening, he calls and I'm thinking, I see his name and I am so excited because I'm thinking he's been picked up.
And they're on their way to San Antonio.
Right.
You know.
When I hear his voice on that phone, my heart just drops.
Because I can tell that he just can't go no further.
He just can't walk one more step.
He is just exhausted and done.
Yeah.
And I said, what's wrong?
And he says, baby, I just can't go anymore.
And I said, send me your coordinates so I can call Border Patrol.
Yeah.
So they can come get you.
And he said, the coyote tells me that we're three to four hours out away from pickup.
And I said, what are you going to do?
I said, if you can't go.
And he says, well, the coyote says that they can send a car out here in the morning to pick me up.
But it's going to cost $10,000.
Oh my God.
I said, I don't care.
I'll pay it.
I'll go borrow it from mama.
I said, tell them they send the car and pick you up.
When I pick you up in San Antonio, I'll pay the other $10,000 along with the rest.
Tell them to send the car.
And then the phone, you could tell, like somebody snatched the phone and turned it off.
You know?
Yeah.
Well, then a few minutes later, somebody calls from a different number.
And it's him on the phone.
And he says, the coyote says, OK, that's fine.
And he says, I love you.
And I said, I love you too.
And you could tell then that phone was snatched away and hung up.
You know, I'm thinking everything's going to be OK.
You know, they're going to send the car for him in the morning.
We're going to be all right.
And then about 8 or 9 the next morning, Tito calls.
And I said, because I was thinking by then the car had picked him up and brought him into San Antonio.
And I said, you made it into San Antonio.
And he says, no.
And you could hear by his voice, I was like, oh, God, something's happened.
And I said, what's wrong?
And he said, nobody sent a car for me.
And I said, well, did you try to call?
And he says, yes.
And they're not answering.
And I said, send me where you are right now.
Send me your coordinates.
Send me your location.
I'm calling somebody to come pick you up.
And he says, no, I'm not doing it.
And I said, please, Tito, just send me the stuff and let Border Patrol come get you.
I said, please, please, just let's go home.
And he says, no, baby, I'm not doing it.
I've gotten this far.
He says, the coyote said we're only three to four hours away from where someone could pick you know, you could get picked up.
I said, Tito, I don't care.
I said, please, just let me come get you.
And he said, no.
I said, well, then what are you going to do?
He says, I'm going to use Google Maps on my phone and I'm going to figure out how to get close enough to the road that you can come get me.
I said, Tito, I said, don't be crazy.
And he says, that's what I'm doing.
He says, you need to get down here.
And of course, I'm crying.
He hangs up.
So I called my mom.
I tell her what he said.
I went by.
It got Brenley at school because he had wanted to go, you know, because I asked him, I said, when daddy comes, I said, do you want to go or you want to stay with mama?
She said, mama, I want to go.
He says, because daddy has going to have made a long, long trip to come home.
And he says, I want to be there when daddy gets here.
I went and got him at school.
And, you know, it's like a 16-hour drive or something.
So I started driving down there.
And like before, every once in a while, he turned on his phone and I received this little message that says, I'm good.
I'm okay.
You know, well, then all of a sudden, the WhatsApp video came on, you know, and it was like about eight hours afterwards.
You know, like when he started.
And I could see, you know, I could see him.
And he was awful.
I mean, had I not known who was calling, I wouldn't have known it was him, you know.
You could tell he was all dehydrated and his face was just like sunburnt, you know.
His eyes were all dark underneath and stuff.
And you could tell he was under – he said, baby.
I said, hey.
I said, where are you?
He says, I made it to a bridge and I'm under the bridge.
And he says, this is where you're going to pick me up from.
He says, I'm so excited.
We're going to be a family soon.
He says, I love you all so much.
I said, I love you too.
He says, I love you.
And he hung up the phone.
And then I was like, well, he must be just trying to preserve the battery and he knows that we're still really far out.
You know.
Well, in a little bit, you know, he messaged and he said, I'm going to send you the location.
I said, okay.
Well, he was trying to send the live location and it would just circle.
And you would see the little red pinpoint, but it would never tell me anything.
And then all of a sudden behind it, you could see where it would say sending coordinates.
And it wouldn't say anything.
And I was like, what is it doing?
So he did that like three times and it wasn't doing anything.
So I sent him a message and I said, look, walk out from underneath the bridge and see if you see anything to help me know where you are.
You know, like an exit sign, a mile marker, you know, a gate, a mailbox, not anything.
He says, I don't know how far I can go.
You know.
And he came, got back on the phone.
It wasn't but just a few minutes.
And he says, baby, I can't walk.
He says, I just can't go.
He says, I can't move hardly.
And he says, I see a road, he says, but not close enough that I can see where cars come in and out.
I thought to myself, oh my God, does he not know how many roads there are in Texas?
You know?
That's it.
Do you see a road name?
And he's like, no.
He says, I can't see anything.
He says, oh, he says, I can see a gate.
I said, what is on the gate?
And I thought, oh my God, it's going to be the Texas Star or a whole inn.
He says, it's gargoyles.
And he said it in, he wrote it in Spanish.
So I was like, it has to be gargles because he, if he said gargoyles in English, I would have thought he was hallucinating.
But when he said it in Spanish, I thought, he has to know what he's saying.
And I said gargoyles.
I said, are you sure?
And he says, yes, it's gargoyles.
And I thought to myself, now how the hell am I going to find a gate full of gargoyles?
I mean, that just, I mean, but he kept trying to send me his location and it wouldn't come through.
And then his coordinates, they wouldn't come through.
And he said, my battery is low.
He says, I love you.
And then it wasn't two seconds later.
He says, I'm scared, honey.
And the phone went off.
Oh, God.
So I'm like, maybe he just turned it off because he still knows we have a ways, you know, to get down there.
And he's just going to rest a minute or whatever.
Well, I knew that he was close to Webb County.
So I get in that area and he says he's under a bridge.
So me and my crazy self is getting off the interstate and going underneath every bridge.
And I'm yelling for him.
And of course, he doesn't answer.
And I drive almost all the way down to Laredo going underneath every bridge.
And of course, he's not answering.
So I turn around and I come back to the first rest area in that area.
I told Brenley, I said, just lay down and go to sleep, Bubba.
I said, I'm going to sit here and see if Daddy comes back on the phone.
Well, I waited until like almost, I don't know, it was like 6 o'clock, 5 o'clock or something.
And his phone never came back on.
And I didn't know what to do.
I mean, his phone was dead.
I had no idea where he was.
He had already been under every bridge that I knew to go under.
And I was just in a panic.
I mean, I hadn't slept since I had left.
And I just turned around and I did the hardest thing that I ever had to do,
which is get back on the road and drive straight back up here.
And every inch I went, all I could think was, is he right here?
Am I leaving him right here?
Can he see me?
Does he know that I'm leaving him?
So we came back home and I mean, that is one of the hardest things I have ever, ever had to do.
It was just awful.
I called the number that Tito had called from about the car.
And I was explaining.
This guy answers.
And I tell him, I'm Tito's wife, that they were supposed to send a car.
And he speaks in English to me.
And then all of a sudden he doesn't speak English.
He has no idea what I'm talking about.
Oh, then he does know Tito.
Then he was the guide.
No, then he wasn't the guide.
Then all of a sudden he knows the coordinates and he calls them in to border patrol.
And then, no, he has no idea where he's at.
And then he starts sending me all these numbers in Mexico, like his boss and the boss over him and the lady that's in charge of all of it.
And don't think I didn't call everyone those numbers because I did.
Some of them answered and had no idea what I was talking about.
And some of them didn't answer, so I WhatsApped them.
And then they didn't call me back.
They didn't answer me.
And then after three days when they didn't call me back or answer me, I sent them messages.
They weren't very nice.
But three days later, I was practically like, if I could get my hands on you.
Yeah.
But that coyote was just like, he had no idea what I...
And I described exactly what he was telling me.
And when I did the missing person, my mom took me back down there because I had just been hysterical ever since.
So my mom drove me down there to do the missing person report.
And when I was telling them about this gargoyle thing, they were like, well, we know exactly where that is.
It's not a gargoyle. It's a bat.
When you look at it from far off, it looks like a gargoyle.
And it's called Chacon I think, C-H-A-C-O-N Park.
It's a bat park.
It's called Bat Park.
And it's in Webb County.
And it's like a big arch thing, you know?
But it would be called the Gate by Him.
Right, yeah.
It's like a big gate entrance.
And when the bat wings come down, it does look like a gargoyle.
Yeah.
And she said that they went out there and looked around, and they didn't find anything.
But I described this to the coyote.
And she said that there's a possibility that she says, you know, they know all the area out there.
You know?
Yeah.
She says when I was describing that to him, that there's a good possibility that they went out there and got him.
And then sold him to traffickers to work.
Because they would have been really mad.
Because if I would have picked him up, see, they would have missed out on the $8,000 they would have gotten in San Antonio for it.
I see.
But had they brought the damn car, they would have got $18,000 in San Antonio.
I mean, I don't understand how they work.
You know?
Yeah.
And I mean, I think the worst part is, is like years ago, like when he was first doing this, there wasn't as many people crossing.
So they had to make sure every person made it.
See, now there's so many people crossing.
If they have to abandon five, six, seven people out there, it's no big deal.
They don't care because there's another 20 sitting right back there on the bank waiting to come.
Right.
It's just like a numbers thing, just as many numbers as possible.
Right. Yeah, exactly.
So, I mean, I did a missing person report.
A couple of days later, I was assigned an investigator.
Supposedly, she went out there and looked.
Then I actually had a lady that contacted me on Facebook and said that she was 90-something percent sure that she saw Tito in a restaurant in Wisconsin.
And she actually called the people at the sheriff's department and she said she sent them an email and that she left the sheriff's department a message.
And there was some kind of, I don't know, I keep getting different stories from that.
But anyway, I ended up calling the sheriff's department up in Wisconsin and they said that they had never heard from Webb County.
And then they assigned a deputy to talk to me.
And by that time, the group had left the area.
So I don't know whether it was him or it wasn't him.
So do you think Tito is still in the United States?
I believe he is. I mean, I know he's not in Honduras with his family.
Right.
But with our family there, all I know is if he was capable to get home to us, he would be here.
This is not one of those situations where, oh, well, she paid the money and got me to the United States.
Now I'm going to go do what I want to do.
Right.
That's not Tito.
Yeah.
That, you know, and it's not, I had somebody say, well, do you think he has another family somewhere?
No. That's not that kind of situation either.
Right. But I mean, 17 years we've been together.
I know him just as well as he knows me.
Right.
You know, I mean, he would crawl here if there was a way for him to get here.
I still pay his phone bill.
Okay.
Just in case somebody finds his phone, turns it on and tries to connect to the internet, I'll know it.
Okay.
You know, if he has it and some reason he's being trafficked and he still has his phone and he's able to charge it and make a call, it's active.
You know, I mean, I'm still paying the phone bill.
Right now I'm doing Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, talking to you guys, doing podcasts, the place in Wisconsin where the tip came from, he had on a construction t-shirt.
And I have looked them up and they work only in these certain areas of Wisconsin and Minnesota.
I have wrote down every city that they work in and I am writing down every sheriff's department, every police department in each one of those cities, getting their fax machine, fax numbers, their phone numbers, their emails, calling directly to them,
faxing them his information, emailing them his information. These people are going to be sick of me. I am not going to give up.
I am going to be the one person that the people that have him say, we need to turn him loose because we are going to be caught because he is not going to give up.
And I am not going to give up.
I'm going to get an answer one way or another. If it takes me two years, it takes me 10 years.
And if I die and still don't have an answer, Brenley is going to take over. Somebody is going to get an answer someday.
Absolutely.
I love him and I am not giving up. I need my MacGyver back. I got things that need to be fixed.
I miss my cake. You know, over there you celebrate you have cake and coke. You have a Cad cake scent.
You know, it's just funny little things that you miss. Everything is eternal all the time.
It's like I told my mom, you know, when my husband died, yes, it broke my heart.
You knew what was happening. You knew that he had died, that you were going to bury him. You knew you were going to be sad.
But you knew that what had happened, this is like a relentless unknowing all the time.
I eat. I wonder if he is eating. Is he alive? Is he dead? Is he hot? Is he cold?
You know, I look at the sky. Is he looking at the sky? Is it the same sky I am looking at?
Yeah.
You know, I mean, when you are with somebody so many years, and I mean, you are just a part of them.
Of course, yeah.
And I mean, our son, you know, we talk about memories and different things and he has done really well.
Until the other day, I picked him up at school and he just, his heart is breaking.
I mean, he just cries and cries and cries and it's just, that's even more heartbreaking.
Yeah.
These people don't realize how much they tear a family apart. And the extortion calls, they are just ungodly.
Yeah.
I have been threatened. They threatened to kidnap my kid.
Jesus, I am so sorry.
You know, they threatened to kill Tito. But, you know, I finally figured out how the extortion thing works.
And now, they just start talking and I cut them off and I am like, look, you can say what you want to say,
but we are playing by my rules and this is how this shit is going to work.
Yeah.
I am going to talk to him. I am going to see. Then, I will give you money.
And if you don't like the way that works, you just need to hang up and go on.
They are like, no, this is how it is going to work. I said, okay, we are done and I hang up.
Good for you.
I mean, you know, I had to go through lots of extortion calls before I figured it out.
You know, I mean, you are taking time from me, from the time that I need to be working on stuff that may actually benefit me finding him.
Yeah.
You know, and you keeping me up from 11 o'clock at night to 3 o'clock in the morning is not benefiting my health either.
No, not at all.
I mean, I have quit my job. I am not capable to do my job. I mean, I just start crying out in the middle of work.
Yeah.
You know, so I am helping my best friend. She has a little ice cream shop and she sells food.
I can only work a day and a half long enough to keep myself together.
Yeah.
And if I cry there, it is no big deal. You know, she is like, just go back there. You know, it will be okay.
Yeah.
I mean, I cannot work a full-time job now.
Right.
I mean, I can barely go to Walmart and buy cereal.
Yeah.
I mean, I look at Captain Crunch and break out into tears and people at Walmart think I am psychotic.
I mean, what did Captain Crunch do to me? I do not know.
I am so sorry that you have to like bear the burden of investigation and like running down these leads.
I am really sorry about that. That is hard when you are already going through so much.
But you know, I mean, you just, I mean, even if you had somebody you thought you could depend on,
you just, me, myself, I know I will do it and I will follow through and I will keep on.
Other people, it is not their family.
Right.
No one is going to work as hard as you.
Right. And you know, I mean, if there is the tiniest tidbit that it could lead to him, then I am going to do it.
Yeah.
My family in Honduras, it is difficult for them to understand why it is so difficult for me not to have found him by now.
But I keep explaining to them, Honduras is the size of Tennessee.
Right.
They do not understand the size of the United States and the amount of police departments and sheriff's departments and everything that it involves.
Right.
You know, and I mean, that is difficult too. And I know it is difficult for them.
I mean, his mother and his brothers and sisters and his nieces and nephews, you know, and I try to explain to them.
They do not really understand the extortion thing because people have contacted them.
And then of course, they send them to me because they do not have the money to pay it.
Right.
You know. I mean, I have had one sister-in-law, she has not talked to me now for a month and a half because somebody called her and said that if they paid $3,000, they could have him back.
And I tried to explain to her, I can send them $3,000, but you are still not going to get him.
Right.
You know, and luckily, one of my brother-in-laws is a policeman.
So, you know, he would like to never have made her understand that.
Yeah.
You know, in her mind, these people are not lying. They are telling the truth.
Right.
You know, why would they lie about that?
Yeah.
Well, you are dealing with criminals.
You know, and I have had somebody say, well, you know, he knew the circumstances when he left. That is karma.
That is not right.
And I am saying, you know, they say, well, I would pray for him, but what he was doing is illegal.
I am so sorry.
I said, let me tell you something.
I am not asking you to pray for the illegal thing that he was doing.
I am asking you to pray for him because he is a person.
I said, don't you remember where it says all of God's little children?
It didn't say the illegal little children, the legal little children, you know, the children that don't have teeth, you know, that kind of stuff.
And I said, you with the karma over there, I said, so next time you say a cuss word and you get ran over by a car, is that karma?
I said, there is no such thing as that.
Right.
You know, I said, I mean, some people are just so nasty.
You know what? If you are going to be nasty, just go on.
Right.
I mean, I just don't understand people. It's just, I mean, people are so cruel.
They are just, I mean, it's just, it's a hard situation for everybody.
And I feel, I mean, I feel bad for me and my situation.
But when I go down through like those group pages, I mean, sometimes I cry so hard for some of those other people.
Yeah.
People from Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, I know how those people live.
I know how much money they have. They don't have any.
And I can't imagine what it's like for them when it probably takes a month of their stuff just to be able to go take a taxi or whatever into town
to make one missing poster and pay for Internet to post something.
I've been doing TikToks and trying to tell people like we're trying to get our DNA done.
I called the MEC lab in Nashville and she's telling me, no, you can't have your DNA done because there's a case in Texas.
And this is through the FBI. And I'm thinking, FBI, federal, does that not mean the United States?
Right.
You know, and then I had to, it takes me a week and I have to figure out everything by myself.
You know, and I feel bad for these people because it just adds more stress to me.
And I'm just trying to get a DNA sample in case they find bones so I can know if that's my husband.
Right.
I mean, there should be a list, I'm telling you, of things that make things more simple for people like me, well, for all of us.
I mean, usually we just don't have a list of missing loved ones.
Right. Nobody expects it to happen to them until it does.
Exactly. You know, I'm like, I need DNA done. Call the federal lab for the Federal Bureau of Investigation lab.
I mean, where else would you think to call?
Right.
You know? No, we can't do that because your case is in Texas. Federal.
I told my mom, I said, am I wrong? Is federal not mean like the whole damn United States?
Right.
I mean, it's just stuff like that. And then, you know, like you have to spend time and headaches on trying to figure out what you're doing.
So I'm like, I go to NamUs. Do you know that if you email them or call them, they will actually get it set up for you?
I did not know that.
Yeah. I emailed them and I was like, look, I just need to know what direction, you know, where I can get this done, what direction, who I can call.
They're like, oh, well, we've contacted our contact in Texas and they will contact our contact in Tennessee.
They will call you with some appointment dates. We'll send the kids there.
Y'all will go in. You will get swaddled and that person will send it back. And then they will be putting NamUs. It's that easy.
But it took you weeks of research to get to that point.
Yeah. And calling all over God's creation. And I'll guarantee you, I am not the only one that has had to do this.
Yeah, you're right.
I put it on TikTok. I said, those of you that need DNA tests, let me just tell you how easy it is.
Could you give me a description of Tito so that way our listeners know who to be on the lookout for?
Well, he's the most handsome Hispanic man you've ever seen.
Well, I couldn't help that. He really is.
I believe you.
Those little eyebrows, those up and down, those little, you know, I mean, he really is.
He has black hair. He cuts it short, but if it gets a little longer, it's curly.
He has brown eyes. He does wear glasses, but he has lost them. So I don't know at this point if he would actually have glasses right now or not.
Most of the time he has a mustache and a goatee. He does not have any tattoos. He's about 5'5".
I'm not exactly sure how much he weighs. I just know he has a 32-inch waist.
Okay.
He does have a scar on like the clavicle collarbone area. I can't tell you which side because he had that done while I've been here in the United States.
Gotcha.
He's had to have like a plate and some screws put in. He had a wreck on the motorcycle.
The only other major scar he has is on top of one of his hands between his pointer finger and his thumb.
He has, and it looks like a thick scar. It's not like a little thin scar. It goes up to just about to his wrist.
He had a machete when he was younger and he was cutting a mango tree limb and he hit it with a machete and cut it open.
Oh.
Yeah. That's what I said when I asked him what he did. That's really the only scars that he has.
He can speak English and Spanish, but usually if you speak to him in English, he'll get really nervous.
He's really friendly. He smiles a lot. He loves people. He likes to help people.
And I mean, even though he loves me, he's the most proudest of his son.
Yeah.
You know, that's his pride and joy right there.
Of course.
He's from Grasis Lempira, Honduras.
Well Faith, thank you so much for sharing your story with me and sharing your memories of how you and Tito met. That's really sweet. Thank you so much.
I think I have everything that I need, but is there anything else that you really want to say or for our listeners to know?
Just if they see him, know that he's a big part of our lives. And like I said, if he could be here, he would be here.
There's something holding him from coming home. And if they seem to please, even if they think it's him, to call 911.
And for them to know that we just love and miss him so much. It's just so long. We just want him home.
Yeah, of course.
This might be something funny you want to tell people.
When I lived in Honduras and I was teaching or whatever, everybody thought it was funny because I would always wear Honduras t-shirts and Tito would always wear American t-shirts.
He loved American t-shirts with American flags. All the time. He would have those old Navy shirts with the American flags.
Yeah.
Yeah. We actually have a picture where I'm in the cultural dress. And him, he's in the American t-shirt.
The American cultural dress.
It's the typical, typical. We were having the typical performance. And yeah, I'm in the dress and him, he wears the American t-shirt to the thing.
That is the final part of the interview with Faith.
As mentioned in the interview, if you think that you have seen Tito, please call 911 and report him being seen.
And if possible, try to take a picture of him that you can send along to Faith.
We are going to include all the social media in our show notes that she has created for Tito to bring awareness to his case.
If you know anything, the Webb County Sheriff's number is 956-523-4500 and you can call in your tips there.
And of course, follow us on Instagram. We have lots of pictures of Tito provided by Faith.
Yeah, we'll continue to post those and if we have updates, share those with you.
And we'll be back next week with our regular format. We'll still be covering this case, but we'll provide a timeline and again, some background information and lots of questions.
So, bro, lots of crying. And a lot of crying.
So, please like and subscribe wherever you're at. It helps more people see the show, helps more listeners get here, which ultimately gets more people looking for Tito, for everybody mentioned in our podcast.
Yeah, because you have literally because you have like listened, liked, subscribed and shared this person, Faith, found us somehow. And now like we're like helping her find her husband.
Yeah, we're so excited to be back next week to continue to talk about Tito. And really cool guy.
Yeah, we hope you have a great week and stay safe, y'all.
Yeah, have a great week. Stay safe.