YAKIMA, Wash. — Lucian Munguia is supposed to turn 5 years old next week, surrounded by a family who loves him dearly. He’s supposed to get sea creature toys as presents and blow out the candles on his birthday cake. He’s supposed to get to go on rides at the fair for the first time.
He’s supposed to be here.
But with each passing day, his loved ones are struggling more and more to hold on to the hope that they’ll ever again get to hear him giggle, watch him play or hear him chatter all about the ocean life he loves so much.
“Being past two weeks, it’s hard,” Lucian’s aunt Amy Bailey said. “It’s hard not to feel like we’re never gonna — like he’s not going to come home.”
Two weeks without his bubbly, happy personality. Without hearing him spout off all the names of the whales and sharks and fish that he knows. Without getting to tell him how very much he’s loved.
And instead of holding Lucian’s hand as he gets to go on rides for the first time at the Central Washington State Fair this week, his aunt is handing out missing child flyers.
Lucian’s family has a booth set up at the fair to raise awareness about his disappearance, tell people about the little boy who means so much to them and pass out flyers for people to take with them to wherever they call home.
“It’s the state fair, so there’s a lot of people coming from out of town,” Bailey said. “We’ve had a lot of people who haven’t heard about him being missing, so we just want everybody who’s not aware to be aware to know what his face looks like and what to keep an eye out for.”
The hope? That there’s someone, somewhere, anywhere who knows something and might recognize Lucian from the flyers. It’s a hope the family members refuse to relinquish, even in the face of weeks without a sign of their little boy.
They will be at the Central Washington State Fair all week to hand out #MissingChild flyers, which can also be picked up at Sarg Hubbard Park. The family has a list of locations that need flyers put up to #BringLucianHome. pic.twitter.com/905xvPiTkb
— Emily Goodell (@GoodellEmily) September 27, 2022
However, despite a community set on seeing the little boy home, law enforcement agencies determined to bring the family closure and his loved ones doing everything they can to get him back while trying to hold themselves together, Lucian has disappeared without a trace.
“We’re just going to go ahead and search and we’re just trying to get still as much coverage and go back through and make sure we didn’t miss anything,” Bailey said. “We just want to be as thorough as we can.”
KAPP-KVEW contacted the Yakima Police Department for an update Monday morning and were told that there are no updates in Lucian’s case. Detectives continue to follow up on tips, but as it stands, police continue to state that all evidence points to no foul play.
Police said they asked for help from the FBI, which brought a dive team to look through the pond at Sarg Hubbard Park, closing it to the public for the weekend. However, police said they weren’t able to find any additional clues to help with the search.
FBI Seattle spokesperson Steve Bernd said it’s not unusual for the FBI to be called in to assist in missing child cases across the country, even in cases where there’s no indication a crime has occurred.
“The FBI brings all sorts of resources to an investigation, including technical and manpower, you know, amplification,” Bernd said. “Our reach is much broader than a lot of local departments.”
Bernd said the FBI will continue to help their law enforcement partners for as long as their assistance is needed.
Family members have said they will not stop searching until Lucian is home where he belongs, regardless of how long that journey may take.
“We can’t stop just because we don’t have answers yet,” Bailey said. “We need to keep going until we find the answers.”
Bailey said family members will handing out missing child flyers at the Central Washington State Fair every day and will have them available at Sarg Hubbard Park.
THE SEARCH FOR LUCIAN MUNGUIA ON YAKTRINEWS.COM:
COPYRIGHT 2022 BY YAKTRINEWS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.