DENVER — Agonizing. That's how Lorena Salazar described the last nine days waiting for her live-in boyfriend, James Montoya, to be found.
"There's been no signs of him at all," Salazar said. "No form of communication with me, his family, his grandparents, and that's just not like him."
According to Salazar, on Saturday night, April 1, Montoya went by himself to the Hangar 101 Bar in Lakewood to play pool and hang out, as he often did.
Salazar said Montoya left the bar around 2 a.m. Sunday, and about thirty minutes later, he posted a Snapchat picture of a car in front of a house near Federal Boulevard and Alameda Avenue in Denver. And that was the last time anyone has heard from Montoya in the last nine days, Salazar said.
Salazar described Montoya as kind, loving, hard-working and deeply devoted to his family. She said he was a carpenter who planned on becoming a Marine this summer.
"He would never choose to walk away from his life here," Salazar said. "He is the best person there could be."
According to Salazar, she and Montoya have been dating for about a year and often imagined a long life together. Now, their future is on hold as the search for Montoya continues.
"It hurts, it's been so lonely having to come home to an empty house," Salazar said while fighting back tears. "Him not walking in the door, greeting me, asking me to give him a big hug."
The Denver Police Department's Missing Person's Unit is now investigating the case.
Anyone with information about James Montoya's whereabouts is asked to call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867. All callers can remain anonymous.
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