The search for missing Cal soccer player Eloi Vasquez ended in the worst and most unfortunate way possible as the young man is reported to have died after being hit by a car Saturday morning.
Photos of Vasquez circulated on social media Monday as he was thought to be missing. The 19-year-old freshman drove down to Los Angeles for spring break and was last seen at a USC fraternity party Friday night. He left the party after telling friends he was going for a walk.
SFGate.com provides some details of what happened next:
He was last seen leaving the fraternity at 631 W. 28th St. in Los Angeles about 1:30 a.m. Saturday.
He called his friend Aurora Cardenas in Berkeley at 1:57 a.m., telling her that he was lost and asking her to come and help him. Cardenas said she had urged him to call his friends who were with him at the party. The two spoke for about 12 minutes.
KABC in LA reports that Vasquez said he was at the beach and needed help.
After Vasquez was not found Saturday, Sunday or Monday, his family headed to LA to search for him and efforts were made across social media to help find him. A $100,000 reward was offered for anyone who could find him.
Sadly, it turns out that a coroner identified Vasquez as the person who died after being struck by a car while running across the 10 freeway in Los Angeles around 2:30 a.m. Saturday morning.
Cal athletics issued this statement about Vasquez prior to learning of the young man’s death:
“One of our student-athletes, Eloi Vasquez, a 19-year old freshman on our men’s soccer team, has been reported missing. Eloi was last seen leaving a fraternity party in Los Angeles at the USC chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon in the early morning hours of Saturday, March 28. He was last heard from at approximately 2:15 a.m. that same morning.
“Eloi is a wonderful young man who has excelled both academically and athletically here at Cal. Our entire Cal Athletics family is very concerned for Eloi’s safety and our first priority is to help in any way we can to locate him. We are working with authorities in Los Angeles as well as those here on campus and ask that anyone with information regarding Eloi’s disappearance please contact LAPD’s Southwest Area Watch Commander at 213-486-8582 or 877-LAPD-24-7.
“We ask that everyone keep Eloi and his family in their thoughts and pray for his safe return.”
