Cesar A. Ortiz, was a 31-year-old Hispanic man living in Las Vegas, Nevada, when he was last seen or heard from on October 1, 1994. He is described as 5 feet 6 to 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing 165 to 170 pounds, with brown hair, brown eyes, and eyeglasses; no description of the clothing he was wearing at the time has been made public. Ortiz was reported missing together with his girlfriend, Isis Copado.
On October 9, 1994, Copado's remains were discovered along Interstate 15 near Baker, California; she was not positively identified until October 26, 1994. Because her remains were severely decomposed, no obvious signs of trauma were found and a cause of death could not be determined. Ortiz was not located at the scene where Copado's remains were found and has never been located. He may have been driving a white 1994 Toyota Celica bearing Nevada license plate 113E8W at the time; no public report indicates the vehicle has been recovered.
The circumstances of Ortiz's disappearance remain unclear. It has not been publicly established whether he had any connection to Copado's death or whether he himself may be in danger, and his case is classified as Endangered Missing. Investigators have reported losing contact with Ortiz's relatives and are seeking to reestablish that contact. Copado's death has not been publicly classified as a homicide, and no suspect or person of interest has been publicly named in either case. Ortiz's case was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) in 2010 and remains open and unsolved; if he is alive, he would be 62 years old today. Anyone with information about Cesar Ortiz's whereabouts, or about the circumstances of Isis Copado's death, is encouraged to submit a tip through the National Center for Open and Unsolved Cases at openunsolved.org, referencing case number 08-9402653.
