Keeping hope alive: Missing man’s family continues search

MONTROSE — As the days pass, Abe Martinez’s family is pinning up signs — and pinning its hopes on public awareness.

Abade “Abe” Martinez, 52, has been missing from the Olathe home of a relative since Aug. 2.

His brother and brother’s girlfriend found Martinez’s hat and cigarettes — items his sisters said he would take with him everywhere — at their house on 58.25 Road, but neither they, nor a massive search by the Montrose County Sheriff’s Office, were able to find the missing man.

“We still haven’t given up,” Martinez’s sister, Victoria Martinez, said. “We won’t give up until we find him.”

She said investigators are searching the area near where Abe was last seen and there is talk of another ground search.

The family, however, searches every day, marking their path with color flyers of Abe and yellow ribbons.

“We made a track from where he went missing, all the way to his home in Montrose (on South 12th Street),” Victoria said. “We went the route he always walked. It’s his frequently traveled path. ... We look and we re-look.”

The family recently listed Abe with the CUE Center for Missing Persons, based in North Carolina.

The nonprofit’s mission is to join efforts with all people involved in a missing persons case to search for the missing.

Victoria Martinez described her brother as a loving and generous man, from a family of nine children, all of whom grew up in Ridgway. Abe loves spending time with his family, and is very proud of his 2-year-old granddaughter, Victoria said.

He also is a skilled construction worker.

“He could cut a board without measuring it and it would be exact. He is a very skillful man,” his sister said.

Now his beloved family is in limbo — searching for any clue, praying for any news, and, so far, receiving neither.

“We want to hear something good or bad. He could be anywhere. There’s nothing but fields and orchards and ditches and canals that surround the whole area,” Victoria said. “There’s still many factors. It’s a very difficult thing to deal with.”

Abe Martinez is 5-feet, 7-inches tall, 130 pounds, dark hair with salt-and-pepper highlights, was clean-shaven at the time of his disappearance, and has brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a gray T-shirt and blue jeans.

Contact the Montrose County Sheriff’s Office at 252-4010, or your nearest law enforcement agency with any information.

You can also visit the CUE Center for Missing Persons at www.ncmissingpersons.org.