American Flight Attendant Missing in Colombia

An American Airlines attendant on an. international flight vanishes in. Colombia on [music] what should have. been a routine layover, but 5 days later. that frantic search continues. We are. learning alarming new details about. [music] his last known whereabouts in. the situation, and it makes this even. more critical. And now you have family. who is joining American [music]. authorities in the quest to find this. missing man. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law & Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber.

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frequent users earn an average of $254. back a year. So to start getting your. cash back, click the link in the. description, or scan the QR code, use. promo code Sidebar to get an extra 25. cents bonus on every gallon on your. first tank of gas. 32-year-old Eric. Fernando Gutierrez Molina has been an. American Airlines flight attendant for. over 8 years. This is according to his. Facebook page, which also shows photos. of him in places all over the world, Turkey, Hungary, Mexico, and that's a. big reason that people take this kind of.

job, right? It is perfect for travel. enthusiasts. See the world, see the. culture, see the cities. What all of. Molina's trips have in common though, is. that he eventually returned back to his. home base in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. But unfortunately, this is not the case. on his latest flight attendant rotation. It has now been 5 days since anyone last. saw Molina, or has officially reported. seeing Molina, who was supposed to catch. a return flight to the United States.

early Sunday morning. And as the days go. by, every second counts in this. investigation over 2,000 miles from. home. So here's what we know so far. Molina traveled with an American. Airlines flight crew from Miami to. Medellin, Colombia on the evening of. Saturday, March 21st. And the crew was. only supposed to be in that area for a. short period of time, with a return. flight back to Miami scheduled for. Sunday morning. Now, Molina's long-time. partner, Ernesto Carranza, told CBS News. that he last communicated with him on.

Saturday night. So that is the same. night that Molina had arrived in. Colombia. During that conversation, Molina reportedly told him he was going. out with co-workers. Make sense, right? You're in the new place, you want to. explore it, you want to go out, you need. a. stress reliever from the work of being a. flight attendant. I get it. And I could. see why Molina would want to make the. most of his time somewhere when it's. especially limited, right? So what. happens? According to the Colombian. publication Telemedellin, which by the. way, I think is important. If you're. talking about a missing person's case,

the fact that they're reporting it from. local authorities and getting it in that. attention, getting it in front of that. community, huge, huge. According to this publication, Molina went to a club in the El Poblado. neighborhood of Medellin with a female. co-worker. Now Molina's friend, Sharone. Gill, told the news source that Molina. and his co-worker met two men at the. club, and they were invited to keep the. party going in another location. That's. an allegation. The report says that. hours later, Molina's co-worker, who.

accompanied him that very night, was. apparently found disoriented by. authorities in the neighborhood and was. taken to a medical center. Now, here's. where things get interesting. There is a. report from NBC Dallas-Fort Worth that. cites a Thursday press conference given. by Medellin security secretary, who. claims that authorities identified the. people that were last seen with Molina. and his co-worker on that Saturday. night. According to those officials, those people allegedly have a history of. committing theft using scopolamine.

We've talked about this in the Epstein. files, okay? It was in there. This is. apparently an odorless, tasteless drug. known as devil's breath, which can cause. disorientation, hallucinations, you can. even lose consciousness. In fact, the US. Embassy in Colombia says that. scopolamine is commonly used to carry. out robberies in tourist cities like. Medellin and Cartagena and Bogota. So at this time, it's unclear if the. people believed to be with Molina have. been taken into custody, whether they're. being questioned, their identities.

haven't been publicly released, but. officials have reportedly identified. vehicles and phones that were used by. the individuals. According to the New. York Post, authorities said the last. confirmed sighting of Molina was in the. early morning hours of Sunday in the La. America neighborhood of Medellin. So. it's a residential area about 6 miles. from the El Poblado neighborhood that he. reportedly went clubbing in. But then. you have this report from Telemedellin. says that he last sent a message around. the same time, which indicated his.

location at an Airbnb in El Poblado, which our understanding is is roughly 12. miles from Medellin's International. Airport. That's where Molina was. supposed to report to work. So you. seemingly have two separate locations, right? Two distinct locations he could. have last been seen in, and I think. that's what makes this timeline and this. case and this investigation a little. more confusing. Now regardless, he. hasn't been heard from since.

Molina never showed up for the American. Airlines early Sunday return flight to. Miami, and his colleagues, his friends, his family, they started to get worried. There was a missing person's report that. was filed in both Dallas and Medellin as. authorities are trying to piece together. a timeline here with very limited. information. So as of now, several. organizations have joined in the effort, including the FBI Dallas field office. You have the US Embassy in Colombia, the. US State Department. They're ready to. provide consular assistance alongside.

the continued work by the Medellin and. Colombian National Police, who are. leading the investigation. American. Airlines released a statement on the. case saying, quote, "We are actively. engaged with local law enforcement. officials in their investigation and. doing all we can to support our team. members' family during this time." The. Association of Professional Flight. Attendants, the union that represents. American Airlines flight attendants, told NBC Dallas-Fort Worth that it was. also, quote, "actively supporting all. efforts to help locate our missing.

colleague in Colombia." So as this. search is continuing, you just have to. imagine how Molina's loved ones are. feeling, right? His long-time partner. told CBS News this week, quote, "I want. to believe that he's alive, and I want. to continue believing that he's alive, but throughout each day you wake up not. knowing anything, and it makes the days. go by longer and slower.". According to the New York Post, Molina's. father has also traveled to the country. to help find his son.

Okay, so now I want to bring in Billy. Lane. He's a missing person's. investigator, works with an incredible. organization that he found called We Are. The Essentials. I encourage everybody to. check it out. Billy, thanks for coming on to talk about this. What concerns you the most right now? Yeah, and by the way, just everybody. knows, you are literally outside on a. search, and yet you still found the time. to come on and talk about this. So. really appreciate it. Um what what. concerns you the most about Mr. Molina? Um well, he's in a different country.

Uh he was in a night club, potentially. out with friends, partying, having a. good time, and uh he's not where he belongs. No one. can get a hold of him, and no one knows. where he's he at. Uh we've seen these. cases like this come up time and time. again. I think a lot of people uh. is so used to being secure in the United. States that when they go to other. countries, they have that same sense of. protection and uh you know, that they.

can do the things they can do here in. the United States, and I sometimes I. just don't think that is the case. Are. you familiar with Colombia? Are you. familiar with the uh those locations? Are you familiar with authorities there. and what we should be looking out for? I would tell you that uh it's a very. challenged area. Um there's a lot of. criminal activity, there's a lot of. cartel activity there. Um there's a lot of. individuals there that know Americans. come there, and I believe, and I've seen. it before, where they will target. Americans uh because they know that.

they're outside of their. uh area that they're used to, and that. they may have that feeling of security. that they have in the United States, and. they. they take them. for their vulnerability. And when you are hearing the reporting. that these people that he was allegedly. with, the last people that he was seen. with have this history of kind of like. what you're just saying, this. drug-related thefts, and authorities say. they've been able to identify these.

people's vehicles, their phones. No word. yet if they've been questioned, if. they've been taken into custody. Um. what's going on there you think behind. the scenes? Um are they not revealing a. lot of information for a reason? Well, I think in most tourist areas of. different countries, they want to put on. the best presentation and that it's a. very safe, secure place cuz they want. more people, especially Americans, to. come there and spend their money. Um. I. would highly. consider that foreign law enforcement.

may have a reason to hide things. They. may not come out with the truth right. away. Uh hopefully we would have the FBI. or somebody who has an attaché in that. country with boots on the ground to. actually get involved and see what's. going on and try to understand the truth. behind. what we are hearing. Before we even get into that, uh. devil's breath. I had talked about this. actually, by the way, in the Epstein. saga, cuz it came up in the files. Devil's Breath, this tasteless drug, uh.

they seem to be affiliated with it. somehow. Do you have any um experience. in that being used? No. Um I've just got experience in. Ambien being used, which is a normal. sleep med uh prescribed sleep. medication. And I have interviewed. people who've told me after they have. been drugged with that, they have no. recollection whatsoever of anything that. happens while they're asleep. So, I want to just go back to where his. location. I think this is such an odd. part, again. On one hand, he could have been.

confirmed in the early morning hours of. Sunday in the uh La America neighborhood. of Medellin. It's a residential area. It's 6 mi It's. 6 mi from the El Poblado neighborhood. that he originally went out went out. that night in. Then there's a report. that he was last seen, or there was a. message around the same time that. indicated his location was an Airbnb. in El Poblado. So, we're talking now. roughly 12 mi from the airport where he.

was supposed to report to. Um. I don't know. It's one right, one wrong. Two things can be true at the same time. So, it sounds like he may have met. somebody. The group may have met. somebody. They may went back to. somebody's Airbnb. There may have been. an after-party. Um. that's quite possible. Um and right now, I think. the important thing is. where did he go from there? Is there Is. there any trace of him from there? Um.

and we can talk about this, too. A lot. of times in our cases, we see a lot of. people end up in the emergency room, the. hospital uh for uh a medical emergency, uh overdoses. There's so many different. possibilities there. And sometimes, even. in the United States, it's hard for law. enforcement to understand and identify. individuals in the hospital because of. HIPAA. So, that becomes a sort of a. barrier that we have to overcome a lot. of times. And I pray in this case that. would be the actual case itself. Generally speaking, whether someone.

disappears in the United States or they. disappear abroad, if you're talking. about 5 days and no one no reported. sightings of him, why is that. significant? Why is that such a a. problematic situation? It's out of the norm for this. individual. Uh from what they're saying, he's supposed to have been back at work. He's supposed to have been certain. places at certain times, and he has not. been there. Now, in the United States, if you are Baker Acted under a. psychological evaluation, you're there. for 72 hours. So, that's typically our. window. Anything after that, uh we.

really start growing extremely. concerned. And rightfully so in this. case, I don't know what the protocol is. in Colombia for any type of uh. psychological intervention, if law. enforcement took those steps. But I know here it's 72 hours. So, now. we're way past that. And going back to something the the. witness, right? This apparent key. witness, Molina's uh female co-worker. Again, there were reports that she was. disoriented. If she was drugged, how does that.

complicate her recollection of. everything? How does that complicate her. as a potential key witness here? Like I said earlier, I've I've. interviewed people who's been drugged. with Ambien, and they lose pretty much. total memory of anything. It's like a. total blackout. Uh and then that's going. to impede That's going to impede, you. know, who he was with, who he last. talked to, what they remember, where. they went. Um so, those factors are very. important, especially in an. investigation like this, you're starting. from ground zero. You know nothing. And. generally speaking, do you know if. authorities there have the same techno-.

technology that we do in terms of. looking at surveillance and tracking. cell phones, and. um. you know, in today's day and age, it's. very hard uh for someone to go missing. It's very hard for um. uh a crime to be committed and not leave. a digital footprint behind. Um but then. again, we always have outlier cases. Look at Nancy Guthrie. Do Do you Do they. have technology there the same way we. do, as far as you know? I don't believe the camera systems there. are at the level in which they are here.

in the United States. Um but they do. still have cell phone towers, which we. can ping the different towers. Uh they. still have uh GPS locations that they. can ping on these phones. But I just. think so far as the amount of video, maybe in the more tourist area, you're. going to have a lot of video. But once. you get into the outline regions, I. think then you're going to start seeing. less and less uh surveillance video, ring cameras like we're used to here in. the United States. Uh that's typically. not something I see when I travel abroad. a lot. If you can explain to us why this is.

significant to have multiple. organizations a part of this, and what. they each do. So, as I said before, you. have several organizations who have. joined the search, the FBI Dallas Field. Office, the US Embassy in Colombia, the. US State Department is also ready to. provide consular uh assistance. Um and they're working with the Medellin. and Colombian National Police. What do. they all do there? What's the. significance of that? So, the State Department typically has, and so does the FBI, all these agencies.

typically have liaisons on the ground. already in the country. And that's part. of our partnership with these different. countries. Uh so, they already have. agents on the ground. They don't need to. fly nobody over there. So, they should. already be liaison with the local law. enforcement, giving them support that. they're going to need, because we don't. know what they have available. to investigate a case like this. We're. not sure how many cases like this they. investigate a year, even if they do any. of them. So, our law enforcement's.

pretty much going to support them, federal law enforcement, the State. Department, uh the embassy. They're. going to have. resources They're going to send out. resources, and they're going to realize. that this is very important, because. there again, we're talking about. Americans who are a American who is. missing, an American who's missing from. a foreign country. Would it help to send in a private. investigator? Um I would say no, more than likely at. this point. Uh unless it's somebody. there. in country, who knows the country, who.

knows the area, who has. allegiance to the United States, to. uh family, and is not influenced. possibly by the country, cuz I would I'd. hate to say it, but some countries have. a lot of corruption. Some countries have. a lot of control about what's released. and what's not. And individuals who live. in those countries are sort of. controlled by the government. And this. is a real real real situation that we. deal with a lot overseas. I hear about a lot of different uh.

distressing situations that are. happening overseas. Do you see typical. cases like this of people going missing. like this uh in Colombia or or uh or. abroad? I think you see it abroad, not just. Colombia. I think you see it in a bunch. of different countries. We've seen these. before. And sometimes, just like here in. the United States, some of these cases. will draw the attention of the media and. it will catch on fire. And this this. case like this one, like Nancy Guthrie, uh there's been several of these cases.

that for some reason, the media, the community, they're. invested in it, and they want more of. the information about what's going on. And then that's when we see uh we see it. on the news every day. Which is not a bad thing when you're. talking about the fact that the public. may be of help. The public may be the. first uh the first line to identify. somebody or see a clue or see something. suspicious. Um I don't know what what that's like. abroad. I know what that's like here. Um. do you see a public that would be ready.

to help in a situation like that? And. again, I know I'm putting kind of a. general net around that community. I. just am not familiar with it. I don't. know if you are. Yeah, I'll put the problem is how much. of this coverage are they going to see. in that country? You know, how much access do they have. to American TV? And I love the fact that. American TV covers these types of cases. Just like Nancy Guthrie's case, we're. keeping it alive. You know, we're. keeping it out there in the media. We're. putting pressure on law enforcement. We're putting pressure on federal agents.

to do their job and to go out there and. provide these families answers. And. that's exactly what uh our nonprofit. does. You know, we we are out there. every day trying to make a difference in. showing the the the law enforcement and. the public that this can be done, and. there's no reason that it should not be. done. Yeah. And I know it's probably being. reported there uh locally as well. Um. I do have a question. Uh and I was think. something I was thinking about. Um his position. going missing. Now, he's not like that.

other. uh story we've been covering about. General McCasland, right? But this is. somebody who has access to sensitive. material about our airplanes. Is there a. Does that could be any cause for. concern? Uh maybe a little bit. Um if it would. have been in Russia or some adversarial. country where we're totally at odds. with, who want to gather intelligence on. us, and who have intelligence agents who. actively follow Americans around when. they come into the country, yes. And it.

may possibly be possible there as well. Uh we don't know what we don't know. So, any I would say nothing is off the table. at this point until investigators or. people on the ground can eliminate the. possibilities of this happening. It's a really distressing situation. Um. we're going to try to stay on top of it. Uh we're thinking about Mr. Molina and. his family, and you know, uh hopefully. they uh they get some answers here. This. is a really really um again, distressing. situation. It's one thing for somebody. to go missing, one thing for somebody to.

go missing uh overseas. Billy Lane, thanks for taking the time. Appreciate. it. Yes, sir. God bless. And that's all we. have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining. us. And as always, please subscribe on. YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcast. You can also check us out on NBC's. Peacock, as well. We have all of our. Sidebar episodes up there, [music] too. If you want to follow me, X, Instagram, my News Nation show, Jesse Watters Live, Monday through Friday, 11:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you next time, everybody.