SEATTLE, Wash. – A SeaTac, Wash. man who has been reported missing for nearly two years has been found alive, living under an assumed name.
Nicholas Francisco was last seen leaving his job at an ad agency in Seattle's Queen Anne neighborhood on Feb. 13, 2008. His car was found a few days later, abandoned outside a condominium complex in Federal Way, Wash.
Less than a month after his disappearance, detectives scaled back their investigation because they could not find any evidence of foul play. At the same time, Francisco's pregnant wife Christine said she believed her husband was murdered. Convinced Nicholas wouldn't abandon her or their two kids, Christine did numerous media interviews asking for the public's help.
Christine divorced him several months after his disappearance.
Tonight, Laura Collins, his former mother-in-law, called the new developments "disturbing" and said "his kids are the ones being hurt the most."
The King County Sheriff's Office says detectives uncovered information last week that Francisco is alive and living outside of Washington under a new name. Detectives won't say what state he is in.
Despite all the man hours police and volunteers put in to find him, the sheriff's office says Nicholas has not committed a crime in disappearing.
"Certainly there's a moral obligation. There's a moral obligation to not run out on your wife and your kids, much less the police department and the work we have to put in. But is there a legal obligation? No. People are free to run away, to disappear if they want to," said Sgt. John Urquhart, King County Sheriff's Office spokesman.
Urquhart says Nicholas also has the right to privacy, so detectives won't be disclosing any more information about him.
The case is now closed.
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