Where is Antonio Vela?

 Where is Antonio Vela?

 

Antonio Vela Jr, also known as TJ and 'Speshul Ed', went missing on June 15th, 2017 from Victoria, Texas. Vela had been at the bar 'Sports' staying until closing time, 2am. After leaving the bar, he told his friends, "Love y'all", and went to a store to allegedly get some food. He was one of the eight people that were in bar when closed, and knew everyone there. It is unknown what store he was planning to go to. Antonio's house wasn't far from the bar, Sports having been on John Stockbauer street, and his house on Waterford, a road in a suburb with close proximity.

TJ's roommate came to the house at a later unknown time, finding the garage door open, a plastic bag on the floor with the food that TJ had purchased, and his cell phone. Antonio's family had been trying to contact him, and all messages were unanswered. His sister, Sara Lott stated that for him not to respond was out of the ordinary. "He's always calling is dad, he's always calling his sisters. I think we're all in shock trying to find him. We just want him home. I'm numb because he's my brother and I want him home. We love him.".

Later, it was found that TJ's car, a 1999 Pontiac Firebird, was found abandoned with a flat tire, 17 miles away. The car was found on Venglar road, which is in the deep rural parts of Inez, Texas, a town that is part of Victoria county.

It is unknown if there was any sort of evidence found in the car, or any sort of evidence of a fight. Supposedly the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), and the Victoria Police Department did an aerial search of the location on Venglar road, but there hasn't been any public information as to whether they found any sort of evidence.

Reporter Claudia Rivero contacted spokeswoman Lt. Eline Moya, from the VPD. Moya stated in an email, "Unfortunately, due to this case being an open and active investigation, I am unable to go into specific details about this case that may jeopardize the integrity of the investigation. The detectives continue to receive Crime Stoppers tips and continue to follow up on all leads.".

At the time of his disappearance, Antonio was 36 years old, and listed as anywhere between 5'9 - 6'0" tall. He was 175 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. On the day that he disappeared, he was last seen wearing jeans, black shoes with a nike check, and a grey t-shirt. I am unsure of an exact birthdate, but in 2021 he would be approaching his 40th birthday.

A year after his disappearance, Antonio's family held a candlelight vigil in his remembrance at the parking lot of Sports. His older sister, Natalie Vela Thompson said, "We don't care what happened or why. We want to find him. It's heartbreaking, you can't breathe".

In 2019, two years after his disappearance, Antonio's family planned a benefit garage sale, where the proceeds would go towards the purchase of large billboards with his picture and information. Despite his family's hard work, there have not been any leads, or at least any public breakthroughs in the case. It is unknown what became of the VPD investigation and if they ever found anything.

There are rumors that Vela may have snitched on someone or something, but there is no evidence to back this.

In a video with Claudia Rivero, interviews with people that knew Antonio all seem to get at the same sentiment. When Antonio was around, many people were friends with him. But now that he's missing, no-one seems to be saying anything.

Antonio had a love for music, being the owner of Clock Work Records. His music is still available on bandcamp, soundcloud, and clips on youtube.

 

Searching on namus, there don't appear to be many unidentified male bodies in the area. The only one closest to being a potential match is a body that was found on July 31st, 2019. The body was found by a local rancher around Nursery, Texas between 87 and FM 447. The remains were non recognizable, with virtually any sort of identifiable information non-existent. The age rage is listed as anywhere from 23-45 years old, estimated year of death anywhere from 2015-2018, height ranging from 5'4"-6'0", and race as potentially white or hispanic/latino. Upon further searching, it seems that Vela has already been excluded from this doe.

[SOURCES]

https://www.facebook.com/MissingPiecesNetwork/posts/man-missing-from-victoria-texasantonio-tj-vela-jr-aka-speshul-ed-age-36-was-last/1702866963352808/
https://www.claudiariverotv.com/video/what-happened-to-antonio-vela-jr
https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/38877/details
https://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/family-hosts-candlelight-vigil-year-after-victoria-man-s-disappearance/article_2a9686d6-69c5-11e8-8861-e728b455ce19.html
https://www.crossroadstoday.com/family-concerned-for-safety-of-missing-victoria-man/
https://www.crossroadstoday.com/victoria-family-continues-search-of-antonio-tj-vela-jr/
https://speshuled.bandcamp.com/
https://soundcloud.com/speshul-ed
https://youtu.be/A7PRls5qgeY
https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/59323?nav