Friends of a missing North Park man are hoping someone knows something about his whereabouts.
David Medina, 32, was last heard from on April 5. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) found his red 2016 GMC Terrain SUV the next day on the Interstate 8 offramp at Jackson Drive in La Mesa.
Police say the SUV had been in a collision and that was no sign of Medina.
Friends are putting up missing person posters in La Mesa, and in Hillcrest where Medina frequents the restaurants and bars.
He is a well-known face, they say.
“It’s not like him to go this long without talking to any of us,” Medina’s friend Krista Llamas said. Llamas is Medina’s former boss at Blow Pop hair salons where she says Medina was a popular manager at the downtown and UTC locations.
“He’s a super friendly face to a lot of people,” she said. “Everybody loved David.”
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When the salons closed, she says, Medina worked various jobs, including driving for Lyft. The San Diego Police Department (SDPD) confirmed Medina was not driving for LYFT the night of April 5.
Llamas and Medina’s partner Josef Gonzales worry Medina could be hurt from the accident.
“Hopefully he wasn’t bleeding profusely and passed out somewhere,” said Gonzales.
Gonzales has checked the local hospitals and the Medical Examiner’s office. He says that Medina's sister's birthday was in the last few days, and the fact that he didn't call is concerning.
“We’re kind of at a standstill right now,” he said. “We don’t know where else to look. Hopefully someone will recognize him.”
SDPD says nothing indicates foul play, and nothing indicates Medina needs to avoid the law because of the collision. Police say the California Highway Patrol searched the brush around Interstate 8 when they found the SUV, and the area has since been searched again by SDPD.
Medina's mother and sister arrived in San Diego on Thursday to help in the search.
SDPD issued an alert Thursday asking for the public’s help to find Medina. Anyone with any information is asked to please call police.
