HAMPTON ROADS, Va. — Hector Olmeda Jr.'s family describes him as a family man, a great son, and an amazing and devoted father.
"He was always a good son. I was always proud of him," said his father Hector E. Olmeda.
Hector Junior spent most of his life living outside Chicago. He eventually joined the Navy as a cryptological technician.
"He dedicated himself a hundred percent and gave himself 100 percent," Olmeda's dad said.
During his service, Hector Junior and his wife, who was also in the Navy, had a baby girl while in Japan. After four years in the Navy, he moved to California with his daughter while his wife continued her service.
"He was always with that baby, always in museums, since the zoo, in the park, that was his life," he said. "I admire him so much for the kind of dad he was. I wish I was half of the dad that he was, I mean, he was so amazing with that little girl."
In January 2024, Olmeda said Hector Junior relocated to Portsmouth to help a friend renovate their house.
"He had told me this individual, he called his 'Navy' brother, was going through a divorce, and he had bought a house, and he asked my son if he could go remodel some of the house," his dad said.
Hector Junior regularly kept in contact with his family.
Then, communication stopped.
Days and weeks passed without any word from Hector Junior.
His father, a recently retired law enforcement officer, said he filed a missing person's report over the phone with Portsmouth police.
Eventually, he made the trip from the Midwest to Virginia.
"I went to the police station, identified myself, and asked what the update was and what was going on," he said.
He said police told him they were going to conduct some search warrants, but that answer didn't help much.
At this point, Portsmouth police had issued a missing person's alert for Hector Junior.
Hector Junior's father said he had to fight the urge to conduct his own investigation as a former police officer, but more importantly, as a father.
He wanted answers.
"I wanted to go into the house...I went by the house," he said. I asked neighbors, 'Have you seen him?' Nobody knew anything."
Olmeda said that even with his knowledge and experience in law enforcement, he couldn't intervene in this investigation.
But not doing so made him feel guilty.
"People will tell me, 'Oh, you're a police officer, why can't you do this? Why can't you find out? Why?' They don't understand that it's not that simple," he said. Just because I'm police doesn't mean I could just go and do an investigation somewhere else."
He said he felt like his hands were tied.
"It wasn't in Chicago," he said. If it would have been Chicago it would be a whole different story, but it's a whole different state, so it was extra difficult for me to accept it and take a seat back and just let them deal with the situation."
Deep down, Hector Junior's father knew something wasn't right.
After a few weeks, the Naval Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS) called Hector Junior's father and asked for his DNA.
"They claimed they were just procedures, but I knew something was up," he said.
A few days passed.
Hector's father was on his way to work. He had been staying at his cousin's house in Chicago.
"I was driving back to work and she (his cousin) called me. She said 'Hector, where are you? Can you come back? I need you to come back right away."
When Hector Junior's father returned to his cousin's house, what he saw made his heart sink.
"I see my lieutenant there. I see some of the officers there that I know, and I knew right there that he [Hector Junior] had passed," his dad told News 3's Jay Greene. "It was frustrating because all they could tell me was that he passed."
But they had no body, his father said.
Hector's father, who now resides in Puerto Rico, told Greene he believes his son died sometime in February, closer to when Hector Junior was reported missing.
The family recently held a funeral service in Chicago to celebrate Hector Junior's life. It included a ceremony with Navy personnel along with his now 11-year-old daughter.
"It was a beautiful day," he said. "It felt so nice to see him recognized as a veteran, and them thanking them for being a veteran and for his service...everything was beautiful."
But his father says it all still feels unreal.
"I feel like a nightmare," he said. "That one day I'm going to get a call or text...and it's Junior calling me saying 'I'm sorry, I'm hiding here, don't worry, I'm good'."
The sting of not saying a proper 'goodbye' lingers for his entire family.
"We never saw his body," his father said. "I still have the luggage that he left here. He didn't take all his stuff. It's difficult."
His father said saying he wished he could hug Hector just one more time.
For the Olmeda family, what happened to Hector Junior remains a mystery.
NCIS told News 3's Jay Greene the investigation is ongoing, no charges have been filed and they won't be commenting any further on the investigation.
It should be noted that Hector Junior's friend, mentioned early on in the story, was arrested following a police chase. It happened after Hector's disappearance.
After the arrest, police said they found documents related to Hector Olmeda, Jr. in the car. Those documents led police to a search of the friend's home in Portsmouth where investigators found blood stains, possible human remains and burnt tools.
As of now, the friend is not facing any charges related to Hector Junior's disappearance.
The investigation remains ongoing, with the case shrouded in uncertainty, leaving the Olmeda family to grapple with their loss and an enduring quest for answers.
