LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — Desperate for answers, the wife of a man found dead after having gone missing for days is asking anyone who knows what happened to him to come forward.
Guadalupe Garcia Rodriguez's truck was found early Wednesday morning around 12:30 on Paden Cove Trail. Gwinnett Police said his body was inside.
11Alive was able to speak to his wife, Rosa Quintanilla, over the phone. In Spanish, she said she and her family are still trying to figure out what happened and just don't want his case to go cold.
When she spoke to MG News, a man she reached out to for help when she realized her husband was missing, she said she didn't know why someone would want to take her husband's life.
Quintanilla said the last time she spoke to her husband was Monday morning before the 40-year-old left for work with a tree-cutting company at 6:30. She said she said "bye" to him, and he said it back. After he didn't answer her messages or calls throughout the day, she called his manager, who said he never showed up for work. That's when Rosa called the police.
"Officers initially began working on this as a missing person case, and upon following up on some of the leads in the missing person case, we were able to locate his truck," Sgt. Collin Flynn with Gwinnett County Police said.
Neighbors said they spotted the truck around the neighborhood and in the exact spot where it was found days ago.
"For two days, I've been passing by me and my wife. We were talking about it, but, you know, we figured it just broke down by the side and woke up this morning and hear this all like, wow," a man who lives nearby said.
Investigators are now treating the case like a homicide. Despite them not releasing how he was killed, Quintanilla said detectives told her he was shot. She said he was a family man, a good dad to their 6-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son. She doesn't know why someone would kill him, but she wants the police to find out why.
While it's unclear what happened to Rodriguez, police are investigating the motive of the incident.
Authorities are asking anyone with information on the case to contact the department at 770-513-5300.
Those who would like to remain anonymous can do so by contacting Crime Stoppers at 404-577-8477 or visiting online here. Crime Stoppers tipsters could be eligible for a cash reward for information leading to an arrest and indictment in the case, police added.