GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Green Bay Police are still searching for man who hasn’t been seen in 10 days.
Jeffrey Maldonado, 24, was last seen in the early morning of February 8th. That’s the same night police received a call for a person going through the ice of the East River. Police say they are investigating it only as one possibility for where Maldonado might be.
Gabriele Fuggetta, general manager of Club 9-Twenty, says Maldonado performed as a local hip-hop artist at the Main Street club the last night anyone is believed to have seen him.
“When he was on stage, great energy, had a very good delivery in his music, fun guy to be around really,” said Fuggetta.
Fuggetta says that night Maldonado left the club with a friend around 2:15 a.m.
A little more than an hour later, and less than a mile away, police and firefighters responded to the East River near Main and North Roosevelt Streets for a call of someone falling through the ice.
Police say footprints could be seen leading to a hole in the ice, but there were no footprints going away from it.
“It’s important that we never report on assumptions,” said Commander Kevin Warych of the Green Bay Police Department.
Warych stressed police are not officially connecting Maldonado’s disappearance to the East River incident. However, he says it is one possibility the department is looking at.
“We want to make sure that the family is taken care of, make sure they’re informed, and at the same token, do our investigation and part of the investigation is ruling that theory out or proving that theory,” said Warych.
Police say they’re trying to collect security camera footage and other evidence that might help them. They say for the public, they want to hear from anyone who might have talked with Maldonado the night he was at the club.
“Maybe someone out there knows a small piece of information that plays into the larger part of the investigation and that’s going to help the detective really put this back together with the ultimate goal of finding Mr. Maldonado and safely getting him back to his family,” said Warych.
Police and Fuggetta could not tell us where Maldonado lives or whether they have any reason to believe he’d be walking towards the river.
You can call Green Bay police if you have any information at 920-448-3208.
