A very mixed week in the Burien area, from the tragic stabbing death of a young man outside Goodtime Ernie’s to the discovery of an infamous deadbeat Dad living in another state under a new name, to the growing needs of a local food bank and much more.

Here are the stories we covered between Nov. 8 and Nov. 15, 2009:

ARTS:

Sgt. John Urquhart of the King County Sheriff’s Department reported Monday (Nov. 9th) that Nicholas Francisco, a SeaTac man who went missing in Feb. 2008, has been found alive and well, living in another state, and under a new name.

Francisco, 28 at the time, told colleagues at a Seattle ad agency on Feb. 13, 2008 that he would be heading to a local Safeway and then the Southcenter/Tukwila Costco before going home to his pregnant wife and two children to bake cookies in SeaTac.

Francisco’s car was found a few days later abandoned at a condominium complex in Federal Way, and an extensive investigation was conducted to see if he had been a victim of foul play.

Nothing turned up, and subsequently his wife, Christine, filed for divorce, citing “willful abandonment that continues for a period of time” and a “history of acts of domestic violence … or an assault or sexual assault which causes grievous bodily harm or the fear of such harm” as her reasons.

Christine has a daughter, 4, and a son, 2, and was also pregnant at the time (meaning she has three kids now).

Last week detectives developed information that he was in fact alive, had changed his name and was living outside of Washington.

“Since he did nothing illegal and this case is basically closed, we won’t reveal where he was found,” Urquhart said to The B-Town Blog. “But let me tell you – there was something incredibly unique about this guy that made bloggers go crazy. In all my years, I have never seen such a reaction. I’m glad this case is closed.”

And yes, the King County Sheriff’s Department has indeed closed their investigation.

Obviously, Francisco’s incident caused a lot of people a lot of grief, and a lot of time and money was spent on his alleged “missing” case. We’re certain that today, while many are relieved to know that he’s still alive, many are not too happy with his decision to just up and leave like he did, abandon his wife and kids and start a new life elsewhere.

UPDATE 10pm 11/9/09: We just discovered the following post on a forum devoted to this case that appears to be be from Francisco’s ex-wife, Christine, who claims the former-Nicholas is now living in LA:

This is Christine Carter. I have a few things to say to the lot of you. On this board and other places as well I have been FALSELY accused of lying, adultery, slander, hypocrisy, and of course murder. I’m sure the list of false accusations is longer but this is the general list. First let me say that I have prayed for each one of you that your hearts would be softened, your tongues kinder and your eyes be opened to the truth. It seems that God has not answered that prayer, yet. I know what all of you think of me. Admittedly at first it bothered me until I realized that you don’t know me and you don’t know Nicholas. You only know the pictured that I painted of him. For me you saw blips here and there while I was surviving the biggest tragedy of my life. When I married Nicholas it was forever. We took vows before God to love each other unconditionally and honor each other until death. When I took that vow I meant it. When Nicholas took it I truly believed that he meant it as well. I loved Nicholas with all of my heart. No evil thing you say about me can change that. No matter what kind of woman I am or you think I am Nicholas took vows and he knew me for two years before he married me. He chose to marry me. No one held a gun to his head to make marry me and stay married to me for seven years and have three beautiful kids with me. Those were things that Nicholas and I chose to do and we chose together. Believe what you will. God knows the truth as does Nicholas and myself. When Nicholas disappeared I couldn’t imagine that he walked out on me and our kids. The reason I could not imagine it is because I would never do it and to me it was unthinkable and I truly believed that Nicholas felt the same way. Why would I think Nicholas felt that way? well it’s simple. He told me over and over and over how much he loved me, how glad he was he married me and that he would always be with me. So no that night and for weeks following I couldn’t imagine him walking out on me. Then his secret life was discovered and my whole world was shattered all over again. Everything I thought was true was a lie. Many of you believe you know everything about this case. Well i’m sorry to be the one to tell you this but honestly you all know very little. What you think you know are just things in your imagination built off of tiny details you chose to pick at and blow way out of proportion. There are many details that have not been shared with you and will not be shared with you. You simply don’t deserve it. People who love me and who have supported me and my kids through this know the details and they are all who need to know. Perhaps someday in a book you will read all those juicy details you hunger for. Until then you will just have to continue using your imaginations. So why did I come on here and make this post? I had a few things I wanted to say to you before I tell you that Nicholas is alive. Yes that is right Nicholas is alive and well. He was recently found living in Los Angeles California. I will not give you the details on how he was found because I don’t want to give other dead beat dads any ideas. I will say that his money was garnished and given to me in a child support check to which he fought to have at least 80% of it returned claiming a hardship. The check was not for a sum as to cause a man a hardship. I will say that for a man that runs out on his pregnant wife and two kids no hardship for him could be worse than what he put us through. A board discussed this hardship he claimed and they denied it. The board stated it was not a hardship and thus a check was sent to me. I know you all have many questions that I have the answers to but history says that no matter what I tell you none of you believe a word from me. At this point I believe that the lot of you owe me a huge apology for all of the nasty, untruthful, hateful, disgusting things that you have said about me not only on here but in every way and to every person you possibly could. I am also considering filing suit on many of you for defamation of character. Yes I have a very good lawyer and yes I have a good case. So how do you feel knowing that Nicholas is alive and well and living under an alias just to avoid supporting the three children he willingly and wantingly fathered? How do you feel? As a final thought: Nicholas chose to lead a double life behind my back to which he started long before he ever met me. He chose to commit adultery. He chose to lie. He chose to walk away that night and not look back. He chose to break my heart. He chose to financially kill me. He chose to steal from his children. He chose to break the hearts of his kids. He chose to not call and let anyone know he was okay for the last 21 months. He chose. He chose this. I did not choose this. My kids did not choose this. Nicholas chose for us and that is not okay. What Nicholas did is evil and dark to put it mildly. I know that all of my words here will be twisted. Oh well. I am not perfect and I never claimed to be. I did not ever do anything to drive Nicholas away. He chose to never talk to me. He chose to run and hide. He chose to be selfish. I am the one that chose to stay and love these amazing kids through everything. I may not be a dream wife but I am far from evil and dark.

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Things are not always as they appear

Here are some videos that were produced and posted online:

Read our previous coverage of this story here.

A few weeks back we met a woman at the Burien Farmers Market who claimed to know a lot of things about the missing SeaTac man Nicholas Francisco, last seen Feb. 13th leaving his workplace in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle.

But we don’t like to print speculation or gossip, so we didn’t go with it.

She knew that his wife had filed for divorce, and she said a few things that raised more than just one eyebrow.

But we’re not going to print any of those speculative things here yet…sorry.

However, we will tell you that the mainstream Seattle media is reporting that Nicholas’ wife Christine, 28, has indeed filed for divorce, citing “willful abandonment that continues for a period of time” and a “history of acts of domestic violence … or an assault or sexual assault which causes grievous bodily harm or the fear of such harm” as her reasons.

Christine has a daughter, 4, and a son, 2, and is also pregnant.

More information here, and much more forum-style speculation here and here.

SEATTLE – Friends and family are forming a search party this Saturday (Feb. 23rd), hitting convenience stores and gas stations from Burien to Federal Way, searching for a SeaTac man who has been missing for over a week.

Nicholas Francisco hasn’t been seen since leaving his workplace at Publicis USA in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood on February 13 at 6 p.m.

The 28-year-old told colleagues he would be heading to a local Safeway and the Southcenter Costco before going home to his pregnant wife and two children.

Francisco’s 1992 Toyota Paseo was found at a Federal Way condominium complex on Monday, but King County detectives say they found nothing to help locate Francisco.

A reward for information leading to Francisco’s whereabouts is up to $15,000.

There is also a public service announcement for him that’s made its way to YouTube and has been viewed over 4,200 times in less than 48 hours:

Anyone with information is asked to call 911 immediately.

Saturday’s search party will start Saturday at 11 a.m. at Francisco’s place of work, Publicis in the West at 424 2nd Avenue West in the lower Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle:

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SeaTac-area man Nicholas Francisco’s car was found Monday morning in Federal Way, but he has not.

Meanwhile, the reward for finding him has raised to $15,000, and this video was just released:

A missing SeaTac-area man’s car has been found in Federal Way, according to KING-TV.

Nicholas Francisco, 28, was last seen around 6 p.m. on February 13 as he was leaving work in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood.

His red 1992 Toyota Paseo hatchback was found at the Heritage Condos at 123 S. 340th Street in the Panther Lake area of Federal Way at 10:20 a.m. Monday.

Family members plan to start searching that area and hand out flyers.

Federal Way Police say, as far as they know, Francisco has no connection to the Heritage Condos.

Francisco is about six feet tall. He was last seen wearing a light-blue or off-white button-down short, a black jacket and blue jeans.

There’s a $5,000 reward in the case.

“We just need him to come home,” said Christine Francisco, wife of Nicholas Francisco, who disappeared after leaving his Queen Anne office.

“I am begging everybody, begging everybody to please, please help me find my husband because I cannot live my life without him,” she said.

Deputies also have been pinging his cell phone, but have gotten no response. Nicholas’ co-workers say his cell phone batteries were dead on his last day at work.

Just before he vanished, Nicholas called his wife and promised his 4-year-old daughter, Zea, he’d make Valentine’s Day cookies with her, but never showed.

The Franciscos also have a son, Noah, age 2 1/2, and Christine is pregnant with their third child, due in early October.

“If you can’t find him, these kids won’t have a daddy then,” Christine said in an interview, breaking into tears. “This unborn baby won’t have a daddy.”

In their last phone conversation, from Nicholas’ work phone, he told his wife that he was “signing off on something,” then planned to head home after running an errand at Costco for her.

“He told me he loved me,” she said.

Francisco’s co-workers on Friday combed the streets around Francisco’s work and retraced his route home, hoping to find some sign of the missing man.

“Literally there is no place to search,” said King County sheriff’s spokesman John Urquhart. “What we have to do is our investigative work and try to track him either through cell phone or bank records.”

“It’s not normal for him to make stops, have hangouts or go visit anyone else,” said one co-worker. “He’s a man who comes home after work.”

Christine Francisco said there has been no activity in Nicholas’ e-mail or bank account since he vanished.

Francisco stands about 6 feet tall and was last seen wearing a light blue and white button-down shirt, a plain black jacket and a pair of blue jeans.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is urged call 911 immediately.

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SOURCES:

• KING-TV
• KOMO Radio