Man Found Fatally Shot in Backyard of San Pablo Home, Wife & Children Missing

A man was found shot to death in San Pablo this morning and his three children and their mother are nowhere to be found, police said this afternoon.
 
Officers responded around 7:55 a.m. to reports of a man found dead from a gunshot wound in the backyard of a home in the 1600 block of 16th Street, according to San Pablo police.
 
Officers found the man, who was pronounced dead at the scene and whose name has not been released. Police said a preliminary investigation indicates that the victim's three children, who live with him, as well as their mother, who doesn't live at the home, have not been located.
 
Police are asking for the public's help in finding the mother, identified as 35-year-old Alicia Ortez from the San Pablo-Richmond area, and her children, 12-year-old Hugo Ortez, 6-year-old Merari Ortez and 2-year-old Jean Carlos Ortez. Police have not said whether Alicia Ortez is a suspect in the man's death and said investigators have not determined a motive for the killing.
 
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call San Pablo police at (510) 215-3150 or the West Contra Costa Crime Stoppers Tip Line at (510) 799-8255.

—By Bay City News