Santa Rosa family of missing young man hold vigil at Coffey Park

The Santa Rosa family of Bryant Palacios Zuñiga, who went missing in early April, is expected to hold a candlelight vigil at Coffey Park Thursday evening at 7 p.m.

Palacios, 28, a graduate of Santa Rosa High School, was living in Redwood City. His mother Naxheli Zuñiga last heard from Palacios a month ago, on April 2.

On April 7, his car was found parked alongside the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Zuñiga has received little information from Redwood City Police officials investigating her son’s disappearance. But she continues to hold out hope that her oldest son will be found.

Since his disappearance, Zuñiga and family and friends have held nightly prayer sessions in the living room of her home on Coffey Lane.

Palacios attended Santa Rosa Junior College before transferring to UC Davis, where earned a degree in biochemistry and molecular biology. The vigil Thursday night is being held to give more people the chance to show their support, said Palacios’ sister Cristina, 20.

She said lot of family and friends have been wanting to show their support by attending the vigils. “But my mom’s house isn’t too big,” Cristina Palacios said. “What we decided is to have at least one session where everyone can come together.”

Palacios came to the U.S. with his parents when he was 8 years old. Zuñiga said he quickly learned English and excelled in school.

He was a beneficiary of the California DREAM Act, which allows students who entered the U.S. illegally as children to obtain legal protections through a process called DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

She said her son had no history of depression or other mental health issues. She described him as quiet but that he showed no recent signs of being troubled.

Palacios and his family are originally from Oaxaca. They said the young man doesn’t know anyone along the border and would have no reason to park his car along a remote road next to the border fence.

Cristina Palacios said Redwood Police are still trying to obtain video surveillance along the border that may have information about how the car was abandoned there.

“The (Redwood City Police) detective told me his strategy is to wait and see what the video footage tells him,” she said.

Cristina Palacios said her father had a birthday last week and the family prayed that Palacios would call his father to wish him well, as he always did on family birthdays. The call didn’t come, she said.

She said Thursday’s vigil is essentially a prayer that everyone is doing everything they can to find her brother.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pressreno.