Wesley Billingsley was an up-and-comer in the business world. Having graduated from San Diego State University in 2016 with a business degree, Wes played a major role in two different start-up companies.
Shortly after he graduated, he left San Diego to move back to Sacramento, California where he was from, and where his mother still resided. Wesley’s goal was to save money, and then return to San Diego.
In February of 2018, he moved back to San Diego. However, he fell into some difficult times and ended up couch surfing between some friend’s places.
On the evening of June 12, 2018, Wesley was supposed to meet up with some friends for dinner. Wesley would not show up.
On June 13, 2018, Wes had plans to help some friends move. Again, Wesley would not show up.
No one would hear or see Wesley again.
Where is Wesley Billingsly?
Wesley Billingsly, also going by Wes a lot of the time, was born on August 17, 1993. He grew up in Sacramento, California with his mom Christel, and and three older siblings.
Wesley attended San Diego State University and fell in love with the San Diego area. While at the University, Wes was very social, joining a fraternity and enjoying everything about being in college in southern California.
It was noted that the fraternity he was in was a rowdy one. A partying fraternity that would see several suspensions from the University and sexual harassment charges during the time that Wesley was part of it. It doesn’t appear that Wesley, however, was ever part of those charges or committed any crime at all while at San Diego State.
Wes graduated in 2016 with a business, communications, and marketing degree. He eventually decided to move back to Sacramento, live at home for a while to save money, and then return to San Diego.
His mother, Christel, has said that his goal was always to get back to southern California. He felt at home there and thought that’s where he could make a good future for himself.
In February 2018, Wesley was finally ready to move back to San Diego. He would move in with some roommates, and in addition to being part of two start-up companies, he was working in ad sales as well. However, despite regular contact between Christel and Wesley, Christel said she was unaware that her son had lost his job and the friends he was living with had asked him to leave since he couldn’t contribute to the rent.
Christel said it pained her to learn this later. Every time she talked to him on the phone, he seemed happy, upbeat, and positive. But in reality, things were falling apart and he didn’t want to worry his mother.
Wes began couch surfing, spending his time between three different friends’ houses or apartments in the Pacific Beach area. Most of his personal belongings were kept in his black Ford Expedition.
Wesley had supposedly lost his job in advertising sales, but he was still working two businesses. BAM Entertainment worked in the club promoter scene, booking & scheduling talent, and he also was the co-founder of On Deck Official. Since Wesley had also created an entertainment company- BAM Entertainment- I think it’s safe to say Wesley enjoyed the entertainment industry as well as being an entrepreneur.
This would come up later as it becomes a distinct possibility that this party and club scene may have led him to drugs and an unsavory crowd of people.
As Wesley couch surfed in Pacific Beach, he was known to frequent the Von’s Grocery Store, even knowing the cashiers there by name.
On the morning of June 12, 2018, Wes drove by this Vons store, saw some people he knew, smiled, and waved as he rode by.
Little did those people know, they would be the last ones to see Wesley Billingsly.
On the evening of June 12, Wes had plans to meet up with some friends for dinner, but he was a no-show.
The next day, June 13, he had told some friends he would help them move.
Again, Wesley was a no-show.
In the meantime, Christel reaches out to Wes but receives no reply. Usually a daily poster on social media, his pages went dark. It does seem odd, but his mom initially doesn’t think much of it. After all, he is a 24-year-old young man.
However, soon, some friends would reach out to Christel to let her know they hadn’t seen or heard from Wesley. It was Christel who reported Wesley missing.
This is a tough one for the San Diego Police Department. Here is a young man, who just seemed to vanish. But, he didn’t have a stable home in the area, and as an adult, he certainly has every right to disappear. They told Christel that he probably just needed a mental break, especially since he recently lost his job and was homeless.
Christel just knew that something was wrong, and made the 8 ½ hour drive down to San Diego.
Christel started at the Von’s and went around talking to people and putting up posters for her missing son.
There would be no leads, no clues, absolutely no signs of Wesley anywhere.
Now, police did start to pursue this case as a missing person, but they were also left with no viable leads to work with, leading many to still believe that Wesley just took off on his own.
That is, until two months later, a discovery is made which prompts everyone to ask even more questions.
Wesley’s large black Ford Expedition is found abandoned in a rural area of the South Bay area- which is about 20 minutes south of Pacific Beach. South Bay is near the Mexico border, but the area where his truck was found doesn’t indicate that he intended to go to Mexico. It was on a dirt road, surrounded by horse farms. Not exactly within walking distance to the border crossing, but some still thought that was likely what happened.
It appeared most of his belongings were in the truck, although it does not specifically mention items such as his cell phone, wallet, etc.
Christel would take a translator with her, cross into Mexico herself, and file a missing persons report with the Mexican authorities.
Interesting fact- in the past, Mexico would share John Doe’s they came across or even Crime Stats with the U.S. consulate side of the border, but they had stopped doing that a few years ago. As the investigations continued, Christel would go to Mexico several times to visit the morgue and look through the books and books of photographs of unidentified bodies that came through.
Christel also worked tirelessly to keep the media on top of Wesley’s story, but it was hard. Local media would pick up her story here and there, but not much attention was given beyond that. And even with that coverage, Christel says she has had to work to obtain the media she has for Wesley.
This is clearly a mother who loves her son beyond measure and would do anything to find him and bring him home.
San Diego County in particular has a large number of missing person cases. In 2020, there were 1100 adults reported missing. Of those, 24 are still open. Investigators say their proximity to the border plays a role in those numbers, and that most people are found pretty quickly, as they just come home.
Even more alarming, in 2020, there were 900 children reported missing from San Diego County. Of those, 100 are still open cases.
The question persists: How did his black Ford Expedition come to be in the spot where it was found? It was not really within walking distance of the border crossing. And except for saying that most of his personal belongings were found inside, nothing more has been made public knowledge. Such as his cell phone and wallet? Were they located? Were there signs of a struggle? We do know it was a rural area where it was found, did Wesley have any connections to anyone that lived out there? Did he have car trouble- maybe running out of gas, a flat tire, or something mechanical?
Could he have hiked off from there after leaving his truck?
Police are being tight-lipped on those particulars, which leads me to believe they did find some evidence they might want to keep under wraps.
So what do you think happened to Wesley Billingsly?
At the time of his disappearance, Wesley was 5’8” tall, weighed about 140 pounds, and had short dark hair and hazel eyes.
Wesley also has several tattoos, including the flying ghosts with fangs from Ghostbusters in red, white, green, and black ink on his upper right arm at the shoulder, and a Japanese character right below the ghosts.
Something is keeping people quiet in this case, but Wesley’s mother deserves answers.
If you have any information as to the whereabouts of Wesley Billingsly, or any information at all about his case, please contact San Diego Police Department at 619–531–2844.
You can also submit an anonymous tip with CrimeStoppers at SDCrimestoppers.org or call them at 855–580–8477.
