Everyone is focusing on these boys' criminal record. Right now to us, they are missing persons. They are lost. We want them home. We want them home. We need them home. – Judi Rinker, mother of Levi Collins
SALT LAKE CITY — As Salt Lake police homicide detectives continued to look Wednesday for three "endangered" men missing since Saturday, the families of the men are pleading with the public for information.
Although each man has a criminal history and they all disappeared under suspicious circumstances, the families reminded the public Wednesday that the men still have families who love them and are worried.
"Everyone is focusing on these boys' criminal record. Right now to us, they are missing persons. They are lost. We want them home," an emotional Judi Rinker, mother of Levi Collins, said. "We want them home. We need them home."
On Monday, police found a "large" amount of blood inside an abandoned car near the Jordan River at 1740 W. 1500 South. Police have not said where in the vehicle the blood was found or attempted to publicly quantify it. But the department says it was enough that the entire homicide squad is now investigating the case.
A dog was also found in the car, uninjured. The dog belonged to Collins, according to family members. Police are looking for Collins, 34, Danny Kiko Gallegos, 35, and Braden Parker Emerson, 23. All of them are considered missing and endangered.
Family members said the three are all close friends and were reportedly going out Saturday to ride ATVs. As of Wednesday, family members said the trailer and ATVs they were using were also missing.
Collins always texted or called his family several times a day. By Sunday when they hadn't heard from him, they knew something was wrong.
"It is so unlike Levi and Kiko and Braden. We're all real close," said Patrick Chadd, Collins' brother.
Family members do not know the owner of the vehicle that the blood was found in. Police say they have interviewed the car owner, but had not revealed as of Wednesday details about what the owner said or his explanation why his car was found in a field, whether he had loaned it to anyone or if he had any connection to the missing men.
Police scoured the area around the Jordan River where the car was found on Monday. Family members returned to the banks of the Jordan River on Wednesday to conduct their own search and pass out fliers.
"We want peace. We want Levi. We want him to come home. We love him to death. He has three kids," Chadd said.
"First thing that come to mind with blood is, 'Is he dead? Is he going to come home? Are we ever going to find him?' We don't know. And this is why we need answers."
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call police at 801-799-3000.
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Twitter: DNewsCrimeTeam