(NewsNation) — A devout church-goer on a business trip stopped for a cup of coffee. Nearly six months later, his family has no idea of where he is and they are desperate for answers.
Emilio Ghanem vanished without a trace while he was on a trip to California’s Inland Empire in May of 2023. As the months have passed, his family has begun to fear the worst., including his sister, Jenny Ghanem.
“My biggest fear is that he’s dead, right? I mean, who disappears out of thin air?” she said.
His sisters say the 40-year-old spent the past two decades in southern California as a devout member of His Way Spirit Led Assemblies. He and other church members and leaders worked at a pest control company named Fullshield, Inc.
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In April of 2023, Emilio left both the ministry and the job, moving to Nashville to reunite with his family and begin a new chapter of his life.
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“He was really happy, he was ready to start his new life and turn over a new leaf,” Jenny said.
But Emilio never got a chance at that new start. He returned to the Inland Empire to start a satellite office for his new pest control business, staying at an Airbnb in Moreno Valley.
On May 25, 2023 he visited a Starbucks in Redlands, California. That day, he vanished, all of belongings found at the Airbnb even though Emilio himself never made it back.
Police said the white Nissan Frontier he rented was picked up by a license plate reader in Colton, California, and then never located again.
“The license reader may have picked it up, but I’m not sure he was the one driving it,” Jenny said.
Emilio told his family he went back to the area to recapture some of his former clients with his new company. But that wasn’t so easy.
Fullshield ‘s attorney served Emilio with a letter, dated May 8, 2023, saying they believed Emilio was “competing with Fullshield for business” and needed to “cease and desist.”
“From these disparaging derogatory and defamatory actions which are interfering with my clients’ (Fullshield Inc.) contractual and financial relationships. This matter is serious and of the utmost importance and you should take notice before engaging in any of the described behavior activity,” the letter read.
That letter was dated two weeks before Emilio disappeared. Officially, police said the case is an ongoing investigation into a missing person.
NewsNation affiliate KTLA went to a Menifee home where Emilio’s sisters and a former church member said they believe many church members and Fullshield employees live to see if they had seen or heard from Emilio.
The station also visited a Hemet home, where other members are reported to be living, but nobody answered the door at either residence. Emilio’s sisters said people in the group have been notified of Emilio’s disappearance as they were his closest friends for the past 23 years.
But none of those church members have gotten in touch with the family to help. None of them have got back in touch with NewsNation affiliate KTLA either, after the station tried to contact them in October.
His sisters wonder if Emilio just wandered off, if he wanted to disappear or if something more sinister happened.
“I love my brother. I want him back,” Jenny said.
Emilio’s family said they are doing all they can to find him and are pleading with anyone in the public who knows anything to come forward and help find him.
Police said the investigation is ongoing and are asking anyone with information on Emilio’s whereabouts to call Det. Kyle Hanna at the Redlands Police Department at (909) 788-7580.