SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla.,None — The wife of a missing Seminole County firefighter talked about the search for her husband on Monday afternoon during a press conference.
Tonya Perdomo faced the cameras, but offered little information on what happened to her husband, 31-year-old Jerry Perdomo.
"My understanding is that he was going to help someone," Tonya Perdomo said during the press conference. "It would not have been unusual for him to go and help someone because that’s what he always did."I can't speculate, 'cause I don't know."
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The Maine state police, along with the Bangor Police Department, also held a press conference Monday afternoon.
Detectives in Maine said they suspect foul play in the disappearance of Perdomo, 31, who's been missing since Feb. 16.
Police initially said it was a missing person's case, and just wanted to talk to Daniel Porter, 24, and his girlfriend, Cheyanne Nowak, 25.
"Our goal remains, which is to locate Jerry Perdomo, and the work being done at the lab will hopefully give us some of the answers to our questions," said Christopher Coleman of the Maine State Police Department during the press conference.
However, now that foul play is suspected, Porter is the only one they are calling a person of interest in the case, police said.
"At this point we remain hopeful, but as days go on we have to be realistic. We do suspect foul play was involved," said Coleman.
Family members said Perdomo drove to Bangor, Maine, from Florida to visit a friend and he has not been seen since.
A close friend of Perdomo's told WFTV reporter Bianca Castro that he knows what happened.
"He said, 'If I go up there, I can make a killing," said Perdomo's friend, who did not want to be identified.
Perdomo's friend confirmed to WFTV details only close friends and family of Perdomo would know.
He said Perdomo went to Bangor to sell prescription pills and had made the trip before. He also said Perdomo mentioned the only person of interest's name, Daniel Porter, just weeks before his trip.
"He said a buddy of his called him from up north, named Daniel," said Perdomo's friend.
He also said Perdomo often carried a gun in his car and likely took that gun with him to Maine.
The Seminole County firefighter and former Marine didn't do drugs, didn't drink alcohol, but his friend said that the money he could get for pills in Maine was too good to pass up.
His friend told WFTV that Perdomo came home with at least $2,000 from a similar trip to Maine just six months ago.
However, Perdomo's stepfather said he was not a drug dealer.
"He's not a drug dealer, he's not a user, he's a good guy," said Carlos Diaz, Perdomo's stepfather. "I don't know why he turned to do this."
"Does your son ever use prescription pills?" Castro asked.
"Never had any acknowledgement of such an idea," Diaz said.
Perdomo's immediate family only invited WFTV into their home, and said they don't know why Perdomo went to Maine, besides to visit friend.
His family said it is out of character for Perdomo to disappear.
"We love him very much, we miss him very much, we all hurt about the situation," Diaz said.
State police said they met with Bangor police on Monday morning after their investigators spent Sunday pulling out bags of evidence and ripping apart the window frames of a home in Jackson, Maine, belonging Porter's father.
The home, where Porter had been living, according to family, is where investigators said Perdomo was last seen alive.
After the search late Sunday night, state police headed to the state crime lab in Augusta, Maine.
WFTV reporter Jeff Deal was at the home in Jackson and saw the place in disarray, along with a warning on the door reading, "The home is protected by a shotgun."
Police have not said why Perdomo met with the couple or what they found in the house.
WFTV found that Nowak has a criminal history that includes a drug possession conviction, but investigators have not said whether Perdomo's disappearance is related to drugs.
"Do you believe Jerry Perdomo was involved in criminal activity up here in Maine?" Deal asked.
"Clearly, we've heard some of the same things you've heard. We're looking into those things," Coleman said.
"Have you received tips from anyone in Florida that he was running drugs up here?" Deal asked.
"I'm not willing to talk about those investigative details," Coleman said.
Police have confiscated and are processing Porter's rental car and two of Porter's cars. One of his car's WFTV learned, he paid cash for at a local dealer on Tuesday.
Police said they also searched a dumpster at local grocery store.
In the meantime, firefighters from Seminole County, from Bangor, as well as Perdomo's family, have posted more than 1,500 fliers across three counties.
Perdomo's sister, Skye Ramos, said she and her father have been looking for Perdomo since Friday.
"It's hard. My dad cried really hard last night when it was snowing, just praying he was somewhere warm and safe," she said.
"How can you sleep? I have nightmares of this right here, finding him," said Ramos.
Investigators said Perdomo's last contact with family members while he was in Maine was on Feb. 16, and his rental car was found at a Bangor Walmart.
No arrests have been made in the case.
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