Samuel Torres, 43, a San Jose resident, was reported missing on July 4, 2021. What began as a missing person inquiry was later treated as a homicide after investigators concluded Torres had been killed. Authorities say Torres was allegedly shot in the area of Coyote Creek and Wool Creek Drive.

Police identified 34-year-old Ricardo Padilla as the primary suspect. Padilla was already in custody on a string of violent incidents from 2021 — including multiple stabbings, an assault outside a 7-Eleven, the May 31 shooting death of Thomas Calamia, and an attempted murder of a Livermore police officer. Detectives reported Padilla was seen attempting to dispose of a gun near Coyote Creek on the day Torres disappeared; Padilla was arrested and booked into the Santa Clara County Jail. Prosecutors filed homicide charges against Padilla despite Torres’s body not having been recovered, citing circumstantial evidence and Padilla’s history of violence.

Does anyone have information about Torres’s movements around Coyote Creek and Wool Creek Drive on July 4, 2021?