The remains have now been positively identified through DNA analysis as those of Carlos Baltazar, a California firefighter missing since 2020.

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - The San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner's Department has positively identified the human remains found near Big Bear as those of missing firefighter Carlos Baltazar. Baltazar, a Big Bear Hotshot, was last seen Sept. 20, 2020, the same time the El Dorado Fire was burning in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

He reportedly had gone to the barracks of his Forest Service crew to help arrange the funeral of Charlie Morton, the Hotshot squad boss who died Sept. 17 while fighting the El Dorado Fire. Baltazar’s sister told TV station KTLA that he had been depressed about Morton’s death — “it just weighed heavily on him.

For more than four years, firefighter Carlos Baltazar has been missing, after a mysterious disappearance following the death of his fire chief. Now, remains found in October in a remote part of the San Bernardino Mountains have been identified as those of the 35-year-old.