Body Found in Search for Missing American Airlines Flight Attendant in Colombia

His longtime partner, Ernesto Carranza, knew something was wrong by Sunday morning. Eric Fernando Gutierrez Molina, a 32-year-old American Airlines flight attendant from North Texas, wasn't answering his phone, and when his location finally registered, it pinged twice to spots in Medellín nowhere near his hotel.

By Friday, Medellín Mayor Federico "Fico" Gutiérrez posted on X that a lifeless body had been found between the municipalities of Jericó and Puente Iglesias. "There is a very high probability that it is this person," the mayor wrote, adding that the body was being taken to the coroner's office in Medellín for formal identification. The discovery came after city authorities had been searching for Gutierrez Molina since Sunday.

He had vanished Saturday evening after going out with a fellow flight attendant to a bar in Medellín's El Poblado neighborhood, a district popular with international tourists. He was scheduled to work a return flight from Medellín to Miami the following morning, a shift he never reported for.

What happened between leaving El Poblado and the phone going silent remains unresolved. The other flight attendant who went out with Gutierrez Molina that night told his friend Sharom Gil that she could not remember parts of the evening, deepening questions about his final hours. Carranza told reporters that the two pings placed Gutierrez Molina's phone well outside his expected location. "Both locations were nowhere near where he was supposed to sleep for the night," Carranza said.

Mayor Gutiérrez said he personally notified Gutierrez Molina's father, who had traveled to Medellín. "We express our solidarity to his family and friends. I have just personally delivered the painful news to his father, who is in Medellín," he wrote.

American Airlines said it was "actively engaged with local law enforcement officials in their investigation and doing all we can to support our team member's family during this time." The airline also said it was "heartbroken by the tragic passing of our colleague."

The U.S. State Department said it was "aware" of reports of the disappearance and was "closely tracking the situation," while the U.S. Embassy in Colombia said it was "restricted from speaking about most individual cases due to federal privacy laws." No cause of death or formal coroner identification had been announced; forensic confirmation remained pending as of Friday.