Missing Since: 01/14/2021
Missing From: St. Charles Parish, Louisiana
Classification: Lost/Injured Missing
Sex: Male
Race: White
Date of Birth: 12/16/1976 (45)
Age :44 years old
Height and Weight: 5’7, 155 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics
Caucasian male. Graying brown hair. Ortego has the following tattoos: an anchor with an arrow and the word “FREE” on his chest, a Native American person with a feather on his left arm, and a tribal design with his initials “BMO” on his right arm. Photos of two of his tattoos are posted with this case summary.
Details of Disappearance
Ortego was last seen in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana on January 14, 2021. He was a construction worker and was working on the Hale Boggs Bridge that night, installing cameras, when a 2014 Ford F-150 pickup truck collided with him and three other construction workers.
The other three workers suffered only minor injuries, but Ortego was flung off the bridge and fell more than 150 feet down into the Mississippi River. He disappeared in the water.
In March 2021, authorities charged Hunter Mason Johnson with vehicular homicide/driving under the influence, hit and run involving a fatality, reckless operation and obstruction of justice in Ortego’s presumed death. He had left the scene before the police arrived, abandoning his truck, and called his grandmother to get a ride home.
A photo of Johnson is posted with this case summary. In July, Johnson’s mother and grandmother were charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly helping him evade the police. His grandmother had picked him up and taken him to her house, and then his mother had picked him up from his grandmother’s and taken him to a hotel.
Ortego is presumed deceased, but his body has never been located.
Investigating Agency
Louisiana State Police, Troop B 504-471-2775
