Abigail Tullius is still waiting for her dad to come home.
Edgar B. Aberilla, 73, was last seen in the Lowe’s parking lot on Sunset Drive on July 4, 2023 after he walked out of his daughter’s house in Burlington and a neighbor drove him to Bellingham.
Aberilla, who has dementia, hasn’t been seen since despite multiple search parties last summer and even the discovery of one canvas shoe near the parking lot last July.
“It was like the months just dragged on, but at the same time, it also went by so fast without us finding him,” Tullius said in a Tuesday, July 2 phone interview, noting that nothing came out of the shoe discovery.
She and her family don’t even know where Aberilla could be at this point. He could still be in the state, but he could also be anywhere in the country. Since his body hasn’t been found, the family continues to hold onto hope that he’s still alive.
Without any closure, Tullius, her husband, her brother and her mom are stuck in limbo, unable to let time heal the loss of their family member.
“It’s a miracle if we find him alive,” she said. “At this point, I’m not totally OK, but I will accept whatever may have happened to him. I just want to find out what really happened to him.”
In a year since Aberilla disappeared, leads have dried up.
The Burlington Police Department is the lead agency investigating, but the case has transferred over to two new detectives. The department has not responded to CDN’s request for comment.
The Bellingham Police Department also assisted in pushing out social media alerts about Aberilla and followed up on tips when people thought they saw him, but nothing panned out, said Claudia Murphy, a Bellingham Police lieutenant.
Detectives asked Tullius to provide fingerprints for Aberilla, but because the only prints the family were able to get from the Philippines were thumbprints, it wasn’t enough for identification, she said.
A Facebook group created for Aberilla hasn’t been updated since February with many commenters recognizing he could be anywhere.
Aberilla’s missing case was also uploaded to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System in April and has more information about his case, including the Burlington Police case number to reference if the public sees him.
For Tullius and her family, their lives have been changed. When her dad disappeared, he and her mother had been visiting from the Philippines. Now, Tullius’s mother has moved to Washington state and was just approved for permanent residency.
They’ve gained new friends and acquaintances who reached out to help.
“It’s amazing to know that there are still a lot of people who care and are willing to help,” she said.
Tullius and her family don’t plan on holding another search party for their dad. Instead, on Thursday, each is planning to get out of the house so they don’t have to think about the year of trauma and pain they’ve endured.
Tullius and her husband will go to a Mariners game while her mom has plans with friends.
Tullius can only hope that if her dad is still alive, he’s getting three meals a day and has a roof over his head.
“I’m just hoping that somebody is actually helping take care of him and that he is safe,” she said.
Aberilla disappeared after coming back to Burlington from a Fourth of July celebration in Anacortes. He left his daughter’s house, went outside onto the main road where he flagged down Tullius’ neighbor, Burlington City Councilmember James Stavig, and asked for a ride. Not knowing about Aberilla’s dementia, Stavig dropped him off in Bellingham.
Aberilla was last seen carrying a plastic bag filled with shoes, a crossbody bag and an Xbox game in his hand. He’s 5-foot-1 and 140 pounds. He has gray hair and was wearing tan shorts and a dark blue T-shirt the day he went missing.
Anyone with information about Aberilla’s location is asked to call Burlington Police at (360) 755-0921. If anyone sees him, they are asked to stay with him and call 911 immediately.
Annie Todd is CDN’s criminal justice/enterprise reporter; reach her at annietodd@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 130.
