“Nobody has any idea where he could be at this point,” Richard Isberner told Dateline about his friend, Caio.
Caio Da Cruz has been missing for three months. The 36-year-old was last seen on July 18, boarding a flight from New Orleans to Los Angeles.
Caio and Richard have been friends for decades. “He always goes out of his way to help every person he can,” Richard told Dateline. “Always a happy person.”
They first met in their native Brazil. “I’m the one who helped him come to the United States — a full ride to play soccer in college,” Richard explained.
Caio moved to the U.S. in 2011 and started playing for the University of Rio Grande in Ohio. Richard says his friend then transferred to Lincoln Wilson College in Kentucky, from which he graduated.
Caio later moved to Louisiana, where he met the woman who would eventually become his wife. According to Richard, the couple divorced a few years ago and share two daughters.
At the time of his disappearance, Caio was living in Covington, Louisiana. Richard, who lives in Northern California, says he last spoke to his friend in May. “He said, you know, he had no energy to do anything, no motivation to do anything,” Richard recalled. “And I told him, ‘Don’t give up, dude — you have two beautiful daughters.’”
Richard says Caio struggles with mental health issues and has been diagnosed with depression and schizophrenia. “I tried to convince him to go back to Brazil — take a break, or even come here with me,” he said.
On July 18, according to a postby the LAPD Missing Persons Unit, Caio was last seen boarding a direct flight from the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport to Los Angeles.
After that, he disappeared.
Caio’s sister, Ingrid Da Cruz, reached out to Dateline about his disappearance. She lives in Brazil, along with most of Caio’s family, and speaks limited English. Richard translated the conversation for Dateline. Ingrid says that after multiple attempts to contact Caio went unanswered, the family tried to report him missing in Louisiana. She says that because he had taken two weeks of vacation from his job, they were told by investigators with the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office that they had to wait.
When they then reported him missing on August 5, Ingrid says, investigators with the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office determined Caio had taken a flight to Los Angeles.
“Camera footage captured him getting on the plane for a direct flight to L.A.,” Richard told Dateline.
Ingrid says she has access to her brother’s email. She believes Caio purchased the flight to Los Angeles on a whim, as there was no booking confirmation in his inbox. She and Richard think that Caio got to the airport and then booked a one-way flight to L.A.
Richard told Dateline security footage also shows Caio losing his phone and wallet before boarding. “Security cameras at the Louisiana airport caught that while he was walking, his phone and wallet fell out,” Richard said. “So the moment he landed, he had no documentation on him.”
The family filed a missing person report with the Los Angeles Police Department on August 18.
LAPD Public Information Officer Norma Eisenman confirmed to Dateline that Caio was initially reported missing to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office on August 5. She said the office later closed the case, determining that Caio did not meet the criteria for a missing person, stating that “he is a private citizen who can come and go as he pleases.”
Officer Eisenman also confirmed that Caio was last seen boarding a flight to Los Angeles. Dateline asked if the LAPD has security footage from either airport. “Whether detectives do or not, that’s not information they’re giving up,” she said.
When asked whether any searches have been conducted for Caio, Eisenman said she did not know.
Richard believes that although Caio is a U.S. citizen, he may have been detained by ICE due to his lack of identification. “That’s Ingrid’s and the entire family’s hope,” he said.Ingrid reached out to ICE about her brother’s case and shared the response with Dateline. “Since he is a US citizen,” the message read, “ICE will not encounter him.”
Richard believes Caio is still out there. “He didn’t want to stay away from his daughters, so that’s why I don’t think he would take his own life.”
Ingrid wants Caio to know that his family loves him and wants him to come home. “Family and friends are here for him,” Richard translated. “His beautiful daughters need him and ask for him daily.”
Caio is 5’8” and weighs 175 lbs. He has a medical condition that requires daily medication.
Anyone with information about his disappearance is asked to call the LAPD at 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (877-527-3247).
