San Francisco police tell Action News they don't know who the person of interest is but they have released a sketch in hopes the public can help identify him. They said he's the last person to be seen with the victim, hours before he was found dead.
Investigators say 28-year-old /*Eriq Escalon*/, a Clovis native, was found 'bound and gagged' in his apartment on June 12.
Up until now SFPD was releasing few details about this murder. Escalon's family said this person of interest gives them hope -- but they still have so many unanswered questions.
Eriq Escalon's family said he was the glue that held them all together. "Nobody deserves to go through this," said Escalon's aunt Christina Saldivar. "It's been really really hard. He was the heart and soul of our family."
Escalon was a hair stylist who launched his career here in the Valley. Just weeks before he was murdered his family said he moved to San Francisco for work in a salon there.
But he still kept his job at home, driving to Clovis twice a month, to style hair at Salon Innovations.
"We just want to find this person and our family wants justice for Eriq," Saldivar said. "He was a very good person. We don't understand, we just want to know why."
Bay Area investigators said the unidentified man may hold the answers to the family's questions. "The person of interest depicted in the sketch we provided was seen with Escalon the evening before he was found," said SFPD officer Carlos Manfredi. "The two were seen getting into a taxi cab in front of 440 Castro Street on June 12th at 1:30 in the morning."
Escalon lived about a mile from the bar on Castro Street where he was last seen. Detectives are hoping the public can help identify their person of interest. He's described as a white or Hispanic man, about 25-30 years old. He stands about 5'8" to 5'10" with a slim build.
"We want to keep this case going and find the person responsible for this," Saldivar said.
The family is planning a trip to San Francisco this Saturday. They said they will visit the area Escalon was last seen in, and the neighborhood he lived in, to pass out fliers with the sketch of the person of interest.
Anyone with information about the murder is asked to call San Francisco police.
