NBC 7’s Amber Frias spoke to the father of the wanted man’s girlfriend about his past and how he may have slipped by border agents.
A man Mexican authorities say murdered the mother of his child in Tijuana is unaccounted for, possibly in the U.S., despite Mexican authorities claiming they turned him over to U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the border this week.
Law enforcement in San Diego, and Hawaii where the suspect escaped jail on a fraud sentence, are looking for 50-year-old Tyler Adams. The FBI says Adams, who is known to use more than a dozen aliases, is wanted for questioning regarding the disappearance of his girlfriend, Racquel Sabean.
On April 17, 2022, Adams and his girlfriend Racquel Sabean crossed the border into Tijuana, Mexico, with their 7-month-old child, Valentina, according to investigators. Then on May 31, Sabean’s body was discovered in the trunk of her mother’s car in Tijuana.
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Adams was detained in Tecate, Mexico on June 15 after an Amber Alert was issued for Valentina, according to the FBI. Sabean’s daughter was found safe near Rosarito the same day.
The following day, Adams was turned over to CBP, according to the Baja California Attorney General's Office. The FBI, however, says Adams was free and able to cross back into the U.S. at the San Ysidro Port of Entry using the alias Aaron Bain.
CBP has not responded to NBC 7's questions about why this man was able to freely cross instead of being kept in custody.
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The FBI describes Adams as 5 feet 9 inches weighing 175 pounds with brown hair. He was last seen wearing a yellow short-sleeved button-up shirt, tan pants and black running shoes. He could have swelling under his eyes.
Anyone with information is asked to call the San Diego FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or go to tips.fbi.gov. You can also call San Diego Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477 or submit a tip online at sdcrimestoppers.org.
Adams was originally wanted on a Hawaii state-issued warrant, issued in September 2020, after he left the Oahu Community Correctional Center on a work furlough on May 21, 2019, and never returned, according to officials in Hawaii.
Law enforcement in Hawaai described him as a "master of disguise." His long list of aliases includes the names Aaron Lee Bain, Aaron Lee, Aron Lee, Paul Wilson Phipps, Paul Wilson Phillps, David Smith, Dominic Braun, David Phillips, Kevin Schoolcraft, Kevin Kennedy, Michael Whittman, Lance Irwin, Brice Johnson, Matthew Kashani, Taylor Chase and Joshua Smith, according to the FBI.
Racquel Sabean’s father David told NBC 7 he never trusted Adams.
“I didn’t like him, I was suspicious of him I didn’t like him. He fooled me at first, but then I saw through it. He was a phony,” David Sabean said. David Sabean said he was in Tijuana Friday hoping to see Valentina.
Valentina’s grandmother said the infant will remain in Tijuana until Child Protective Services processes her case. She was shocked to learn Friday that Adams was no longer in custody, telling NBC 7 it seems like everything “keeps changing.”
Deanna Gilbert was Racquel’s shipmate between 2000 and 2002 on USS Blue Ridge stationed in Japan.
“She needs that military honor funeral; she needs her baby home in the United States where she belongs. She’s a United States citizen, a U.S. veteran. She needs to come home, they both do," Gilbert said.
Gilbert says the women on the ship were very close and always had each other’s backs.
