Parents of missing woman speak out

Posted at: 05/24/2012 4:28 PM | Updated at: 05/24/2012 5:51 PM
By: Amanda Ciavarri | WHEC.com

A Rochester family is still searching for answers after their daughter went missing from her home in Panama last November. Just last week, the FBI and police in Panama changed the case from a missing person’s case to a homicide investigation.

42-year-old Yvonne Baldelli was last seen November 26 when she was living with her boyfriend.

Baldelli’s parents say this has been a living nightmare. According to Panama Police, their daughter’s boyfriend is the person of interest in the case. Baldelli’s parents tell News10NBC, he is an ex-marine who moved back to California and got married just weeks after their daughter disappeared.

Lillian and James Faust describe their daughter as fun, loving and generous. They say Yvonne Baldelli and her then boyfriend, 36-year-old Brian Brimager moved to Boca del Toro on the coast of Panamá in September. Baldelli told her mother she and her ex-Marine boyfriend wanted to start a new life there.

Lillian Faust said, “Around November and December, I was calling her and I called her at least six different times and I couldn’t get a hold of her.”

Lillian and James Faust retired to Panama but are in Rochester to take care of their parents. As the weeks went by, with no word from their daughter, red flags began popping up.

James Faust said, “Her boyfriend came back about the 10th of December, about the 10th or 12th of December without her. So we were wondering what became of Yvonne.”

Brimager, now in California, told Baldelli’s sister she ran away to Costa Rica with a man. The Fausts say this doesn’t sound like their daughter.

James Faust said, “We checked with the Costa Rican embassy to see if they had any information on her entering Costa Rica and she says there is no record of her in Costa Rica so we call Panama City and they say there is no record of her leaving panama.”

The Fausts and their family flew to Panama and began searching for their daughter, but found no sign of her or her dog, Georgia Mae. Neighbors said in the place where she lived, there was a lot of fighting in the house.

Just last week, police decided they were now investigating a homicide and their person of interest, Baldelli’s ex-boyfriend.

James Faust said, “As soon as he got back, two days after he got back he got engaged and got married on December 31.”

Faust thinks about what the neighbors said about the couple fighting constantly.

James Faust said, “If we had know what kind of life she was leading, being abused, we would have never tolerated it and {we would have} had her get out of the relationship.”

Lillian Faust said, “She was so in love. We had no clue.”

Brimager has not been charged. Police have done DNA testing in the couple’s Panama apartment and are waiting for the results.

The FBI is telling Yvonne’s parents that because the alleged murder took place in Panama and the witnesses are there and the person of interest is in California, the process could be a long one.The Fausts say they don’t even have a lawyer yet, but are looking into the details of that now.

Find Yvonne Baldelli Facebook page

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