10:02 AM CDT on Thursday, June 1, 2006

Dan Lauck and Vicente Arenas / 11 News and The Houston Chronicle

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Missing without a trace, no one has seen the son of beloved former Astros player Jose Cruz in nearly two weeks.

KHOU-TV

Jose Javier Cruz

While José Cruz Sr. is doing plenty of talking coaching first base, he's saying very little about the mysterious disappearance of his son, Jose Javier Cruz.

“The information that we have is that he stays off and on with different relatives,” said Capt. Gay Dickerson, Katy police department.

A source told 11 News he hadn't been in contact with his father or other immediate family members for years.

The last time anyone reported seeing him, he was driving the truck that was found burning in Katy.

Police do have clues, but they don’t know where to find Jose Javier Cruz.

In the very back of a parking lot you can make out where the truck had been parked. The truck’s charred outline still blackens the pavement, which is more than anyone has seen of the driver.

According to his ex-wife, Jose Javier Cruz has been missing 12 days now.

“She said she left him the keys and he was going to pick up the kids at school that day, and never showed up to pick up the kids and she hasn’t heard from him since,” said Katy Police Captain Gay Dickerson.

Dickerson said they found the truck at 4 a.m. the next morning.

“It was fully engulfed at the time,” she said.  “The suspicion is an accelerant was used.”

Houston Astros

Jose Cruz, Sr.

Officers searched the area around the burned truck but found nothing.

Investigators said no human remains were found in the truck. Dickerson would not say if police found any blood or evidence of violence in the pickup.

“We are still looking into that,” Dickerson said.

The question is who used it, and is 34-year-old Jose Javier missing or hiding. 

While his father isn't saying much, his record does: an indictment accusing José Javier of stealing money from his own father, another for theft of jewelry, a charge for striking a woman and yet another for stealing a car.

At one point José Javier underwent a sanity evaluation to see if he was fit to stand trial.

He has served prison time twice and released last in September 2003.

Dickerson said, “The information we have is that he stays off and on with different relatives,” but not with his father.

When Jose Javier Cruz was first reported missing his father, Jose Sr., did not rush home to Houston.

And, according to a friend of the family, Jose Javier, the oldest son, has been estranged from the family and his father for 10 years.

Because Cruz’s last known location was his home in Houston, Dickerson said he will be reported missing to the Houston Police Department and they will take the lead role in the case.

Jose Cruz Sr. was a gritty, Craig Biggio-type player before Biggio ever arrived. Now, as the first base coach, he remains a beloved figure. And while two of his sons followed him into professional baseball, it is now the path of his oldest son that worries him.