Joe Pags Missing Daughter Found OK, Man Jailed

Gabby Pagliarulo

9/4/16 7AM UPDATE  The missing 16-year-old daughter of talk show host Joe “Pags” Pagliarulo was found safe with an older co-worker in Mexico late Friday, several days after she was reported missing, law enforcement officials said.

According to mysanantonio.com, the 29-year-old Comal County man, Christopher Lee Fretwell, she was with has been booked into jail in San Diego, California, on an arrest warrant for unlawful restraint.

Gabriella “Gabby” Pagliarulo had last been seen Wednesday about 30 miles north of San Antonio in the Comal County town of Spring Branch, where she lives with her parents.  The teen and the man who was arrested worked together at a fast-food restaurant, according to police.

Christopher Lee Fretwell

The law prohibits taking a minor younger than 17 out of state without the consent of that child’s parents.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents were alerted that the man’s vehicle had crossed from California into Mexico through the Otay Mesa Port of Entry around 8 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on Friday, said Mark Endicott, supervisory border agent for the federal agency’s San Diego sector.

Mexican authorities later found the car and stopped it in their jurisdiction around 10 p.m. After border patrol officials provided the arrest warrant showing the man was wanted in Comal County, he and Gabriella Pagliarulo were returned to the United States around 2:20 a.m. Saturday.

Border patrol agents took the man to the San Diego Central Jail, where his bail has been set at $225,000, records show. His vehicle was seized.

An airline ticket was purchased for the 16-year-old girl to travel back to Texas, Endicott said.


9/3/16 2:15 pm UPDATE Sheriff's officials say a man is in custody following a search for a Texas-based, nationally-syndicated radio host's missing daughter.

Gabriella Pagliarulo is the 16-year-old daughter of radio personality Joe "Pags" Pagliarulo, and had been missing since Wednesday. Officials said in a poster distributed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that they believed she was with an adult male on their way to California.

A post on the Comal County Sheriff's Office Facebook page Saturday morning said that Gabriella has been found and is safe.

Pags didn't elaborate much on where exactly the two were found or the condition of his daughter, but he did say that she seemed healthy.

TWC News reports the man found with her is in custody, but the sheriff's office did not have further details.

Joe Pags made an update to his Facebook page Saturday morning to pass along the good news. He was visibly choked up in the opening moments of his video.

"It's the joy of a father that I can't truly express through a camera," he said. "I can't begin to express the thanks I have to each and every one of you."



9/3/16 Noon Update: Gabby has been found safe. Joe shares his gratitude and thanks below as he made the announcement this morning. More to come.

Earlier Posting...


WOAI 1200 AM San Antonio and KPRC 950 AM Houston  talk show host Joe 'Pags' Pagliarulo issued a plea Friday on Facebook asking the public's help in locating his missing 16-year-old daughter.

Gabriella "Gabby" Pagliarulo was last seen with Christopher Lee Fretwell, 29, on Wednesday in Spring Branch, (about 30 miles north of San Antonio) according to a missing persons flyer from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

“I'm devastated, I'm crushed,” Joe Paguliano said in a phone interview with mySA.com Friday. “I need to get my daughter back.”

Gabriella Pagliarulo is described as 5 feet 5 inches, weighs 155 pounds has brown hair and brown eyes, the flyer said. Authorities said her ears are pierced and that when she was last seen, her hair was dyed blonde.

Fretwell and Gabriella Pagliarulo may be traveling to California in a white 2011 Toyota Camry with the Texas license plate GZZ1279. The Camry was last seen traveling on Interstate 40 in Arizona, the flyer said.


Pagliarulo’s “show is about everyday life, politics, entertainment, pop culture -- seen through the eyes of logic, common sense and reason,” according to his Facebook page, which has been liked by more than 325,000. He is broadcast on 1200 WOAI in San Antonio and KPRC in Houston, among other stations, the page said.

Anyone who has seen her, Fretwell, or the white Camry is asked to call the center at 1-800-843-5678 or the Comal County Sheriff's Office at 1-830-620-3400