Los Angeles, California
Search continues as family issues appeal
Teodoro ‘Ted’ Alcuitas
Editor, Philippine Canadian News
Despite a massive search effort involing police and volunteers, Angelica Brophy has not been found and the family is issuing an appeal – a coordinated one starting tonight to help find her.
Angelica is a 44-year old emergency room nurse with the Kaiser Permanente San Marcos Medical Center and is a mother of two. A resident of Oceanside, California, she vanished on Jluy 2, 2026. She is known to family and colleagues as a dedicated healthcare worker at Kaiser Permanente in San Marcos and a keen hiker familiar with Palomar Mountain, where investigators found her parked car.
A parking receipt and staff sightings placed her arriving at Palomar Mountain State Park, a location she had hiked previously at 4:20 PM. She was not seen again after entering the park trails. Her abandoned vehicle was discovered by her husband in the park’s parking lot near a trailhead on July 9, 2026.
A brother’s anguish
DAY 30 . Today, August 5, 2026 marks a month since Filipino American nurse Angelica Brophy has been missing. A lot of people have joined in the search for her and hoping against hope that she still can be found and returned home.
One of those who is suffering in their anguish is her brother, Rafael, a Filipino Canadian immigration lawyer practising in Toronto, Ontario. He is best known in Canada for his pro bono legal battle protecting dying caregiver Juana Tejada, which led to major reforms under the “Juana Tejada Law” allowing sick caregivers to stay in Canada
I came to know Rafael during our advocacy days for the Filipino domestic workers in Canada, a majority of whom are women who came to the country under the Live-in-Caregiver Program (LCP). Canada allows these women to come to Canada temporarily and work under this oppressive program where they are to work for 24 months continuously under one employer and living in their employer’s home before they can apply for permanent residency.
It was under these circumstances that Atty. Rafael Fabregas came into the picture when one Filipino caregiver was to be deported because she was diagnosed with cancer after completing her mandatory two-year work. Atty. Fabregas fought to change the law and won but unfortunately Tejada passed away before the law was amended.
Today, he is fighting a personal battle to bring her own sister home and is asking for help from all of us. Please do whatever is in your power to help and circulate in your social media platforms the story of Angelica.
The last known ping came from Harrah’s Hotel and Casino in Valley Center at 3:30 p.m. July 6.
Her brother said there is surveillance footage of Brophy leaving Harrah’s alone. She was not seen on camera again, but there is proof that she purchased a pass to enter the state park at 4:20 p.m.
Brophy had plans with her 12-year-old daughter after summer camp that night and never showed up.
Her husband found her car in the state park’s parking lot three days later, about 50 yards from a pond.
“There is no hint of any foul play in the vehicle … I don’t know. The first couple of days bogged my mind with the scenarios and all this, but I just realized that’s just holding me back from being present and trying to figure out what’s best now moving forward for the kids, for the family,” a brother said.
OCEANSIDE POLICE ISSUE INVESTIGATION UPDATE IN THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ANGELICA BROPHY