Shawn Richard Bullock

Bullock, circa 1998

  • Missing Since 07/21/1998
  • Missing From Gilbert, Arizona
  • Classification Endangered Missing
  • Sex Male
  • Race White
  • Age 22 years old
  • Height and Weight 5'8 - 5'10, 190 pounds
  • Associated Vehicle(s) Black 1997 or 1998 Cadillac Deville with the Arizona license plate number E13328 (accounted for)
  • Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Blond hair, blue eyes. Bullock's ears are pierced. He has a tattoo on his right ankle.

Details of Disappearance

Bullock was last seen leaving his home in Gilbert, Arizona at 7:00 p.m. on July 21, 1998. He told his roommate he had to run an errand. He has never been heard from again.

His black 1997 or 1998 Cadillac Deville with the Arizona license plate number E13328 was later found abandoned in the area of south 29th Street and east Roeser Street in Phoenix, Arizona, with the passenger window missing. Bullock's brain matter and blood were inside the vehicle, enough of it to indicate he was deceased, but there was no sign of him. In December 1998, his case was ruled a homicide.

Bullock disappeared just days after he received a government subpoena to testify against Luis Anthony Cisneros and his brother Felipe "Porky" Cisneros, who were the alleged ringleaders of an East Valley crime syndicate. In 1997, the brothers and several other suspects had been charged with fourteen felonies involving fraudulent schemes, possession of stolen property, and operating a "chop shop" to strip stolen vehicles.

Bullock ostensibly made his living as an auto trader and a pawnshop owner. He was wealthy; he owned a 28-foot boat, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle and a house in a wealthy neighborhood in Gilbert. He was in fact a drug dealer and a member of the Cisneros brothers' organization.

In November 1996, the police seized a stolen pickup truck from Bullock. He had gotten the truck through Aaron "Guerro" Romero, an associate of the Cisneros brothers. Later that month, Romero was shot to death outside Luis Cisneros's auto body shop in Mesa, Arizona. Bullock subsequently told a police informant that Luis had had Romero killed and wanted to kill him as well.

A second witness survived a murder attempt in Phoenix in October 1996, and moved out of state because he was afraid for his life. In February 1998, after submitting to two days of a three-day deposition with the Cisneros brothers' defense attorney, the witness was found shot to death in Houston, Texas.

The charges against Luis and Felipe Cisneros were all dropped a few weeks after Bullock's disappearance, as the evidence against the brothers could not be sustained in light of the murder of the state's witnesses. The Cisneroses were still under investigation, however, and authorities hoped to bring charges against them again. They were pressuring others, including Bullock's half-brother, Damien Shawn Semus, to turn against them.

Semus was another member of the East Valley crime syndicate and co-owned a pawnshop with Bullock. In November 1997, police searched the pawnshop, Semus and Bullock's respective homes, and the residences of two of their associates, and seized weapons and a large amount of marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine. In September 1999, Semus was shot to death in east Mesa.

In 2000, the Cisneros brothers were jailed again after they and 32 other people were charged in an 81-count federal indictment alleging a drug distribution network in Arizona and the murder of multiple people, including government witnesses, a police officer and a corrections officer. In 2005, eight defendants, including the Cisneros brothers, pleaded guilty in exchange for life sentences in prison; they had been facing the death penalty.

Bullock's body has never been found and his presumed murder remains unsolved. Phoenix police are investigating.

Investigating Agency

  • Phoenix Police Department 602-534-3053

Updated 3 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated March 28, 2019; seven pictures added, details of disappearance updated.