A 32-year-old man serving time for first-degree robbery slipped out a dorm window at Pelican Bay State Prison's minimum-support facility and vanished into Del Norte County, prompting an active search by corrections investigators and local law enforcement. Primitivo X. Savedra was last seen wearing a gray shirt, gray sweatpants and a gray beanie, and officials are asking anyone who spots him to call 911 or contact investigators directly.
Officials said Savedra went missing from the minimum-security facility at Pelican Bay State Prison on Wednesday, according to the Sacramento Bee. The newspaper reported that he was discovered missing during a routine inmate count at about 11 p.m. Wednesday. A separate account from Lost Coast Outpost describes a different sequence, reporting that staff were alerted at approximately 9:30 p.m. when the 9 p.m. institutional count failed to clear, with an emergency count then confirming Savedra was missing. The two outlets' timelines do not match, and neither has been reconciled publicly.
Who Is Primitivo Savedra
Savedra is described as 5-foot-10 and roughly 168 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He is serving a 12-year sentence for first-degree robbery out of San Joaquin County, a term that included enhancements tied to using a firearm and committing a felony in association with a criminal street gang, per the Sacramento Bee. He entered the state prison system in November 2020, and the same outlet's reporting notes he was most recently received from San Joaquin County on Nov. 23, 2020.
The Lost Coast Outpost report adds that Savedra was sentenced to twelve years for Robbery 1st as a second-strike offense. His CDCR identifier was listed as BM5753 in that same report.
A Facility Built on Trust, Now Under Scrutiny
The minimum-security facility sits outside Pelican Bay's main secure perimeter near the Oregon border, according to the Sacramento Bee, and houses incarcerated people who help with maintenance, groundskeeping and other daily prison operations. That lower-security setup is exactly what let Savedra make his exit through a dorm window, the Outpost reported, rather than through any breach of the prison's fenced core.
CDCR's Office of Correctional Safety and local law enforcement were notified and are assisting in the search, the Outpost reported. State prison investigators and Del Norte County law enforcement agencies are also involved, according to the Sacramento Bee's reporting.
How to Help, and What Happens Next
Officials asked anyone who sees Savedra or has knowledge of his whereabouts to contact any law enforcement agency, call 911, or reach Special Agent Singh at 707-513-0068.
Walkaways from minimum-support units are not unheard of at Pelican Bay. In July 2025, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced that an incarcerated person who walked away from the same facility was apprehended hours later. CDCR has also noted, in a separate release tied to a Los Angeles County reentry program case, that since 1977, 99 percent of incarcerated people who have escaped or walked away from an adult institution, camp, in-state contract bed or Community Rehabilitative Program placement have ultimately been apprehended. Whether that pattern holds in Savedra's case remains to be seen, and officials have not released further updates on his location.
