LOMPOC - The sudden death of Lompoc Prison Guard Ryan Vargas has devastated his family and friends in the Lompoc Valley.
Now they're also wondering why they cannot bury him.
"Everybody is traumatized by this", says Vargas' former father-in-law David Beltran, "when something like this happens its an awful thing, you know."
Beltran provided Central Coast News with a photography of Ryan Vargas with his arms around his five year old son Austin.
Vargas and the little boy's mother, Beltran's daughter, divorced last year.
Beltran flew in from Wyoming to comfort both sides of the family.
"I'm stunned because we know Ryan", Beltran says, "we just didn't think he would something like this."
A statement from the Lompoc Prison Warden's Office says Ryan Vargas took his own life with a gunshot in the parking lot of the Lompoc Correctional Institute (LCI) where he worked as guard for about three years.
The funeral and burial are now on hold after the family said they learned the FBI was conducting its own investigation into the cause of his death.
"Information I've received, and again its just speculation, is about how it was handled starting with the people that work out there at the FCI", Beltran says, "how it was handled, and it just sounds to me like they may not have handled it the right way."
Beltran says the Vargas family is frustrated that its been unable to get more information about what's going on.
"We want accurate information", Beltran says, "starting from the warden on down to the investigating officers, we need closure, everybody does."
Phone calls to the Prison Public Information Office were not returned and the FBI routinely says it does no comment on cases it is, or is not, investigating.
