Five men accused in disappearance of Indiana teenager charged in Macon County

MACON COUNTY, MO (KMIZ)

Five men who were described as illegal aliens in court documents have been charged with crimes in an investigation into a missing Indiana child.

Carlos Funez, Marlon Aguilar and Daniel Ruiz Lopez, all from Honduras, and Arturo Eustaquio and Noe Guzman Hernandez, both from the country of Mexico, were charged with first-degree endangering the welfare of a child in Macon County.

Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers arrested all five men at 2:27 a.m. Monday, June 17, the probable cause statement said. Court records show they are being held without bail. They were initially detained for 24 hours. All appeared in court on Friday. Court records say Funez pleaded not guilty, but plea information for the remaining accused men was not available.

A bond review set for 3:30 pm Thursday, June 27 for Aguilar, Ruiz Lopez, Guzman Hernandez, Eustaquio; while Funez’s bond review is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Monday, July 1.

Probable cause statements say the men were trafficking the girl to California.

According to the probable cause statement, arresting troopers received information about a juvenile runaway from Indiana around 1:50 a.m. on June 17. Cops were told by an Indiana sheriff’s office that the department pinged the 14-year-old girl’s cell phone and that her father had seen her leave in a black SUV that may have been a Chevrolet Terrain, the says in the statement.

The girl’s father reported her missing to the Logansport, Indiana Police Department. The probable cause statement does not say what day the child went missing. The girl’s cell phone was allegedly tracked or tracked to a vehicle traveling west on Highway 36 near Hannibal, the release said.

Troopers received a call from the Shelbina, Missouri Police Department, who said an officer saw a black Dodge Durango with Texas plates slow down when the driver saw police.

The Indiana Sheriff’s Office — whose name is redacted in court documents — tracked the vehicle as it drove through Clarence, Missouri, at 2:11 a.m., the release said. About six minutes later, Missouri law enforcement pulled the vehicle over and saw a young girl in one of the rows of the vehicle, the statement said.

Law enforcement asked the girl her name, and her answer matched the name of the missing girl. The girl was brought into a Missouri Highway Patrol vehicle and the men were arrested.