Police in Texas expect to charge a teenage girl with murder, just days after the same teen was the focus of an AMBER alert.
Garland Police said Natalie Navarro, 17, is a suspect in the killing of 21-year-old Arturo Pena of Mesquite.
Authorities are also searching for another suspect — 21-year-old Yordy Martinez — who remains at large. The suspect is considered armed and dangerous.
“The reason why this happened, we’ve yet to totally determine that,” Garland Police Lieutenant Richard Moldonado said Friday. “We hope to get more when we talk to Natalie to see exactly what was going on — if these persons knew each other, if they had a relationship, if there was a falling out.”
The teen girl and Mr. Martinez are implicated in Mr. Pena’s death, which was first reported by police Aug. 29.
Officers went to Audubon Park around 10 p.m. that night after being called about an unresponsive man in a car. Police later observed the victim had an apparent gunshot wound.
Mr. Pena was reported missing to Dallas police on Aug. 27.
Dallas police also issued an alert on the America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response system before dawn Friday after she hadn’t been seen since Thursday afternoon.
The AMBER alert listed Mr. Martinez as a possible suspect in Ms. Navarro’s disappearance.
The alert was canceled hours later after police said the girl was picked up by law enforcement in Webb County, which sits on the U.S.-Mexico border. Ms. Navarro remains in police custody.
Garland police haven’t stated publicly what evidence led them to issue arrest warrants for Ms. Navarro or Mr. Martinez.
Authorities believe Mr. Martinez drives a dark-gray, four-door car. He is also described as having a missing front tooth.
