17-year-old Natalie Navarro of Dallas is charged with murdering a man, just hours after an AMBER Alert was issued to find her: Cops hunt second suspect after victim was found shot to death in a car
- Natalie Navarro, 17, was the subject of an AMBER Alert at 1:30 a.m. Friday
- Within an hour, she was found, taken into custody and charged with murder
- Another suspect, Yordy Martinez, 21, is believed to have fled to Mexico
A 17-year-old Dallas teenager has been charged with murder just hours after she was the subject of an AMBER Alert when she briefly went missing.
Natalie Navarro was accused of killing 21-year-old Arturo Pena on Friday, three days after he was found shot to death in a car in Garland, Texas. Another suspect, Yordy Martinez, 21, is also wanted by police in connection with the murder.
Martinez was listed as a suspect in Navarro’s disappearance when the AMBER Alert was issued Friday after police received reports that she had disappeared from an East Dallas apartment complex around 1:30 a.m. under “suspicious circumstances.”
Both she and Martinez had arrest warrants related to Pena’s killing at the time of the AMBER Alert, and it is feared that Martinez fled across the U.S.-Mexico border as he remains at large.
Garland police have not released any further details about the circumstances leading to Navarro’s disappearance and arrest, saying they are still “trying to determine exactly” how the three people knew each other.
Natalie Navarro, 17, was charged with murder just hours after she was the subject of an AMBER Alert because she went missing under “suspicious circumstances.”
Suspect Yordy Martinez, 21, has a warrant out for his arrest in connection with the murder but is at large and is believed to have fled to Mexico
Police discovered Pena in his car around 10 a.m. on August 29 after reportedly finding a man unconscious before determining he had been fatally shot.
He had been reported missing to the Dallas Police Department two days earlier, according to Fox4.
During their investigation, detectives focused on Martinez and Navarro and obtained arrest warrants after identifying them as persons of interest in the case.
The investigation took a strange turn when Navarro, who had not yet been charged at the time, became the focus of the AMBER Alert. Police said the circumstances of her disappearance met the requirements for the alert, but did not elaborate on the circumstances.
She was located and arrested within an hour by police, who said she was “safe and in custody”.
Martinez, who police initially listed as a suspect on the AMBER Alert list, is believed to have fled in a dark gray, four-door vehicle and there are fears he may have fled to Mexico.
The 21-year-old, who police say is missing a front tooth, has a criminal record that includes a felony charge for allegedly firing a gun at a Garland home last November.
Arturo Pena, 21, was found shot to death in his car on August 29, two days after he was reported missing
Police say they are still working to determine whether Navarro (pictured), Martinez and Pena knew each other before the shooting
The exact details of the killing and subsequent arrest warrants have not been confirmed by police. She says she is still collecting evidence of the killing.
“There’s a lot of things coming out, we’ve collected a lot of evidence, so now we’re trying to process it all,” said Lt. Richard Maldonado of the Garland Police Department.
When asked about a possible motive, he replied that investigators “have not yet fully clarified this.”