Police are searching for a mother and her two children after they vanished during a cross-country trip from Alabama to Wyoming.
According to Fox News Digital, 33-year-old Katie Ferguson hasn’t been seen since October 5; her family reported her missing on November 2 to police in Cody, Wyoming. She was traveling with two children, a-year-old and an 11-month-old infant.
Ferguson was last spotted during a traffic stop in Trumann, Arkansas, on October 5. Her older sister, Nicole, said Ferguson left her boyfriend, Adam Aviles, Jr., in May, and moved from Wyoming to Alabama with her children to stay with her mother.
Three months later, Ferguson contacted Aviles and asked him to come pick her up, Nicole added.
“She was doing good in Alabama, and then I do think that was when the ex-boyfriend came up that maybe something happened,” Nicole told Q2.
“I never in a million years thought he would do something to her, I didn’t. But now I think he did and I think it was really bad. I don’t think she’s alive. I really don’t.”
Aviles and the children made it back to Wymonig, but Ferguson was not with them. He allegedly told police that Ferguson “was not missing, but she just does not want contact with her mother.”
During a traffic stop in Truman, Ferguson was in the vehicle with the family, according to police bodycam footage.
When Aviles was pulled over in Texas on October 9, Ferguson was no longer in the vehicle. On November 4, police found the car at the Oregon Basin, near Cody. Police searched the car and later told the family that a large amount of dried blood was found inside the vehicle.
“The vehicle had trash bags blocking the view through the window,” a criminal complaint obtained by Law&Crime read. “Deputies broke a window to make sure no one was in the vehicle who may need medical attention.”
Then, police found “a projectile hole in the passenger door concealed with tape,” and numerous fired .45 bullets in the passenger door. On November 8, Ferguson’s 4-year-old child told investigators that her father hurt her mother.
Police subsequently arrested Aviles on a federal felon in possession of ammunition charge. He has since pleaded not guilty and is scheduled for his next court hearing on January 24. He has not been charged with Ferguson’s disappearance.
Meanwhile, the search for Ferguson continues while the family waits for DNA testing to determine who the blood in the vehicle belonged to.
“I just really hope he, Adam, will talk and just really say what happened,” Nicole added. “I love her and I don’t want to be negative but I don’t think she’s coming home, but I at least want her to be found.”
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[Feature Photo: Katie Ferguson and Adam Aviles, Jr./Facebook]
