A man has been charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse, following his connection to a teenager who disappeared in Arizona and reappeared in Montana four years later.
In Montana, prosecutors have formally charged Edmund Davis, aged 36, with two counts of felony child sexual abuse based on the child pornography discovered on his electronic devices. To ensure Mr. Davis’ safe arrest on Monday, the charges were filed under seal last week, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
During a search warrant at Mr. Davis’ residence in Havre, investigators uncovered the evidence linking him to Alicia Navarro, an 18-year-old who had been reported missing from her home in Glendale, Arizona, in September 2019 when she was only 14. Just days before, Ms. Navarro had approached the local police department in Havre, requesting her removal from the missing persons list. Prosecutors stated that when the police arrived at Mr. Davis’ home to serve the warrant, he disposed of his phone in a trash can after seeing Ms. Navarro at the door.
“The device confirmed to belong to Davis contained dozens of images depicting suspected child sexual abuse material,” stated the Montana Attorney General’s Office. “These included images involving infants, toddlers, and computer-generated or animated content that sexualized children.”
Currently, Mr. Davis is being held at the Hills County Detention Center, and his bond has been set at $1 million.
Medical experts determined that several of the individuals in the images were under the age of 13, while two pictures depicted minors under the age of five.
Former co-workers of Mr. Davis informed The New York Post that Ms. Navarro had been living with him for at least a year, and he used to refer to her as his “niece.”
“It’s appalling. It’s repulsive, and I can’t fathom how he could do that to all those children,” they told the Post. “He always had a tough exterior and didn’t talk much. He would become very defensive when someone mentioned him. It’s confusing to think that someone could hide all of that and show no emotions.”
Ms. Navarro’s disappearance in 2019 triggered an extensive search operation involving the police, FBI, and the Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
On July 23, she appeared alone at a police station in Havre, which is approximately 40 miles from the Canadian border.
It remains unclear if Ms. Navarro has provided any further information about her whereabouts or whether she plans to return to her family home, as she had told Glendale detectives that no one had harmed her.
Previously, Jessica Nuñez, her mother, had expressed concerns that Alicia may have been lured away from home by an online predator. Jessica emphasized that it was out of character for her daughter to run away, especially because she was unfamiliar with using public transportation.
According to the police, Ms. Navarro and her mother had spoken on the phone after she reappeared, but it’s unknown whether they have reunited.
“Happy Birthday! I know this message will be seen, and I just want to say that I love you and will always be here,” wrote Ms. Nuñez in a Facebook post on her daughter’s birthday in September. “I remember today I gave birth to a special baby that I love with all my heart and always will.”
