A Wyoming woman who tried to make a new life for herself in Alabama has been missing for nearly two months now — and at least some of her family fear the worst. Meanwhile, an indirectly related arrest signals that at least some progress is being made in the case.
Katheryn Ann “Katie” Ferguson, 33, was last seen alive in Trumann, Arkansas, in early October during a cross-country trip with her two daughters — who are 4 years old and 11 months old. Also on that trip was Ferguson’s ex-boyfriend, Adam Shane Aviles, Jr., 26, who is the father of both children.
Aviles and the girls made it back to Cody, Wyoming, sometime before Halloween. But the beloved daughter, sister, and mother had mysteriously vanished. She was reported missing by her mother on Nov. 2.
“[W]e are in desperate need to find her,” Ferguson’s mother, Mona Hartling, wrote in a Nov. 5 Facebook post. “[P]lease keep your eye open for my beautiful daughter her family is sick with worry … we love her with all our heart and soul.”
In her post, Hartling noted that Ferguson was traveling with her daughters and Aviles — and implored people to call law enforcement if they remember seeing either member of the former couple.
Days after Hartling’s Facebook post, Aviles was arrested by the Park County Sheriff’s Office on misdemeanor charges of methamphetamine possession and taking his father’s truck without permission, according to the Cowboy State Daily. Those charges were later dropped as federal prosecutors filed one charge of being a felon in possession of ammunition.
“We dropped the local charges,” Park County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Monte McClain told the paper. “We used those to hold him ’til the big charges came out. His charges have escalated to the point that a misdemeanor ticket of unauthorized (truck) use is a moot point. It would actually delay the furtherance of justice in trying to get this taken care of.”
Aviles now faces the prospect of 15 years in federal prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine, according to a press release issued by the Wyoming U.S. Attorney’s Office last week.
“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,” Katie Ferguson’s sister, Nicole Ferguson, told Billings, Montana-based CBS affiliate KTVQ. “I don’t think she’s alive. I really don’t.”
Left: Adam Aviles; Center and right: Katheryn Ann “Katie” Ferguson (Mona Hartling via Facebook)
The defendant has not been directly charged in relation to Ferguson’s disappearance. According to federal court documents obtained by Law&Crime, Aviles unlawfully possessed one Fiocchi .45 bullet between Nov. 2 and Nov. 4.
Publicly available documents in the defendant’s federal case do, however, take note of Katie Ferguson’s disappearance.
In a federal criminal complaint obtained by Law&Crime, a person with the same initials as the missing woman’s mother said her daughter had been “clean” for some time but had recently “relapsed on an unknown drug” and called Aviles for help.
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“Aviles Jr. came to Alabama but departed several weeks later with K.F. and their two children to return to Wyoming,” the complaint reads. “As they were traveling, they stopped in the Little Rock, Arkansas area where K.F. did a ‘drug run’ and has not been seen or heard from since. [Cody Police Department] Sgt. Vanauken contacted Aviles Jr. at his residence. Aviles Jr. said K.F. was not missing but she just does not want contact with her mother.”
Later, law enforcement discovered a black Dodge Durango registered to Aviles on Nov. 4. The vehicle had been abandoned in a state of disrepair near the Oregon Basin in rural Park County, Wyoming.
“The vehicle had trash bags blocking the view through the window,” the complaint reads. “Deputies broke a window to make sure no one was in the vehicle who may need medical attention.”
Inside, investigators discovered the front passenger seat was missing, Clorox wipes, a Glock pistol magazine loaded to capacity with live ammunition, and an odor the sheriff described as “putrefied blood.”
While police were inspecting the truck initially, Aviles allegedly approached the scene with a can of gasoline. When asked what he was doing, the defendant allegedly said he was there to fill the gas tank because the truck was his and needed gas to run.
On Nov. 5, investigators checked a national database to check and see if the defendant had been pulled over during his recent travels.
He had. Twice.
On Oct. 5, Aviles and Katie Ferguson were both seen on body-worn camera footage taken by police in Trumann, Arkansas.
On Oct. 9, Aviles was seen again on body-worn camera footage — this time taken by the Texas State Patrol. This time, however, Katie Ferguson was not in the footage, the complaint alleges. Investigators also saw what they described as “a projectile hole in the passenger door concealed with tape.”
A later, warrant-authorized search of the Durango turned up “a large quantity” of dried blood, three fired .45 bullets, parts of the vehicle trim in trash bags in the back of the truck, cleaning supplies, tools, and various other items — including clothes — all covered in blood.
On Nov. 8, during a forensic interview conducted by the FBI in Montana, the missing woman’s 4-year-old daughter said something about her father accidentally hurting her mother. Authorities said they could not determine a time frame for the child’s statement.
“I just really hope he, Adam, will talk and just really say what happened,” Nicole Ferguson added in comments to KTVQ. “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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