Eight weeks after she disappeared from her Gainesville home, 12-year-old Maria Gomez Perez was located safe in Dover, Ohio, Sheriff Gerald Couch said at a Press Conference hours after she had been located.
A male suspect, identified as 34-year-old Antonio Agustin is in custody in the Tuscarawas County Jail in connection with Maria’s disappearance.
Investigators with the Hall County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) Criminal Investigations (CIB) believe Agustin traveled to Gainesville and picked up Maria on May 29, the day she was last seen at her residence on West Side Drive. The pair traveled back to Agustin’s home in Dover the same day.
“We believe Maria had been communicating for a time with Mr. Augustin via Facebook Messenger and other online apps. Maria had indicated she was unhappy and wanted to leave home. We also know she had been communicating with other adult males online, telling them the same thing,” said Sheriff Gerald Couch in a Friday morning news conference. “That said, I want to be clear that Maria is the victim here. She is only 12-years old.”
A break in the case
The break in the case came last week when Maria contacted her father through Facebook Messenger. She had created a new Facebook page so she could reach out to him. She told him she was okay and would not be coming home. He relayed that information to CIB investigators, said Couch.
Maria’s father, Andres Gomez Alonso, said at first he did not believe the message from Maria was real. He thought it was from a fake account. In the message, Alonso said Maria asked him to stop looking for her. Despite his concerns, he turned the message over to Sheriff Couch and the department was able to locate her.
Members of HCSO’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) obtained the IP address of the Facebook page and were able to find the phone number associated with the account. They tracked the phone to a residence in Dover.
Believing the information was a credible lead to Maria’s location, HCSO sent four CIB investigators to Dover. The investigators were able to track the phone to the Dover City Park swimming pool, where they made visual contact with Maria and Mr. Agustin. When the two got into a vehicle and traveled to a nearby shopping center parking lot, they, along with members of the Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Office, followed. They recovered Maria at the scene, and Agustin was arrested, officials said.
Maria reported to be in ‘good physical condition’
Maria was taken to a local hospital for a wellness check. She was reported to be in good physical condition. Maria is traveling back to Georgia today.
The case remains under investigation.
A spokesperson for the Hall County Sheriff’s Office says investigators will bring charges against Agustin after consulting with the Hall County District Attorney’s Office.
“It was an exhaustive search for Maria. We had at one time 70 Investigators working on the case initially. Our guys in the special investigative unit are trained to do all the forensics with phones and computers and that’s what led to her discovery,” Sheriff Couch told Now Habersham. “We are very fortunate that we had the personnel with the knowledge base that were able to do that and bring Maria home.”
Sheriff Couch thanked the community for their ongoing support in HCSO’s search for Maria, and he also implored parents, grandparents, and guardians to closely watch their children’s online activity.
“Technology can be a wonderful thing. It helped us locate Maria,” said Sheriff Couch. “But technology can also be used for evil. It’s why Maria was able to leave Gainesville with a stranger and travel nine hours from her home. So, please, know what your children are doing and who they’re communicating with. They’re our most vulnerable citizens, and we need to keep them safe.”
SEE ALSO
Missing Hall County girl Maria Gomez-Perez found safe in another state
