5 men arrested and charged with kidnapping after missing Indiana teen found in Missouri

CASS COUNTY, Ind. — Law enforcement agencies in northeast Missouri have arrested five men accused of kidnapping a Cass County teenager.

According to court documents, Missouri State Highway Patrol officers were notified shortly before 2 a.m. June 17 that an active search was underway for a missing 14-year-old girl in Cass County.

The girl's father allegedly saw the girl get into a vehicle that later turned out to be a black Dodge Durango with an unknown registration. The father contacted the Logansport Police Department and reported his daughter missing.

The Cass County Sheriff's Office then informed officers that the missing girl's cell phone had been ringing from a suspicious vehicle registered in Texas and was heading west on US 36 near Hannibal , in Missouri.

Shortly after, a trooper spotted an SUV matching the description and initiated a traffic stop in Macon County, Missouri. During the check, the police officer allegedly saw a girl in the back seat of the vehicle who identified herself as the missing teenager. The officer then removed the minor and placed her in the patrol vehicle.

The agent, with the help of the Mâcon prefecture, took the following men into custody:

• Marlon Aguilar from Honduras
• Arturo Eustaquio of Mexico
• Noe Guzman Hernández of Mexico
• Daniel Ruiz Lopez from Mexico
• Carlos Funez from Honduras

All five were transported to the Macon County Jail and were formally charged with kidnapping and endangering the welfare of a child.

According to court documents, authorities believe the men were transporting the girl to California to meet a man she had met online.