Cops in Texas first thought Natalie Navarro, then 17, was the victim of a kidnapping after they found a man shot to death in August 2023 in the Dallas suburb of Garland. But after issuing an Amber Alert, police learned she was no victim but a suspect complicit in robbery and murder.

More than a year later, Navarro, now 19, pleaded guilty to murder in the death of 21-year-old Arturo Peña and a judge sentenced her to 40 years in prison with 485 days credit for time served, according to court records.

Garland cops were dispatched just after 10 a.m. on Aug. 29, 2023, to the 300 block of West Oates Road in Audubon Park, according to a press statement. The call was about a man possibly passed out in a vehicle. But officers arrived to find that he had suffered a gunshot wound.

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As Law&Crime previously reported, Detectives identified the victim as Peña, a resident of Mesquite. He had been reported as missing to Dallas cops two days earlier. It turns out he was the victim of a ruse. Peña and Navarro met online, and she lured him to the home where her boyfriend, Yordy “Jordy” Martinez, then 21, was waiting to rob him. Investigators believe Martinez shot and killed Peña during the robbery.

After finding Navarro, detectives were able to ferret out the truth and obtained murder warrants on both her and Martinez. Navarro has been in jail ever since but Martinez remains on the lam. Peña’s family voiced concern at the time Martinez could have fled to Mexico, according to local Fox affiliate KDFW. But police in Laredo, a Lone Star State city on the Mexican border some 450 miles southwest from the scene of the murder, said in March that Martinez may be in the area.

A West Virginia father and convicted murderer is accused of fatally stabbing his fiancee and her mother in his home, then burning the property and taking his 15-month-old daughter to a friend’s house before he went on the run, prompting an Amber Alert that led to his arrest and the baby being found unharmed.

Joshua Russell Morrow, 42, faces murder charges in the deaths of his girlfriend, Britney Brown, 34, and her mother, Irma Brown, 57. He also faces a charge of first-degree arson, according to West Virginia State Police.

As Wisconsin authorities search for missing 3-year-old Elijah Vue, scrutiny falls on his mother and a caretaker. Both adults are locked up in the Manitowoc County Jail respectively on a case for party to child neglect, and child neglect.

Authorities are largely keeping mum about it all, but a prosecutor on Friday reportedly said that the mother, Katrina Baur, 31, lied about her own whereabouts during the investigation. The co-defendant, Jesse Vang, 39, is charged because Baur had put Elijah in his care, so it was also his responsibility to make sure the boy was all right.

“She intentionally sent that child for disciplinary reasons for more than a week to the residence,” Manitowoc District Attorney Jacalyn LaBre said, according to Green Bay Fox affiliate WLUK. “She was aware of the tactics used and the lack of care provided. This was an intentional thing by her. And, on at least two occasions, during the interviews she has provided false information on her whereabout during the past week.”

Baur’s bond is set at $15,000 while Vang is held on $20,000.