Montana man investigated in disappearance of 14-year-old is arrested on child sex abuse charges

A 36-year-old man living in Montana with a teenager who mysteriously disappeared from Arizona four years ago has been charged with two felony counts of child sexual abuse based on images found on his phone, authorities said Tuesday.

Edmund Davis was arrested Monday in Chinook, Montana, and is being held in the Hill County Detention Center on a $1 million bond ordered by state District Court Judge Kaydee Snipes Ruiz.

It was unknown if Davis is considered a suspect in the disappearance of Alicia Navarro. Authorities in Arizona said that investigation remains ongoing.

Navarro left a note behind and disappeared days before her 15th birthday, sparking a massive search that included the FBI. She was almost 19 when she walked into the Havre, Montana, police station in July and said she wanted to be removed from the missing persons list.

Over the years, Navarro’s mother, Jessica Nuñez, said that her daughter, who was diagnosed with autism, may have been lured away by someone she met online. When she disappeared in 2019, Navarro took only her laptop and cell phone.

Still unknown is how she ended up nearly 1,400 miles (2,253 kilometers) away from her childhood home in Glendale, Arizona, in far northern Montana.

Davis has not yet appeared in court on the charges and no hearings have yet been scheduled, court officials said. He did not have an attorney on record and calls to telephone numbers listed under his name went unanswered.

In July Davis was detained and questioned by police who also searched the Montana apartment that he had been living in with Navarro. During that search, officers saw Davis throw his cellphone into a trashcan and place items on top of it as if to hide it, according to a law enforcement affidavit.

Dozens of images of suspected child sex abuse were found Davis’ phone, the affidavit said. The charges describe the images as involving prepubescent girls, infants and toddlers.

Police provided no details at the time about Davis, but neighbors said he’d been living with Navarro for at least a year. An Associated Press reporter spoke with a young woman at the Havre apartment who looked and sounded like Navarro but she didn’t give her name and said she wanted to be left alone.

The couple moved out of the apartment days after Navarro's whereabouts were revealed by media reports, according to neighbors.

Authorities have previously said it was up to Navarro whether to return home since she is 18 years old and legally an adult.

The Glendale Police Department on Tuesday declined to answer questions on the investigation into Navarro’s disappearance, including what additional information authorities had gathered during the residence search in Havre and in follow-up interviews.