(NewsNation) — A woman who went missing as a 14-year-old in 2019 entered a Montana police department in July to close her case. Now, an investigation into the adult man she was living with has led to separate charges alleging he was in possession of child pornography.
Edmund Davis, 36, faces two felony counts of sexual abuse of children in connection to sexually explicit and abusive material police say they found on his cellphone. Davis remained in custody Tuesday at the Hill County Detention Center in Montana on a $1 million bond.
Police first came in contact with Davis after learning he was living with Alicia Navarro — now an adult woman — who went missing as a child in September 2019, according to the Montana Attorney General’s Office. She approached police earlier this year and asked to be taken off the missing persons list, court records show.
Investigators learned Navarro was living with Davis and obtained a warrant to search his apartment earlier this year. When Navarro answered the door, investigators claim they saw Davis in the kitchen throwing out a cellphone and attempting to conceal it, according to a news release from the attorney general’s office.
The images, some computer-generated, were discovered during the investigation along with more information about Navarro’s disappearance in 2019. Further details about that case, however, weren’t included in the news release prosecutors issued Tuesday.
The first count of sexual abuse of children carries a potential 100-year prison sentence, 25 of which may not be suspended or deferred.
The second count is punishable by up to life in prison with a minimum sentence of four years.
