After a mother disappeared during a cross-country trip with her boyfriend and their two children, federal prosecutors said the car they were traveling in was found with bullet holes and blood stains in Wyoming.
The car, which also had a fully loaded .45 caliber magazine inside of it, belonged to Adam Shane Aviles Jr., the boyfriend of Katheryn Ferguson, who went missing in October and is believed to be dead , according to prosecutors. The family was traveling from Alabama to Wyoming, officials said.
Aviles was arrested after his car was found in November, according to prosecutors, who said he is a convicted felon who isn’t allowed to have guns or ammunition.
The ammunition he had was linked to Ferguson’s killing, a federal judge determined at his sentencing hearing, based on evidence presented in this case, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming said in a Sept. 13 news release.
“I believe he killed her ,” FBI Special Agent Luke Williamson, who investigated Aviles, said at sentencing, the Cowboy State Daily reported.
Aviles, 26, of Cody, was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison for being a felon in possession of ammunition, the U.S. Attorney’s office announced.
“We hope the sentence provides a measure of justice, however partial, for the loss of Katheryn Ferguson to her children and her family,” U.S. Attorney Eric Heimann said in a statement.
Aviles’ federal public defender, David Weiss, didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment Sept. 16.
In the courtroom, Ferguson’s family and friends wore matching shirts, showing Ferguson’s missing flier, so Aviles “can see her face,” her best friend Shandal Pulver told the Cowboy State Daily.
Pulver described Ferguson as “a great mom — there for everybody, definitely for her family,” the outlet reported.
Her disappearance
Ferguson was reported missing by her mother on Nov. 2, according to court documents.
Her mother told police that her daughter had been living in Alabama and “relapsed on an unknown drug” after having been “‘clean’ for a while,” the documents say.
She said Ferguson called Aviles “for help,” according to the documents, and he arrived in Alabama.
According to her mother, Ferguson and Aviles left Alabama a few weeks later to return to Wyoming, documents read.
The couple and their two young daughters were seen in Aviles’ Dodge Durango in Trumann, Arkansas, on Oct. 5 during a traffic stop, the Cowboy State Daily reported.
On Oct. 9, Aviles was seen with the girls , but without Ferguson, in their car during a traffic stop in Texas, according to the outlet.
When Ferguson’s mother spoke with police on Nov. 2, she said Ferguson “has not been seen or heard from since” the family was in Arkansas, according to court documents .
Two days later, on Nov. 4, Aviles’ car was found abandoned near Oregon Basin in Park County, Wyoming by deputies, the documents say.
Park County Sheriff Darrell Steward arrived at the scene and said the car smelled of “putrefied blood,” according to documents.
The car was in disarray, with the front passenger seat missing, and was littered with Clorox wipes, the documents say.
A suspected projectile hole was found in the front passenger door and was covered with duct tape, according to documents .
An investigator also found “a large quantity” of dried blood in the car and “three fired projectiles consistent with a .45 caliber round,” the documents say.
Those three bullets were embedded in the passenger side door, the Cowboy State Daily reported.
Ferguson is believed to have been intentionally killed in an act of voluntary manslaughter, according to prosecutors.
On June 14, Aviles pleaded guilty to the federal ammunition possession offense, prosecutors said.
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