Maria Gomez-Perez, missing for nearly two months after a May 29 disappearance, was safely recovered July 25 in Dover, Ohio, according to the Hall County Sheriff’s Office and the Criminal Investigations Bureau (CIB).
Antonio Agustin, 34, is in custody at the Tuscarawas County (Oh.) Jail in connection with Gomez-Perez’s disappearance. Investigators believe that Gomez-Perez communicated with Agustin and other adult males via Facebook messenger and other online applications. She indicated she was “unhappy,” in the words of Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch. It is believed Agustin picked up Gomez-Perez from her home on Westside Drive in Gainesville on May 29.
“I want to be clear that Maria is the victim here,” Couch said in a Friday press conference. “She is only 12 years old.”
According to the Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Office inmate list, the man arrested in connection to Gomez-Perez is listed as Antonio Agustin-Ailon. He was booked at 12:58 a.m. on Friday. He is listed with a birthdate of July 17, 1990 and with a height of 4-foot-3. No charges were immediately listed.
The investigators’ major break in the case came during the week of July 15. At that point, the search expanded into multiple states and reward money rose to $50,000 for those who had any information. Gomez-Perez created a new Facebook account to message her father. She said she was OK under Agustin’s care and would not be coming home.
Gomez-Perez’s father relayed the information to the CIB. Members of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) tracked the IP address from the Facebook message to a residence in Dover, Ohio. The Hall County Sheriff’s Office sent four CIB investigators to Dover and made visual contact with Gomez-Perez and Agustin. Once they traveled to a nearby shopping center, the investigators along with members of the Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Office followed and recovered Gomez-Perez.
Gomez-Perez was taken to a local hospital for a wellness check and was reported as OK. She is returning to Georgia on Friday. The case remains under investigation.
“… Know what your children are doing and who they’re communicating with,” Couch said. “They’re our most vulnerable citizens, and we need to keep them safe.”
