How technology helped Wyoming troopers find missing Manitowoc girl and alleged traffickers

CARBON COUNTY, Wyo. (WLUK) — Authorities in Wyoming are speaking out about how they rescued a teenage girl missing from Manitowoc and arrested the two men accused of kidnapping her.

“When it comes to human trafficking, in this case, technology is what helped us find this girl and get her home safe. But so often, we are so reliant in these cases — especially when it comes to human trafficking — on public tips,” Wyoming Highway Patrol PIO Aaron Brown said Thursday.

22-year-old Alexcer Solis Gomez and 33-year-old Pedro Giron Perez are both charged in Manitowoc County with one count of abducting a child. Police say their immigration status is also under investigation.

The case began Nov. 28, when the Two Rivers Police Department was notified about a 16-year-old female missing from Manitowoc. The girl’s younger sister told police the victim said she was “on the road” and that it was “for the safety of her family.”

According to the criminal complaint, “WITNESS 1 stated CHILD VICTIM’s boyfriend had become involved with the cartel and CHILD VICTIM believed she was being followed. WITNESS 1 said CHILD VICTIM had stated she woke up to an airdropped photo with a gun pointed at the residence she was staying at.”

The complaint says the missing girl was last seen being picked up by a Hispanic male in a small, dark-colored sedan, several hours before law enforcement was informed of her disappearance.

Investigators learned the female may be with her boyfriend, a 20-year-old man, who has a bench warrant for felony drug offenses in Outagamie County, according to the complaint. FOX 11 is not naming him because he has not been charged in the kidnapping case.

Police tracked the girl’s phone and determined she had been taken out of Wisconsin. TRPD worked with law enforcement partners to send alerts to the states the juvenile was traveling in or headed toward and used Flock cameras to identify the suspect vehicle. That is how the information got to the Wyoming Highway Patrol.

“We got what’s called a BOLO alert, or be on the lookout alert, on a missing minor out of Wisconsin that was traveling, supposedly, with a 20-year-old that was wanted on drug charges. They were supposedly traveling through Wyoming,” Brown said.

Using cell phone pings, troopers were able to determine the location of the suspect vehicle and conduct a traffic stop. Law enforcement said the missing girl was found inside the vehicle.

“When [a trooper] did find the minor in the car and recognized her right away, he took action,” Brown said. “She was not with the 20-year-old. She was with two other men.”

Those men were Solis Gomez and Giron Perez, who claimed they had been hired by the girl’s boyfriend to transport her to California. The complaint says Solis Gomez admitted he was the man who had picked up the girl in Two Rivers.

ALEXCER stated to Wyoming troopers that he was being paid $1500 to travel from California to Wisconsin to pick up CHILD VICTIM by [her boyfriend]… and bring her back to California for her to reside with [the boyfriend].

According to the complaint, a note was found in the girl’s bedroom after her disappearance which “detailed a plan that was communicated to her on how she would be discretely taken from the custody of her father.”

Authorities say the girl is safe and will be returned home.