Austin man, mother charged in connection with missing Kansas girl

AUSTIN, Texas - An Austin man and his mother are facing charges after a 16-year-old girl went missing in Kansas in January and was found with them in North Austin.

35-year-old Christopher Mitchell has been charged with first-degree felony trafficking of a child and engaging in sexual conduct, second-degree felony sexual assault of a child and unlawful restraint, a state-jail felony.

His mother, 62-year-old Judy Meyers, has been charged with interference with child custody, a state jail felony.

According to the arrest affidavits, Wichita police officers were informed that the girl had run away from a Kansas Department for Children and Families facility on Jan. 14. During their investigation, Wichita police learned she had been communicating through Discord with a man she believed was a teacher and planned to be picked up by him and leave the state.

The girl's cell phone was left at the facility, and she had gotten about $200 in cash from her job, says the affidavits. Surveillance footage at the store showed the girl getting into a dark-colored SUV in the parking lot on Jan. 14.

That same SUV was spotted by license plate reader cameras traveling along I-35 near Denton on Jan. 14 and 15, before and after the girl was picked up, and near Austin on Jan. 15.

The vehicle was discovered to be registered to Meyers, who had Mitchell listed as her emergency contact on her driving record. Through the driving records, officers were able to obtain both Meyers' and Mitchell's home addresses and detectives located the SUV at Mitchell's listed address.

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Detectives then observed Mitchell getting into the SUV and driving directly to his mother's house, before leaving the home with the teen and returning to his apartment. Detectives then picked up Mitchell and the teen when they later left the apartment.

The girl told detectives that Mitchell had picked her up in Wichita and brought her to Austin and that they had had sex multiple times. She also said that the two of them were being blackmailed by a third person she knew through social media and who had encouraged her to find someone who would let her live with him in exchange for sex.

The girl said that she and Mitchell were intending on moving into his mother's house so that this third person couldn't find them and that Meyers told her not to use the Wi-Fi because it may be possible to find her there, says the affidavit.

Mitchell allegedly told police he had gone to Wichita and brought the teen back and that he knew she was 16. He also told police that messages between the two were on his cell phone and that he had had sex with her several times, both at his apartment and his mother's house, including on the day police picked them up.

Officers also detained and interviewed Meyers, who told police she was aware the girl was 16 and that her son had been engaging in sexual contact with her. She also said she planned on petitioning the state of Kansas for guardianship of the teen.

Items belonging to the teen were also found by officers while executing a search warrant on Meyers' home.