Missing West Point teen found; hidden “sleeping area” discovered underneath house
Photos: Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office
WEST POINT — The Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office has arrested three people in the case of a missing juvenile who was ultimately found at the very same suspects’ home.
According to a department press release, 20-year-old Isaiah Haggard, 41-year-old Annie Pearl Abernathy, and 34-year-old Jose Tinocopureco have been charged with providing false information to a peace officer and contributing to the delinquency of a minor after allegedly lying about the whereabouts of a 14-year-old girl who was reported missing in late October.
The girl, identified only as ‘Kaylee’ by the Sheriff’s Department, was given permission to spend a few nights at a friend’s house. When her mother went to pick her up, the residents told her Kaylee had already left. At that point, Kaylee’s parents turned to authorities.
Following a week of extensive investigation including interviews with Kaylee’s friends and known associates, scouring her social media, canvassing neighborhoods, and much more, investigators obtained new information that led them right back to square one: the friend she’d gone to see who, along with his two housemates, had told Kaylee’s mother they didn’t know where she was.
Detectives obtained a search warrant for the house. When they arrived, the occupants — Haggard, Abernathy, and Tinocupureco — met them in the front yard and insisted they didn’t know where Kaylee was. Indeed, investigators had already conducted an initial search of the house and hadn’t found her.
Nonetheless, they searched again and, this time, found Kaylee hiding deep within the corners of two adjoining closets among densely hanging clothes. She was unharmed.
As they continued to search, detectives also found a trap door leading to a hidden makeshift “sleeping area” in the crawlspace of the house.
In addition to the aforementioned charges, Haggard and Abernathy also face charges of felony child endangerment. Tinocopureco was booked and later released on misdemeanor charges.
