Niles, MI — Police are investigating claims that two missing mothers were “followed” or “chased” shortly before they were found dead in a river, adding another unanswered question to an already puzzling investigation.
Chief Millin said authorities have heard conflicting accounts about what happened to the women after they left a birthday celebration in Elkhart, Indiana, and are working to determine whether either claim can be confirmed.
“I’ve heard both that the girls were followed from the establishment that they left in Elkhart and also been followed in Niles,” Millin said.
“Some people are saying ‘followed,’ other people are saying ‘chased,’ so of course we’re looking into all that to try to determine is this factual? And if so, what, if any part, did it play in them ending up in the river?” he added.
The comments come as investigators continue piecing together the final movements of Navarro and Bautista, two best friends whose disappearance left their families searching for answers.
Family questions why they ended up in Niles
The women’s route has also raised questions among their relatives.
The father of Navarro’s child said that she normally followed a familiar route when traveling between their locations, making her presence on the road where the vehicle was found particularly difficult for him to understand.
“She would always take one route. Me and her would always take one route back and forth, which is Portage, which is so weird why she would come this way and take a left,” Jovani Ramirez told the outlet.
After the women disappeared, their relatives tracked their phones, eventually leading the search toward Niles. Their families struggled to understand why the women had ended up there.
“So them coming here is like the biggest mystery we have,” Bautista’s cousin and babysitter Brisaida Moreno previously told KFOX 14 during the search. “And we are just trying to find some information about what brought them here.”
Cellphone data helped narrow the search
Investigators were eventually able to use cellphone and data technology to help identify the general area where the women were located. Millin said that information played a role in helping police establish where to search before the women were ultimately found in the river.
The discovery of the vehicle and the women has left investigators examining both the circumstances surrounding the crash and what happened beforehand.
One issue under scrutiny has been the amount of damage sustained by the vehicle. However, Millin told that preliminary findings do not indicate that external forces caused the damage.
Police explain the vehicle damage
Millin said the condition of the vehicle could potentially be explained by the circumstances of the crash itself.
“If you consider it went off the roadway over the embankment, it hit trees on the way down the bank,” he said, “[and] it would not surprise me if it actually went through the water and hit the bottom of the river, so all these things are going to damage the car.”
That assessment remains preliminary as investigators continue examining the evidence.
Police are still working to establish the complete sequence of events leading from the women’s disappearance to the vehicle being found in the river. The investigation into the claims that the women may have been followed or chased remains active, and authorities have not said that those claims have been confirmed.
Two devoted mothers leave behind young children
Navarro and Bautista were described as best friends and devoted mothers, making their deaths especially painful for their families. Navarro leaves behind a 3-year-old child, according to WSBT. Bautista was the mother of a 2-year-old and a 3-year-old, the report said.
What do you think about the new claims being investigated in this case? Share your thoughts in the comments.
