On the subsequent encounters with his vehicle, starting Oct. 9, police allege that Ferguson was not seen with him and they spotted a gunshot on the car. Police also allegedly found bloodstained clothings and noted smell of "putrified blood" from his vehicle during one of these encounters, the criminal complaint states.
In a subsequent interview with law enforcement, the couple's 4-year-old daughter allegedly said she witnessed her father "accidentally hurting" her mother, according to the complaint.
Ferguson’s mother, Mona Hartling, says the couple had been in an on-again, off-again relationship for eight years that was tumultuous.
Hartling and Ferguson, along with the couple’s two children, were in a shelter for a few months before Hartling moved them to Alabama to be with Hartling’s sister and to give Ferguson a “fresh start,” she tells PEOPLE.
She says her daughter and Aviles were living in motels during their stay in Alabama. But when Aviles returned home to his family in Wyoming in October, Ferguson was nowhere to be found.
Hartling says Aviles told her that Ferguson had left him and the children. The criminal complaint states that Aviles maintains that Ferguson went on a "drug run" during their trip and did not return. He also allegedly said she was "not missing," but instead wanted to lose contact with her mother.
In text exchanges between Ferguson and her stepmother reviewed by PEOPLE, Ferguson expressed her fear of Aviles before the trip took place.
Katie Ferguson was last seen in October before she embarked on a trip with Adam Shane Aviles Jr., and their two daughters.
people.com