A Guadalupe County juvenile who vanished from her home southeast of New Braunfels in late July has been found safe more than three hours away near Dallas, and an 18-year-old Forney man is now behind bars accused of sexually assaulting her and hiding her from authorities. Blake D. Teal was booked into the Kaufman County Adult Detention Center after investigators say he was the adult the missing teen had met online before she disappeared.
The girl was reported as a missing runaway from the 100 block of Hancock Lane, southeast of New Braunfels, on July 22, according to KENS5. Her family told investigators she had recently met an adult male online, a detail that set the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office on a monthslong digital trail stretching hundreds of miles from home. Investigators eventually identified Teal as that man and gathered arrest warrants against him for alleged sexual assault of a child and harboring a runaway, according to the sheriff’s office.
Investigators located the teen safe in Kaufman County, more than three hours from Guadalupe County, and she has since been returned to her family. Teal was arrested after she was found, per GCSO, and was awaiting a return to Guadalupe County to face the charges. The sheriff’s office says its investigation remains ongoing.
Digital Trail Led Deputies From New Braunfels to a Pawn Shop
The case moved forward largely through the same investigative playbook Guadalupe County deputies have leaned on in other recent cases: subpoenas and search warrants targeting social media accounts. Investigators obtained subpoenas and search warrants for accounts connected to the juvenile, then followed up with additional warrants for social media data as the case developed. That digital work is handled through the sheriff’s office’s Internet Crimes Against Children unit, which the department has used to execute similar warrants and process tips forwarded by national clearinghouses in other cases, including a recent Barnes Drive ICAC raid that landed a Seguin man in jail…