Yessenia Norman: Missing AZ woman stabbed 27 times; arrest made in case
Yessenia Norman: Arrest made in Tolleson murder
Authorities in Mississippi have arrested a man who is believed to be responsible for the death of Yessenia Norman, an 18-year-old who was found dead after she went missing for weeks. FOX 10 Investigator Justin Lum has more.
PHOENIX - There is a break in the case involving the murder of an 18-year-old who went missing for two weeks, as authorities say they have made an arrest.
What we know:
According to a statement released by police in Biloxi, Miss., officers with the department's Emergency Services Unit (ESU) responded to a home in that city on the morning of Feb. 6 to serve an arrest warrant on 27-year-old Randal Basilio Santillan.
Per officials, Santillan was arrested without incident.
The backstory:
Yessenia Norman, 18, was reported missing on Jan. 19. She had been living at a transitional facility that is contracted with the Arizona Department of Child Safety.
Ring video from the night of Jan. 15 shows Norman leaving the transitional home she was living at. Per friends, she was meeting with someone she met on a dating app.
Police confirmed that she was found dead at a Tolleson apartment complex on Jan. 28.
Yessenia Norman: Police confirm death of missing Valley woman
Yessenia Norman, 18, who last seen on Jan. 19, has been found dead.
Dig deeper:
According to investigators, Yessenia was stabbed 27 times. Her body was mutilated, and covered in blankets and towels.
"I can’t imagine. I just can’t imagine," said Yessenia's mother, Jessica Calderon, on Feb. 1. "Who would do that to her? I don’t understand."
Court records reveal that Santillan and his ex-wife were the tenants of that apartment unit, but the ex had left Santillan last December.
Per police, Santillan left Tolleson immediately, as license plate readers tracked his vehicle over the following days in New Mexico, Texas, Illinois, Missouri, and finally Mississippi. Both the suspect and victim’s cell phone devices are located in the area of Yessenia’s residence the night she disappeared.
What's next:
According to court documents, Santillan is accused of a count of 1st Degree Murder and a count of kidnapping in connection with the death of Yessenia Norman.
The Source: Information for this article was gathered by FOX 10 Investigator Justin Lum, with supplemental information gathered from court documents related to the case, as well as from a previous FOX 10 news report on the disappearance and death of Yessenia Norman.