Missing Arizona man, stepdaughter thought to be dead – NBC news, NBC news

Two of three people reported missing in Arizona earlier this month are thought to be dead, and the third has been arrested, police said Tuesday.

Chino Valley police believe David Batten, 0249, and his stepdaugther, Elissa Landry, 45, are dead. They were last seen April 28 at 3: at Batten’s home with – year-old Mitchell Mincks, who has been identified as Landry’s boyfriend.

Earlier this month, police said they had discovered evidence of foul play at the home.

“Chino Valley Police Department is updating this investigation from a missing person case to a homicide investigation,” the department said in a statement said.

Mincks was arrested in Iowa on an unrelated warrant but was named as a “person of interest” in the case, the Chino Valley Police Department said in a statement.

On Tuesday the department said it found new evidence “at and away from David’s residence” that indicated Batten and Landry are dead. It also said it found the missing duo’s cellphones in a remote area north of Chino Valley over the weekend.

Also still missing: Landry’s blue 2020 Subaru Forester, they said. Authorities initially believed the trio might have been traveling to Iowa.