CODY — A family is searching for answers and justice after Katie Ferguson, 33, went missing in October somewhere along a trip from Alabama back to Wyoming.
Katie is described by her family as a loving mother to her two young daughters.
“She was a really kind person. She had a really kind heart, just like her kids they have really kind souls,” said Katie's older sister, Nicole Ferguson, recently. “We’ve always just had this bond.”
Katie was officially reported missing to Cody police on Nov. 2, but Nicole fears Katie could have disappeared long before that. Katie was last seen in early October.
“She was doing good in Alabama, and then I do think that was when the ex-boyfriend (Adam Aviles, Jr.) came up that maybe something happened,” Nicole said.
Nicole said Katie left Cody in May of this year to go live with their mother in Alabama. She took her four year old and eleven month old with her. Nicole said this was a way to attempt to get away from Aviles.
Just three months later, Katie asked Aviles to come get her and their daughters from Alabama.
“I never in a million years thought he would do something to her, I didn’t. But now I think he did and I think it was really bad,” Nicole said. “I don’t think she's alive. I really don’t.”
Katie, Aviles and their young daughters started driving back to Wyoming in early October, but only three of them made it back. According to the family, Katie was last seen in Trumann, Arkansas around Oct. 5 and was not in the vehicle on Oct. 9 when Aviles was pulled over in Texas.
“It all points in a very tragic direction, and so it’s hard. It’s hard to hear the rumors, to hear what might have happened to her. It’s just unfathomable,” said Katie's stepmother, Angela Ferguson. “It’s devastating. It’s the most tragic, awful thing.”
According to Nicole, she saw Aviles in Cody on Halloween but did not speak to him. On Nov. 4, the vehicle Aviles drove from Alabama to Cody was found in the Oregon Basin area near Cody. Just two days later, Nicole watched as police searched the vehicle at the police station. Investigators told the family there was a large quantity of dried blood found inside. The family later found out from a newspaper article that multiple bullet holes were found in the passenger seat door.
Aviles was arrested on Nov. 8 for charges of possession of a controlled substance, unauthorized use of a vehicle, and a previous warrant.
Nicole said the family is now waiting to hear back from investigators on the DNA results from the blood found in the vehicle.
“I just really hope he, Adam, will talk and just really say what happened,” Nicole said. “I love her and I don’t want to be negative but I don’t think she's coming home, but I at least want her to be found.”
The family has set up accounts at Big Horn Federal Bank and U.S. Bank under the Katie Ferguson Memorial Fund to go towards any searches or memorials in the near future.
