Iyana Sawyer, just 16 and pregnant, made a fateful decision to leave Terry Parker High School during her lunch break one day, believing that she and the father of her unborn child, her uncle by marriage, were planning to elope.
She drove to Ace Pick-a-Part, a large junkyard in Jacksonville, Florida, where her uncle, 38-year-old Johnathan Quiles, was supposed to meet her. Tragically, Iyana disappeared, and she was never seen again.
Nearly five years later, justice prevailed as Quiles was found guilty of the murder of both Iyana and her unborn child. Prosecutors portrayed Quiles as a man who sexually preyed on family members, not limited to Iyana, and it was his own family that played a crucial role in securing a guilty verdict.
Quiles's disturbing behavior began when he initiated a sexual relationship with his niece through marriage, Iyana, who was the daughter of his wife's sister.
Despite his insistence that she receive an abortion, Iyana, who was pregnant, wanted to keep the child, and the court heard that she was deeply infatuated with Quiles. Incriminating text messages, professing his love and containing disturbing statements, were presented as evidence during the trial.
However, when Quiles learned of Iyana's pregnancy, he grew increasingly fearful that it would jeopardize his family, as his wife was also expecting a child at the time. The court heard that Iyana's sister, who knew about the relationship, concealed it out of fear of retribution.
Quiles meticulously planned the murder, convincing Iyana that they would run away together. On December 19, 2018, he lured her to his workplace at the junkyard and fatally shot her. Her body was later moved to a nearby landfill, concealed in a dumpster, and has never been recovered by the police.
Following Iyana's disappearance, her mother suspected Quiles's involvement but struggled to prove it.
Quiles's predatory behavior appeared to have started during unsupervised visits by Iyana and her sister to his home, where he was recovering from a broken femur.
In early 2018, rumors circulated within the family about Quiles's inappropriate relationship with Iyana, but when confronted, the girls denied any wrongdoing. Tragically, it was only after Iyana disappeared that her sister confided in her mother about Quiles's sexual abuse and what she had witnessed.
Quiles's brother, Joseph, ultimately played a pivotal role in his arrest.
A day after the murder, Quiles admitted to Joseph that he had lured Iyana to the junkyard and killed her to prevent her from having the baby. Joseph, initially unsure if his brother was telling the truth, eventually turned him in to the police.
While awaiting trial, Quiles confessed to an inmate, with their conversation recorded. He provided gruesome details of the murder and expressed confidence that police would be unable to locate Iyana's body.
Quiles has now been found guilty of murder, sexual battery, and the first-degree murder of Iyana's unborn child.
The state is seeking the death penalty for Quiles.
In another significant development, a Kansas City truck driver, Gary Dion Davis Sr., aged 52, has been apprehended and charged with two counts of second-degree murder dating back to the 1990s. See detailed story here
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