MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis Police said they have arrested a 20-year-old man after he took a 12-year-old girl from her home in the Messick-Buntyn neighborhood in Memphis.
Police said that a woman called on October 14, 2020 when she noticed her daughter was missing. Police said they obtained search warrants and began recovering the girl’s online messages as well as searching her social media accounts.
MPD said that Raul Antonio Villanueva-Lopez had been communicating with a minor when he arrived at her home in the early morning hours of October 14.
Memphis Police said they tracked Villanueva-Lopez’s phone from Memphis to Jackson, Mississippi, and Marshals were able to pinpoint his phone on November 2, 2020.
Reports indicate Villanueva-Lopez was apprehended by the US Marshals, and that Villanueva-Lopez confessed he had travelled to Memphis to have sex with the minor on multiple occasions.
Villanueva-Lopez told authorities he picked the girl up from her mother’s house and took her to a hotel.
According to records, Villanueva-Lopez took the girl to Jackson, Mississippi, where he intended her to live with him.
Villanueva-Lopez has been charged with two counts of rape of a child.
He is currently in police custody with a $125,000 bond, and his next court appearance is scheduled for December 20.
