Who was Hailey Gonzalez? Missing 17-year-old's remains found in Oklahoma
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA: Oklahoma City Police Department officials have confirmed the identity of a body that was found earlier this month. On Tuesday, August 24, officials said that the remains found at an Oklahoma City apartment complex off of Northwest 13th Street is of Hailey Gonzalez, who was last seen in July.
As per authorities, the 17-year-old was murdered in July and her body was discovered in the 6800 block of Northwest 13th Street after investigators got the information that led them to the location. Gonzalez went missing after attending a party on the fourth of July at another teen boy, Eduardo Bonilla-Lopez's home, near Melrose and Rockwell.
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Eventually, the 18-year-old Eduardo Bonilla-Lopez was taken into custody and pressed with kidnapping and murder charges in connection with Gonzalez’s death. Bonilla-Lopez had allegedly done FaceTime with a friend and showed the victim’s bleeding from a gunshot wound to the head. It has also been reported that while at the party, Gonzalez had called a friend and requested a ride back home. She apparently sounded scared on the phone.
After her call, the friend reached the location and found the accused washing his hands outside. But did not see Gonzalez. According to a probable cause affidavit, a witness claimed that at the fourth of July party, they saw Bonilla-Lopez shooting someone dead. The same person also added that the alleged killer called them via FaceTime and asked for a favor to dump Gonzalez’s remains.
However, the witness said they asked Bonilla-Lopez to take Gonzalez to a hospital. But he declined, saying, “he didn’t want to or he would go to prison.” When investigators arrested the accused on July 12 and interrogated him, he admitted that he contacted the witness while “the victim was still alive but severely injured.” The teenager also confessed to driving the body to some other place to have someone else dump her body. He added that he cleaned his vehicle after his alleged helper arrived to help him dispose of the remains.
After dropping off Gonzalez’s body, Bonilla-Lopez called the witness and told them that he “took care of the girl. Acknowledging he finished killing her and dumped her body off.” Along with Bonilla-Lopez, police have also arrested his 41-year-old father and 23-year-old sister, Vidal Bonilla and Lillian Bonilla, for allegedly helping him hide the crime. Meanwhile, a GoFundMe has been started in the memory of Haylie Gonzalez that has already raised $12,544 while its goal was $12,509.
In another incident, a Louisiana State University student was found dead in April, a week after she vanished. Kori Gauthier, 19, went missing early in April and on April 14, her remains were found in the Mississippi River in the St John the Baptist Parish. Gauthier’s family said that she was last with her boyfriend. They allegedly had “got into an argument”. “Kori's family said her boyfriend is the last person to see her before they got into an argument. Kori was headed back to her dorm on LSU's campus," mentioned a flyer released by her family for aiding the search for her,” a flyer earlier released by her family for helping the search for her noted.
Meanwhile, LSU Police Chief Bart Thompson said, “Since Kori was first reported missing, the LSU Police Department, Baton Rouge Police Department, and other law enforcement agencies and volunteers have taken exhaustive measures to locate her and, in the process, to determine what led to her disappearance. This is a difficult conclusion for all of us, but we hope this will bring closure for the Gauthier family.”