INDIANAPOLIS, IN — An Indianapolis mother of seven who disappeared in February was found dead in southern Mexico, with authorities arresting her partner on murder charges and placing her children under government protection.
Makala Pendley, 30, was discovered dead on a dirt road in the Zinacantán area of Chiapas state on June 8, according to Chiapas State Prosecutor Jorge Luis Llaven Abarca. Mexican authorities identified Joseph “N” as the primary suspect in her death and announced his arrest during a Facebook Live briefing Monday. Pendley’s seven children, ranging in age from 1 to 12 years old, were located safe and are now under the protection of Mexican authorities while arrangements are made with the U.S. Embassy for their return to family members in Indianapolis.
Preliminary findings indicated Pendley died from a traumatic brain injury caused by blunt-force trauma, Llaven Abarca said during the briefing. Investigators believe her body had been left at the location for between eight and 12 hours before it was discovered. Pendley’s sister, Maurica Lambert, told local outlets that Pendley was at least six months pregnant at the time of her disappearance. “It’s the worst day of my life. I feel like a part of me is dead,” Lambert said after learning of her sister’s death. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department had initially reported Pendley and her children missing in February after they were believed to have traveled to Mexico. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children issued a missing-person alert after they disappeared from Indianapolis on February 23.
Court records reviewed by the Indianapolis Star show that Pendley and the children’s father, Joseph Jude Butler Jr., had ongoing paternity cases and were fighting over custody of their children. Lambert described the relationship between her sister and Butler as “toxic, on-and-off” since Pendley was 16 years old. An Indiana Department of Child Services case manager was the person who initially reported Pendley missing in February. Indianapolis police had previously told local media that the family had been located in Mexico last month and that the children were briefly taken into custody by Mexican authorities before being returned to Pendley. Lambert told Fox59 that she hadn’t spoken to her sister since around February, which is when Pendley took her children to Mexico, though their mother had spoken to Pendley more recently.
During the prosecutor’s briefing, Llaven Abarca revealed that authorities learned through coordination with U.S. officials that the suspect allegedly has an extensive criminal history in the United States, including an active arrest warrant in Alaska and an Indianapolis police alert connected to the disappearance of Pendley and the children. The prosecutor alleged that the suspect had previously been detained on charges including assault, robbery, fraud, illegal weapons possession, intimidation and rape. “In the coming hours, his criminal responsibility will be determined, and he may be brought before justice. We will seek the maximum sentence of 100 years for this perpetrator of femicide,” Llaven Abarca said during the briefing. The prosecutor’s office committed to “zero impunity for femicidal violence” in pursuing the case.
Pendley’s seven children have been identified as Nikola Jude Butler, 12; Joseph Jude Butler, 10; Aubrielle Oriana Butler, 8; Orion Jude Butler, 7; Earthum Jude Butler, 5; Polaris Jude Butler, 3; and Azrael Jude Butler, 1. Lambert said that either she or her mother would be willing to take care of the seven children upon their return to Indianapolis. “She was a good mom,” Lambert told Fox59. “As moms, you know, we have our bad days, you know what I mean? And she was a good mom, though. She put her kids before she put anything.” Pendley’s cousin, Jami Dowdy, told WTHR 13News that she would miss “her laughter, everything about Makala” and described how “whenever you seen her, no matter what she was going through, her eyes lit up.” Matt Lahr, the communications director for Senator Todd Young, told the Indianapolis Star that the senator’s office can help with the repatriation of Pendley’s body.
Mexican authorities are coordinating with the U.S. Embassy to reunite the children with family members, while Lambert said the children and Pendley’s body will return to Indianapolis in the near future. The case remains under investigation as prosecutors prepare to formally charge the suspect and seek the maximum sentence under Mexican law.
