HELENA, Mont. — A man who has previous ties to an Arizona missing persons case pleaded guilty to one count of sexual abuse of children after authorities found sexual abuse material on his cell phone last year, the Montana Attorney General said in a news release.
Edmund Davis, 37, admitted to possessing child sex abuse material on his electronic devices, according to a news release. The news release stated that the content Davis had depicted individuals under the age of 13, with two images of children under the age of 5, including pictures of infants, toddlers, and other computer-generated or animated content showing children being sexualized.
Police found the devices in July of 2023. The Havre Police Department served a search warrant on Davis' apartment after learning that a woman, who went missing from Glendale, Arizona, as a 14-year-old in 2019, was living there.
The missing girl, who was 18 at the time the police found the devices, answered the door, and police officers saw Davis in the kitchen behind her throwing a cell phone in the trash can and "placing items on top of the phone as if to hide it," the news release stated.
The phone and other electronic devices found during the search were transferred into the custody of the Division of Criminal Investigation Computer Forensics Unit in Helena. DCI agents also obtained a separate search warrant for the electronics and identified a known child sex abuse material photo series and other evidentiary images, the news release said.
The sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 16. The state will ask the court to sentence Davis to the Montana State Prison for 100 years with 50 years suspended and a 25-year parole restriction.
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