A Montana man linked to a previously missing Arizona teenager pleaded guilty Monday in Hill County District Court to one count of sexual abuse of children after authorities found child sexual abuse material on his cell phone last year, Attorney General Austin Knudsen announced today.
Edmund Davis, 37, admitted to possessing child sex abuse material on his electronic devices. A review of the content determined the individuals depicted to be under the age of 13, with two images of children under the age of 5, including images of infants and toddlers and other computer-generated or animated content showing children being sexualized.
The devices were discovered in July 2023 when the Havre Police Department served a search warrant on Davis’s apartment after learning that a woman, who went missing from Glendale, Ariz. as a 14-year-old in 2019, was living there. When she answered the door, officers observed Davis in the kitchen behind her throwing a cellphone into a trash can and placing items on top of the phone as if to hide it.
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 then obtained a separate search warrant for the electronics and identified a known child sexual abuse material photo series and other evidentiary images.
The sentencing hearing is scheduled for December 16, 2024. The state will be asking the court to sentence Davis to the Montana State Prison for 100 years with 50 years suspended and a 25-year parole restriction.
Assistant Attorneys General Selene Koepke and John Nesbitt are prosecuting the case, which was investigated by the Havre Police Department, Glendale (Ariz.) Police Department, and the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation.
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