Montana resident Edmund Davis, 36, entered a plea of not guilty on Monday to child sexual abuse charges. Davis had been living with Alicia Navarro, a teenager who disappeared from her Arizona home four years ago. He is facing two felony counts of child sexual abuse based on images found on his cellphone. Davis has been held on $1 million bail since his arrest on October 23. His public defender, Casey Moore, plans to file a motion for a bail reduction hearing. The prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Dan Guzynski, has not commented on the motion.
Authorities have not confirmed whether Davis is considered a suspect in Navarro’s disappearance in September 2019. Navarro, who was diagnosed with autism, left a note before vanishing from her home just days before her 15th birthday. A massive search, including the involvement of the FBI, was launched. Navarro reappeared at the Havre, Montana, police station in July when she was almost 19 years old, requesting to be removed from the missing persons list.
During the investigation into Navarro’s presence in Havre, law enforcement officers obtained warrants that led to the discovery of child sexual abuse images on Davis’ cellphone. Court records indicate that some of the images involved infants and toddlers, while others were computer-generated. Davis is charged with possessing images of children under the age of 12 engaged in actual or simulated sexual conduct, which carries a mandatory sentence of 25 to 100 years in prison. He is also charged with possessing images of the sexual abuse of children under the age of 16, which carries a sentence of four to 100 years in prison.
Neighbors reported that Davis had been living with Navarro for at least a year. After their location was made public, the couple moved out of their Havre apartment. Private investigator Trent Steele, who assisted Navarro’s mother in the search, stated last month that Navarro was in a safe place but did not provide further details.
