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SANTA CLARA — A third person has been arrested in connection with the disappearance of David Corey Heisler, who went missing from his Santa Clara home last month.
Tammy Renee Freeman, 54, of Washington City, was arrested at her home Saturday and booked into the Washington County Jail for investigation of aggravated burglary, motor vehicle theft and aggravated kidnapping, according to Santa Clara-Ivins police officer Chad Holt.
Holt said Freeman was an "associate" of Francis Lee McCard, 55, and Kelley Marie Perry, 31, both of whom were arrested Tuesday for investigation of the same charges.
Perry is the mother of Heisler's 6-year-old daughter. Heisler was given full custody of the girl about two weeks before he disappeared, though the girl was with her mother on vacation when he went missing. The girl is currently in the custody of Heisler's family.
Heisler, 30, went missing on June 27 from his home, where police found blood in the kitchen and garage. Investigators also discovered that several undisclosed items were missing from Heisler's house, as well as his 2002 Saturn.
That vehicle was found abandoned on July 1 in Beaver Dam, Arizona. A bullet casing was found inside the car, as well as blood on the car's exterior.
A Washington County Jail report states that Perry and McCard went to Heisler's house on the day he went missing and "assaulted him." McCard and Perry then took Heisler's car and forced him to go to an undisclosed location near the Utah-Arizona border, where they dropped him off, according to the report.
It's unclear what Freeman's relationship with Heisler is, according to Holt.
"From the information we gathered, she was involved in the incident," Holt said.
A search of court records indicates that Freeman has pleaded guilty to several criminal charges dating back to 2010, including unlawful use of a financial card and disorderly conduct. She is scheduled to appear in court on September 7 for a pretrial conference in connection to a misdemeanor retail theft charge.
Police are still searching for Heisler, whose condition remains unknown. The Mohave County Sheriff's Office in Arizona is leading the search with assistance from the FBI, the Bureau of Land Management and the Santa Clara-Ivins Police Department.
Police have not released a possible motive for the alleged kidnapping.
Contributing: Debbie Dujanovic
