Relatives in Indianapolis are seeking custody after Mexican authorities found the siblings safe and detained their father.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Seven children whose pregnant mother was found beaten to death in southern Mexico entered protective custody in June, beginning a cross-border effort to return them to relatives while investigators pursued a femicide case against their father.
The children, reported to range from 1 to 12 years old, had traveled from Indianapolis to Mexico with their mother, Makala Pendley, and their father, Joseph Jude Butler Jr. Their location became a public concern after the family was reported missing in February. Mexican officers found all seven together in Chiapas after Pendley’s death, but their safety marked only the beginning of decisions about custody, travel, interviews and long-term care.
Pendley’s cousin Jami Dowdy said relatives spoke with the siblings after authorities placed them under protection. That conversation provided the family’s first direct reassurance that the children were alive, but it did not settle when they could leave Mexico or who would receive them. “I’m sure it’s going to be a little rough, but we’ll all come together,” Dowdy said. She added that the family’s immediate concern was bringing the children to Indiana, where relatives expected to share the work of raising them.
The siblings had already passed through Mexican custody once before their mother’s death. Indianapolis police said Mexican authorities located Pendley and the children in May, temporarily took custody of the children and later returned them to her. Officials have not publicly explained what triggered that first intervention, what conditions officials examined or why they decided that the children could go back. The lack of detail has become a central unanswered part of the case because Pendley was found dead only weeks later.
Officers located the children again during a June search in the Fátima neighborhood of San Cristóbal de las Casas. Authorities also detained Butler, whom Chiapas State Prosecutor Jorge Luis Llaven Abarca identified as Pendley’s partner and the main suspect in her killing. Officials said the children appeared to be in good health. They did not release information about physical examinations, counseling or interviews, and they did not say whether any of the siblings had been with Pendley during her final hours.
Child-protection cases that cross national borders require more than purchasing tickets. Mexican officials and U.S. consular staff must confirm the children’s citizenship, identify relatives and determine who has legal authority to take them. Travel documents may need to be issued or replaced, and a court or administrative agency may decide whether the siblings can leave together. The government has not released those private records, and the family has not announced a final custody order.
Pendley’s relatives said either her mother or sister could care for the children. That willingness does not automatically settle the legal question because the children’s father was alive and in Mexican custody, and existing Indiana proceedings reportedly involved paternity and custody issues. Authorities also had to consider whether any earlier child-welfare order remained active. The seven children may have different legal records even though they traveled and were found as one family group.
The children’s return was tied to a second painful task: bringing home their mother. Pendley, 30, was found June 8 near Zinacantán, a largely Indigenous municipality in the Chiapas highlands. Llaven Abarca said an autopsy found that she died from traumatic brain injury caused by blunt-force trauma. Investigators believed her body remained at the location for eight to 12 hours. Pendley’s family said she was about six months pregnant, although Mexican officials did not publicly detail the pregnancy in their initial forensic statement.
Relatives were told of the death June 9, Dowdy said. The family initially expected to identify Pendley through a video call, but attention shifted to finding the children and Butler. Someone from a shelter where Pendley had stayed reportedly identified her. Authorities have not publicly described the shelter, when Pendley stayed there or whether she sought protection. Those details may help establish whether she had separated from Butler, feared him or told anyone about threats before she died.
As relatives worked with the U.S. Embassy, they also received calls from someone who insisted that Pendley had to be buried quickly in Mexico. Dowdy said the family did not know who was calling. A consular representative told relatives the calls might be part of a scam. The family refused to authorize a rushed burial and continued seeking arrangements to return Pendley’s remains. No official agency publicly identified the caller or established whether the demands came from a funeral provider, an individual connected to the case or a fraud attempt.
The children’s disappearance from Indianapolis had drawn attention months earlier. A case manager with the Indiana Department of Child Services reportedly notified police after Pendley left with them in late February. Missing-child notices said the siblings could be traveling with their mother. Relatives later learned that Butler was also with the family. Pendley’s sister, Maurica Lambert, said Pendley feared that authorities would take the children from her, but the grounds for that concern have not been made public.
When Indianapolis investigators confirmed the family had been located in Mexico, the missing-person phase changed. Knowing the family’s location did not mean that Indianapolis officials controlled what happened next. Mexican agencies had jurisdiction over events within their territory, while Indiana agencies retained records involving the family. That separation became more significant after Pendley died because the children’s history, their parents’ court cases and the circumstances of their departure could all matter to Mexican investigators and future custody proceedings.
Lambert said her sister had always centered her life on the children. “She was a good mom,” Lambert said. “She put her kids before she put anything.” Relatives also acknowledged that Pendley faced difficulties and that her relationship with Butler had been unstable. Lambert described the relationship as toxic and said it had broken apart and resumed over many years. Public accounts do not establish whether the children witnessed violence between the adults before the family left Indiana.
Chiapas prosecutors treated Pendley’s death as a possible femicide and said they intended to seek a sentence of up to 100 years if they proved Butler’s responsibility. Femicide is a specific offense in Mexico that addresses killings of women under circumstances defined by law. Butler’s detention did not itself establish guilt. Officials had to present evidence through the Mexican court system, and public reporting reviewed through July 12 did not provide a complete charging document, hearing record or final decision on pretrial detention.
The children may become witnesses, but authorities have not said whether they saw or heard anything related to the killing. Any interviews would require care because of their ages, the loss of their mother, their father’s detention and the long trip from Indiana. Investigators may also seek evidence from phones, messages, travel records, the place where the family stayed and the area where Pendley was found. None of those materials has been released in detail.
Mexican officials said Butler had an active warrant in Alaska and a U.S. criminal history, although their public summary did not distinguish accusations from convictions. Those records could affect decisions about custody and detention but do not prove the Mexican allegation. Prosecutors still must establish what happened to Pendley, where she was attacked, whether anyone assisted the killer and how her body reached the roadside area outside Zinacantán.
The siblings’ future will be shaped by proceedings that remain largely private. A relative may need an Indiana custody order, Mexican authorization or both before taking them across the border. Officials must also decide how to preserve their testimony without delaying reunification. The goal of keeping all seven together may require a home with enough room, financial support and access to services, though the family has not publicly described a final placement plan.
Pendley’s relatives have spoken about the children as a family responsibility rather than seven separate cases. Dowdy said the adults would come together around them. Lambert said Pendley’s death had shattered the wider family. The children now carry the loss at the center of the criminal investigation, but officials have protected much of their information from public view, including their present location and the care they are receiving.
As of July 12, the publicly reported milestones remained the children’s recovery, Butler’s detention and the family’s work with consular officials. The next confirmed development is expected to come through a Mexican court filing or a custody decision that explains when and under whose authority the seven siblings may return to Indiana.
Author note: Last updated July 12, 2026.