JANESVILLE — Two people charged in connection with the April 6 shooting death of a 14-year-old Evansville girl will make preliminary appearances Monday in Rock County Circuit Court.
Hunter Drefahl, 26, of Evansville, was charged with one count of second-degree sexual assault of a child under the age of 16, one count of sexual exploitation of a child, and five counts of possession of child pornography.
Alyssa A. Ahrens, 20, of Evansville, was charged with one count of second-degree sexual assault of a child under age 16, one count of sexual exploitation of a child, three counts of possession of child pornography and one count of possession of methamphetamine.
Both remain in custody in the Rock County Jail with bond set but not posted.
Drefahl is scheduled to appear in court at 9:30 a.m. on Monday and Ahrens at 9:45 a.m., both before Court Commissioner Jack Hoag.
According to court records, a $750,000 cash bond was set for Drefahl and a $500,000 cash bond was set for Ahrens.
According to a criminal complaint filed April 8 in Rock County Circuit Court, the victim, who was not named in the criminal complaint, was treated at Mercy Hospital in Janesville for a gunshot wound to the head and then transferred to UW Hospital in Madison, where she died.
A GoFundMe page set up after the shooting by a family friend identified the 14-year-old as Florencia Henthorn of Evansville.
Also according to the criminal complaint:
Rock County Sheriff’s Office detectives, as part of a subsequent investigation, uncovered evidence that Hunter Drefahl and Ahrens had had sexual contact with Henthorn and had recorded that and shared the videos.
Hunter J. Drefahl
Evansville EMS and sheriff’s deputies offered lifesaving care at the scene to Henthorn, who was initially conscious and responsive. Meanwhile, another deputy spoke with Ahrens who was on the phone with Hunter Drefahl, who had fled to a family member’s home.
Drefahl told the deputy he was outside when the shot was fired and said that he later removed a handgun from the scene. Investigators later found a handgun, described in the criminal complaint as a “Keltec 22LR, long rifle caliber,” in the pocket of a pair of shorts belonging to Drefahl.
A second firearm, a 9 mm handgun, was found by investigators in Drefahl’s vehicle. Also found in the vehicle were 9 mm ammo, both spent and unspent .22 rifle rounds, and a gun case.
According to Ahrens, Henthorn had spent the night at their house and they had smoked marijuana.
Ahrens told investigators she had left to pick up a rental car earlier that morning and that Hunter Drefahl had called her shortly before 9 a.m., saying, “I don’t know what happened, she was sitting on the couch, and I don’t know.”
Alyssa A. Ahrens
Hunter Drefahl’s father, William Drefahl, was also reportedly at the house the night before the shooting. He told investigators he and his son were talking outside when they heard a pop. He said he went inside and found Henthorn on the couch, with a gunshot wound to the head.
William Drefahl told investigators his son had purchased three guns a few weeks ago, and kept two for himself, a 9 mm handgun and a .22 caliber handgun.
With a search warrant, investigators later removed two iPhones and two laptops from the home that contained videos of sex acts and explicit text-messages, including discussions about potentially selling the videos.
When Ahrens was arrested, marijuana and meth were found in her possession. Hunter Drefahl also told investigators that he had recently used crystal meth.
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