2 more arrests made, in Florida, Utah in connection to missing South Jordan teen

SALT LAKE CITY — Two men were arrested Wednesday in connection with an investigation involving a missing South Jordan girl, according to the South Jordan Police Department.

William Taylor Glines, 37, was the first arrest made on May 8 in connection with the disappearance  of the 15-year-old.

Glines was arrested in Texas after messages with an underage girl were discovered and linked to him. Weeks later, Texas authorities went public with Glines’ interactions with the girl, including one message she had sent to him from a stranger’s phone at a bus stop in Utah.

She was last seen on April 21, after her mother dropped her off at school in American Fork but she never made it to class, and investigators later found footage of her on surveillance cameras at a TRAX station in American Fork, where she traveled to Provo. According to court documents filed Wednesday, she was last seen on surveillance footage in Provo on foot.

Despite the second and third arrests in the case, police have still not located Petrov. Anyone with information was asked to contact South Jordan police immediately.

Matthew Menard: Miami, Florida

On Wednesday, a second arrest was made in Florida when Matthew Nicholas Menard, 35, turned himself in to police.

Menard had been charged in connection with the case on May 16 with aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, enticement of a minor and criminal solicitation, after investigators said they discovered messages between Menard and Petrov on a hidden iPad in her room.

Until his arrest Wednesday, it appeared possible that she could have been with Menard, wherever he had been hiding out. Investigators wrote in court documents about plans the two had to run away together to Las Vegas, according to text messages found on the iPad.

In the days after her disappearance, investigators found she was trying to obtain bus tickets to Las Vegas, according to her mother in an interview with KSL TV.

“Matt and the victim also have extensive conversations where they plan on the juvenile running away from home to meet him in Las Vegas, NV,” an investigator wrote in a search warrant. “Matt tells the victim he will fly to Las Vegas for a business trip later in May, and she can lay low until he gets there. They then planned to fly to Los Angeles, CA together for several days, before ultimately going back to Miami, FL where Matt lives.”

Menard was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Wednesday, police said.

Samuel Mitchell: Herriman, Utah

Samuel Teancum Mitchell, 41, was also arrested Wednesday, after investigators found conversations on the girl’s iPad with him on the Discord app.

According to Mitchell’s booking affidavit, the conversations the two had were lengthy, “sexual in nature,” and included multiple calls. About eight days before her disappearance, the girl requested he “kidnap her” and provided locations she was going to be at such as Alta ski resort, the affidavit states.

No photos of  the missing girl or child sexual abuse material were found in any of Mitchell’s messages with her, however, he made suggestive comments in text, investigators wrote.

On April 15, just before 2 a.m., the 15-year-old said in a message to Mitchell that her mom took took her phone away, and therefore she “unadded” him.

“Oh is that why there was a screen shot(?)” Mitchell replied. If she responded to the question, it was not recorded in court documents.

The girl then asked if he could confirm a meeting they had planned in person, asking if they were still going to meet, possibly that night. Mitchell later replied that he got really sick, that he “wouldn’t be much fun,” and that he would get her sick.

Her last message to Mitchell was on April 19 just after midnight, where she wrote: “IM RUNNING AWAY” and “please don’t contact me.”

Police later visited Mitchell at his home in Herriman, where he was questioned by the lead investigator on the case. He said he knew why they were there, he told them — he’d met a girl online who was mad at her parents, and told him she was running away. Mitchell told police she asked him not to contact her again.

According to Mitchell, she had multiple aliases and he did not know her name. However, he did tell them about his plans to meet in person with the girl, and stated he was sick that day so it did not happen.

“Mitchell denied any communication with the juvenile since she had run away,” the affidavit states. “Mitchell advised the girl had mentioned she met an FBI agent in Florida and had an interest in that guy.”

Mitchell told investigators she said she was 19, but to him she “looked 18 in her pictures or maybe younger.”