Indiana mother of 7 who went missing in Mexico is found dead, her family says

U.S. newsIndiana mother of 7 who went missing in Mexico is found dead, her family saysRelatives of Makala Pendley said all her children were found safe. An official in Mexico said that her partner has been detained. Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Makala Pendley.via The National Center for Missing & Exploited ChildrenShareAdd NBC News to GoogleJune 10, 2026, 4:04 PM EDTBy Minyvonne BurkeAn Indiana woman who had allegedly been missing in Mexico for months with her seven children was found dead, her family said. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Hailey Lambert, a relative of Makala Pendley, said the family was notified of her death Tuesday morning by authorities in Mexico. Her children are safe, Lambert said. Jami Dowdy, Pendley’s cousin, told NBC affiliate WTHR of Indianapolis that the mother vanished in February. Dowdy said relatives spent months searching for answers, but do not know how Pendley ended up in Mexico. Lambert said in a phone interview Wednesday that Pendley had been in a “very, very, very toxic relationship” with the father of her children. She said she always feared “this was going to be the outcome.” “It’s insane, but unfortunately, it just happens in domestic situations,” she said. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said that Pendley was located in Mexico last month and that her children were briefly “taken into custody by Mexican authorities” before being returned to her. It’s not clear why the children were taken. The department said it had not been notified of the death of anyone in the case. Dowdy told WTHR that the children’s father had been arrested in Mexico. Jorge Luis Llaven Abarca, the Chiapas state prosecutor, said in a translated Facebook post that a suspect identified as Pendley’s partner had been detained. Attempts to reach relatives of the children’s father were not successful. Pendley’s children “were located and rescued” and are “...