Pregnant Indy Mom Found Dead in Mexico, Her Kids Found Safe

INDIANAPOLIS — Authorities in southern Mexico found the nude body of an Indianapolis mother in a ditch over the weekend in a small village in the state of Chiapas, according to the woman’s family.

They identified her as 30-year-old Makala Pendley and said she was brutally murdered. Makala’s sister, Maurica Lambert, said local authorities told her family that Makala was raped and beaten to death.

Lambert said her sister was at least six months pregnant.

“It just still does not feel freaking real,” Lambert said. “It just doesn’t feel real at all.”

“Based on the time of death, she had been at the location where she was found for between 8 and 12 hours,” the local prosecutor said in an online broadcast. “The deceased woman’s death was caused by traumatic brain injury secondary to blunt force trauma.”

The discovery of her body set off a desperate search for her seven children, who were supposed to be with her.

On Tuesday afternoon, Lambert said authorities in Mexico found the children and have arrested their father.

FOX59/CBS4 made attempts to confirm the arrest with the local prosecutor’s office, but our messages were not returned.

“I thought it was somebody else. I still feel like it’s someone else,” Lambert said. “It just never would have crossed my mind that it would have been him. I’ve never gotten like that type of like feeling from him or anything.”

Lambert said her sister fled to Mexico with her children and their father earlier this year. She said her sister was fearful her children would be taken away from her.

According to police reports, Pendley and her children were reported missing to Indianapolis authorities in late February.

IMPD said Mexican officials found the children and took custody of them, but later returned them to Pendley.

“She was a good mom,” Lambert said. “As moms, you know, we have our bad days, you know what I mean? And she was a good mom, though. She put her kids before she put anything.”

Lambert said her nieces and nephews will be returning to Indianapolis along with their mother’s body.