Tragic Discovery: 14-Year-Old Girl Found Deceased Behind Dirt Pile Spurs Investigation

A 14-year-old boy from Kansas has been arrested following the discovery of a missing teenage girl’s body, brutally beaten to death and hidden behind a mound of dirt.

Barton County Attorney J. Colin Reynolds revealed on Thursday that the boy, whose identity remains confidential, faces first-degree murder charges in connection with the tragic death of 14-year-old Rubi Perez.

Rubi was last seen on the evening of April 8 after attending a class at Holy Family School in Great Bend, a small town situated about 100 miles northwest of Wichita. Her body was tragically uncovered the following morning in Veterans Memorial Park, which lies across from the town cemetery and near the Holy Family Catholic Parish Center.

The Great Bend Police Department detailed the grim discovery in a press release, stating, “Great Bend Police Officers responded to the 4700 block of 17th Street Terrace in Great Bend in reference to a juvenile female located behind a large dirt pile. The juvenile female was determined to be deceased.”

Rubi, an eighth grader at Great Bend Middle School, was a classmate of her alleged killer. The school is located less than a mile from both the park and the Catholic complex.

The events have led to an outpouring of mourning, remembrance, and speculation among the middle school’s student body, according to a report by Wichita-based ABC affiliate KAKE.

“This morning, I thought it was okay, yesterday felt off,” one of Rubi’s friends told the TV station. “It just seemed a little different. You know, something told me after school to go tell her bye. I didn’t listen to it. I just thought she’d be okay this morning. Then I get to school, everyone’s sad. I’m like, ‘Where’s Rubi? Oh, maybe she was at breakfast.’ Then I found out she’s missing.”

Police were alerted just after 8:30 p.m. on the night in question; Rubi’s body was found around 9:10 a.m. the next morning.

Investigators were hard to miss as the girl’s remains were uncovered amid the massive mound of dirt, which appears to be the byproduct of some construction project.

“I noticed off in the distance there was a big pile of dirt over there there was some people standing on top of that dirt,” a Great Bend resident told KAKE, while gesturing near the cemetery. “We were around the railroad tracks in the area and they had it blocked off at this entrance over here and blocks over there with some barricades and there was actually a lot of cops, maybe 10 or 15 or so.”

News of the grim discovery quickly spread at the middle school.

“We get the teacher, she’s on her phone, and then she’s like, ‘They found her,’” the slain girl’s friend continued. “I about ran out of the classroom to go to the other girls, you know? Well, she just said, ‘Wait, come here.’ And then she sat me down and said they didn’t find her alive.”

Rubi’s obituary remembers her fondly:

She was a standout student among her peers and teachers, always spreading positivity to anyone she came across. She was an exceptional athlete that excelled at track, volleyball, and basketball. Rubi loved to do make up and enhance her already stunning natural beauty. Her legacy will live on in her sweet demeanor, smile, zest for life, and offering kindness always.

Law enforcement has yet to release her official cause of death, but in the absence of formal announcements, the victim’s loved ones have filled in some of the blanks about the crime.

The earlier-quoted friend told KAKE she heard from a mother who knows Rubi’s mother and that the girl died from blunt force trauma to the head caused by a cinder block.

In the aftermath of the killing, police surveyed the crime scene, conducted interviews, and executed several search warrants. The alleged killer was arrested later that same afternoon, police said. He is currently being detained in the Barton County Detention Center.

A detention hearing for the defendant is slated for April 21.

No motive for the murder has been floated as of this writing.