An Austin man has been arrested, accused of being involved in two murders on October 14 and kidnapping three children reported missing by an AMBER Alert, according to the city of Austin press release.

Sherles Gregorio Machado-Hernandez, 31, was arrested by Austin police and charged with the murder of an unnamed man and woman who were found dead in a vehicle .

An AMBER Alert for the deceased woman’s three children, Ninel Anseume Sayas, 10, Abraham Anseume, 4, and Elsi Anseume, 2, was issued by authorities following their disappearance.

Before their disappearance, the children were last seen on October 13 and Machado-Hernandez was named as a suspect.

The children were found safe hours later on October 14, and no weapons were recovered.

News week contacted the Austin Police Department for comment via a form on their website outside of office hours.

The deceased man and woman, who have not been named, had apparent gunshot wounds when they were discovered by police.

At an afternoon press briefing near the crime scene, police Corporal Jose Mendez said the victims were in their early 20s and “had been there for some time,” according to the Austin-American statesman.

Following his arrest, Machado-Hernandez was booked into the Travis County Jail. Any relationship to the two victims and three children is unknown.

According to the city of Austin’s open data portal, 40 murders were reported this year and 51 the year before.

In Texas last year, of the 48,008 missing persons reports, 35,181 of them were for missing children, according to the Texas Center for the Missing.

The 2022 AMBER Alert Report reveals that 17% of all AMBER Alerts issued in the United States originated in Texas.

The number of AMBER Alerts issued in Texas increased last year to 26% of all those issued nationally, followed by North Carolina at 9%, according to the 2023 AMBER Alert report.

Last year’s report also found that women were abducted more often than men, between 56 and 44 percent, and that children under five accounted for 55 percent of AMBER Alerts issued in 2023.

The report also found that children were most often abducted by their own father, a stranger or their mother, and that the most common reason for abduction was related to custody in terms of domestic issues.

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