A Guadalupe County juvenile who vanished from her home southeast of New Braunfels in late July has been found safe more than three hours away near Dallas, and an 18-year-old Forney man is now behind bars accused of sexually assaulting her and hiding her from authorities. Blake D. Teal was booked into the Kaufman County Adult Detention Center after investigators say he was the adult the missing teen had met online before she disappeared.
The girl was reported as a missing runaway from the 100 block of Hancock Lane, southeast of New Braunfels, on July 22, according to KENS5. Her family told investigators she had recently met an adult male online, a detail that set the Guadalupe County Sheriff's Office on a monthslong digital trail stretching hundreds of miles from home. Investigators eventually identified Teal as that man and gathered arrest warrants against him for alleged sexual assault of a child and harboring a runaway, according to the sheriff's office.
Investigators located the teen safe in Kaufman County, more than three hours from Guadalupe County, and she has since been returned to her family. Teal was arrested after she was found, per GCSO, and was awaiting a return to Guadalupe County to face the charges. The sheriff's office says its investigation remains ongoing.
Digital Trail Led Deputies From New Braunfels to a Pawn Shop
The case moved forward largely through the same investigative playbook Guadalupe County deputies have leaned on in other recent cases: subpoenas and search warrants targeting social media accounts. Investigators obtained subpoenas and search warrants for accounts connected to the juvenile, then followed up with additional warrants for social media data as the case developed. That digital work is handled through the sheriff's office's Internet Crimes Against Children unit, which the department has used to execute similar warrants and process tips forwarded by national clearinghouses in other cases, including a recent Barnes Drive ICAC raid that landed a Seguin man in jail.
Surveillance video reviewed by investigators showed the teen and Teal together at a pawn shop in New Braunfels several days after she was reported missing, GCSO said. That footage helped establish the timeline connecting the two before the trail eventually led investigators to Kaufman County, near Dallas.
Sheriff Points to Broader Pattern of Online Predators
Guadalupe County Sheriff Joshua Ray called the case a sobering reminder of the dangers children can face online, and said predators who exploit and prey on children will be found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Ray, a former Texas Ranger special agent who took office in January 2025, has made cracking down on child sexual exploitation and juvenile fugitives a central focus of his administration, a priority visible in cases like the fugitive apprehension his office announced last November.
The alleged conduct puts Teal in serious legal jeopardy on both counts he faces. Under Texas Penal Code § 22.011, sexual assault of a child is a second-degree felony carrying two to 20 years in state prison, a fine of up to $10,000, and mandatory sex offender registration, since consent is legally invalid for minors under 17 in Texas regardless of the circumstances. The harboring charge, under Texas Penal Code § 25.06, is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine for any adult who knowingly shelters a minor without notifying law enforcement or parents within 24 hours — a law that applies even to adults who claim good intentions. The teen herself faces no criminal liability for having run away, since Texas Family Code § 51.03 classifies running away as a status offense rather than a crime, meaning minors cannot be placed in secure juvenile detention solely for leaving home.
A Statewide Surge in Online Enticement Cases
The speed of the sheriff's office response also reflects a newer statutory mandate. Texas House Bill 908, effective September 2025, requires law enforcement agencies to immediately begin investigating missing child reports without any waiting period and enter identifying data into national databases within two hours — a shift Hoodline detailed in its coverage of the ongoing search for Dripping Springs teen Eleanor Holman.
Cases like Teal's arrest are unfolding against a sharp national rise in digital enticement leads. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children received more than 1.4 million CyberTipline reports of online enticement in 2025, a 158 percent increase from 2024, including over 800 reports where an online offender traveled in person to meet a child. The organization's data also shows endangered runaways make up more than 90 percent of missing children reports it handles, with roughly one in six estimated to fall victim to sex trafficking or online enticement.
Guadalupe County's rapid growth has only added to the workload facing local investigators. The county's population has climbed toward 200,000 residents along the booming I-35 corridor between San Antonio and Austin, pushing monthly sheriff's office service calls up by more than 1,100 and straining criminal investigators tasked with untangling cases that increasingly cross county lines. Multi-agency efforts such as the spring 2026 Operation Soteria Shield, led by FBI Dallas and Texas ICAC task forces, resulted in 276 arrests and the rescue of 89 victimized children statewide, underscoring how frequently these investigations now require cooperation across jurisdictions.
Teal remains in the Kaufman County Adult Detention Center awaiting extradition to Guadalupe County, where he is expected to face formal charges. The sheriff's office says its investigation is continuing, and further search warrants tied to digital devices could still emerge as the case moves forward.
