Pregnant mother of seven found dead in Mexico

Makala Pendley, pregnant mother of seven, was found dead in Mexico after being reported missing with her children three months earlier. 

Key Takeaways:

• Makala Pendley had been living in Indianapolis with her boyfriend, who was also the father of her children, and she was reported missing in February.

• The family moved to Mexico earlier in the year.

• Pendley's body was found early in June, and her children were found safe.

The Backstory:

Makala Pendley and her seven children were living in Indianapolis with her boyfriend, Joseph Jude Butler Jr., who is also the father of her children. The two had been together off and on since she was 16, and according to family, it had been a “toxic relationship." Pendley and her children had been reported missing by the Metropolitan Police in February.

Her sister, Maurica Lambert, said Pendley, her boyfriend, and their children fled to Mexico at the beginning of the year. Court papers, obtained by Noticieros Televisa, revealed Pendley was assaulted by Butler at a Mérida, Yucatan home in August 2025. Two days later, the children were taken into custody by Mexican authorities, but were later returned to Pendley. 

The Details:

On June 8, the gruesome discovery of Pendley’s body was reported. She had been left on a dirt road, beaten and naked.

“Based on the time of death, she had been at the location where she was found for between 8 and 12 hours,” Chiapas state prosecutor Jorge Luis Llaven Abarca said in a press conference. “The deceased woman’s death was caused by traumatic brain injury secondary to blunt force trauma.”

Pendley was six months pregnant at the time. The prosecutor confirmed that the primary suspect is Pendley’s boyfriend.

In a GoFundMe set up by Pendley's sister, Jennifer Lambert, she said her sibling was found “stabbed, raped, sodomized, naked, with her head bashed in."

Butler was also no stranger to criminality. His arrest records show previous crimes of robbery, fraud, assault, and rape.

Pendley’s children are “safe and in good health.” Authorities are working with the United States Embassy to reunite them with their family.

Jamie Dowdy told WTHR 13 News, “Her laughter, everything about Makala, she was just… whenever you seen her, no matter what she was going through, her eyes lit up. The biggest thing right now in this moment is getting our children back over here where they belong with their family who loves them and is going to raise them.” 

The Bottom Line:

During a Facebook Live briefing, Abarca also made it clear that, if Butler is found guilty, he will advocate for the maximum sentence of 100 years for the charge of femicide.

Femicide is an extremely troubling issue in Mexico, and is defined as the killing of a person based on gender. Evidence of the practice includes sexual violence, body left in public, and prior threats by perpetrator, all of which apply to this harrowing case.