One day after a missing teen and her alleged abductor were found in Hiawatha, 27 News is learning a little more about their relationship.Tara Simhiser was reported missing earlier this week from her hometown of Lehigh in Marion County.
The KBI issued a state-wide amber alert for her Wednesday. Officials believed she had been abducted by Rojelio Hernandez. Hernandez is tied to several police investigations in Junction City, Manhattan and Wichita for entering schools and asking suspicious questions.
The pair was spotted in surveillance video from a liquor store in Topeka Tuesday afternoon. The clerk told 27 News they wanted to use his phone. The clerk also told officers the teen did not seem to be held against her will.
Hernandez showed up at Kizzi Koelliker's home in Hiawatha Tuesday. Koelliker has known Hernandez for about three years, but she said she was surprised to see him. They hadn't seen each other in more than a year, but they kept in contact on Facebook.
Koelliker says Tara Simhiser was with Hernandez then, but everything seemed pretty normal to her and the allegedly kidnapped girl wasn't afraid.
“It didn't look like she was scared. When she was here, she wasn't scared. She might have been nervous, but only because we might have found out about her,” Koelliker told 27 News exclusively.
Koelliker calls Hernandez "Roy." She says Roy told her no one could find out they were at the house because he had broken probation. Roy and Tara stayed at Koelliker’s house Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
Koelliker says Roy and Tara were close, holding hands and kissing. They did keep sending each other private text messages on their cell phones. Hernandez even asked to watch the news one night, but they couldn't find the remote and kept the television off.
“Now it all adds up. Maybe he wanted us to find out so we could turn him in. Maybe he wanted to know if they were on the news because he wanted to know, ‘Do I need to run?’” Koelliker said.
Koelliker says Hernandez is "nice, charming and can put on a good front." She says she feels betrayed, and that she doesn't believe Tara was kidnapped. She thinks the girl went willingly.
Hernandez is still in the Brown County Jail in Hiawatha.
Reporter/Photographer: Jennifer Trammell
