A 26-year-old woman was found dead inside a Wooster Road West home after officers went there while trying to locate a missing person.
BARBERTON, Ohio — A missing person investigation led Barberton police to a home where officers found a 26-year-old woman dead, turning an effort to locate a missing individual into a homicide investigation that brought in state investigators and ultimately produced a murder charge.
Police said a missing person report was made Friday, Sept. 4, and officers responded to a residence in the 1500 block of Wooster Road West as they tried to locate the person. Police and emergency medical crews were also sent to the address at about 11:25 p.m. for a report of a suspicious death.
Inside the home, first responders found a 26-year-old woman with multiple stab wounds. The Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office said she was pronounced dead at the scene early Saturday. Officials withheld her name while completing positive identification and notifying her family.
Barberton police said officers spoke with other residents at the home and found evidence and information that caused the investigation to expand. Detectives were called to the scene, and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation joined the case. The medical examiner’s office also responded as authorities worked through the overnight scene.
Police have said the woman found inside the home was believed to be the person officers had been trying to locate. Authorities have not publicly provided details about when she was last seen, who reported her missing or what information first led officers to the Wooster Road West address. Those gaps remain part of the developing investigation.
The case moved rapidly after investigators gathered information at the residence. Barberton police later identified Marcos Antonio Huerta-Garcia, 35, as a suspect and charged him with murder. Police said Huerta-Garcia, who is from Zapotitlán Tablas in the Mexican state of Guerrero, had been living and working in the United States and was residing at the same Wooster Road West home as the woman.
Investigators said assistance from other law enforcement agencies and automated license plate reader technology helped authorities locate Huerta-Garcia as he traveled toward Mexico. The Arizona Department of Public Safety arrested him near Interstate 8 in Yuma County, Arizona, according to Barberton police. He was booked into the Yuma County Jail to await extradition to Ohio.
Police have not publicly described what evidence led them to charge Huerta-Garcia, nor have they announced a motive. They also have not released a detailed timeline of the woman’s movements before she was reported missing or the events inside the home before officers arrived. The charge against Huerta-Garcia remains an allegation and does not establish guilt.
The Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office is expected to determine the official cause and manner of death. Barberton police and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation continued working on the homicide case while the woman’s identity remained withheld and Huerta-Garcia awaited extradition from Arizona.
Author note: Last updated September 6, 2026.