June 9, 2022
Missouri – Prosecutors have charged two brothers in a kidnapping and statutory rape case involving a teenager from the Ozarks.
Mathew Rear, 19, and his brother, Justin, 20, were charged with kidnapping a 13-year-old girl.
In a statement filed by the Missouri State Highway Patrol on June 1, the child was interviewed at the Children’s Advocacy Center in Springfield.
In the interview, investigators say the child stated that she was “picked up” by the two brothers from her grandparents’ house in Miller on the evening of May 22 and taken to the Rear brothers’ house in Everton.
The following day, two brothers admitted to Trooper Rutledge in an interview that they knew the child didn’t have permission to leave her Grandparents at home.
Investigators say Justin Rear admitted to having “sexual relations” with the child.
When she asked to be taken home, investigators say Matthew Rear “refused to take her home unless she provided him $40 for gas.”
A warrant has been issued for Matthew Rear, while Justin Rear, charged with child kidnapping and first-degree statutory rape, is in custody in the Cedar County Jail.
A judge set his bail at $10,000 under the conditions that he wears a GPS monitor, doesn’t contact the victim or victim’s family, or tries to enter Lawrence County.
A judge set a preliminary hearing on June 15 at 8:30 a.m.
