Account
Jan 24, 2026
Jan 24, 2026
Sean
Ty Ferel
65
65
5'10 inches
White
Male
Ferel was last seen in Palm Springs, California on May 7, 2016. He has never been heard from again. In November 2017, Justin Todd Rey was charged with his murder. By this time, he had already been in jail for a month; police had found him and his newborn baby and two-year-old child living in a storage unit in Lenexa, Kansas, which also contained his wife's dismembered remains. He said she died in childbirth in a Kansas City, Missouri hotel, then changed his story and said her death was a suicide. He said he dismembered the body because he didn't want the authorities to "steal more children"; he said he and his wife had six children altogether and that the police had "stolen our children before". He planned to take her remains to a Native American reservation in Arizona and burn them at a religious ceremony. Rey was initially charged in Kansas with aggravated child endangerment, contributing to a child's misconduct, and sexual exploitation of a child, as well in Missouri as abandonment of a corpse, but he hasn't been charged in his wife's death because the coroner wasn't able to determine how she had died. He was later also charged with sexual exploitation of a child after incriminating images were found on his phone. He has been convicted of the Kansas charges and has yet to stand trial for the Missouri or California charges. A photo of Rey is posted with this case summary. Ferel disappeared after going on vacation with him. Not long after, several thousand dollars in charges were made to Ferel's cards, and his loved ones got text messages from his number that they don't believe were actually written by him. Investigators think Rey assumed his identity; an acquaintance said Rey bragged he regularly stole property from "old dead guys" and used their credit and debit cards. In August 2016, after a car accident near Los Angeles, California, Rey was found driving Ferel's car. Ferel's blood was in the trunk, along with his driver's license, cellular phone and credit cards. Rey said he dropped Ferel off at a home in Menifee, California, but residents of the property said they had never met Ferel. More of Ferel's belongings were found inside a Kingman, Arizona storage unit Rey was renting, and surveillance footage from various businesses showed Rey using his credit cards. Rey is awaiting trial for Ferel's murder. He told an Associated Press reporter a story that resembled the one about his dead wife: that Ferel had died of natural causes and Rey had burned his body in Arizona at a religious ceremony. Ferel's body has not been found, but foul play is suspected in his case due to the circumstances involved.
May 07, 2016
Palm Springs
California
Palm Springs
3
Palm Springs Police Departmen
760-323-8116
01/25/2026
