‘I just want to know what happened’: Friend of Morgan Bauer says of arrested suspects

PORTERDALE, Ga. — Loved ones are reacting to two arrests over the weekend that have shifted a missing person case to a murder case in Newton County.

“It’s a big shock,” said Paxton Gilbert.

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Gilbert said her friend, Morgan Bauer, 19, disappeared in 2016. She had just moved to Atlanta weeks earlier from South Dakota.

Her phone last pinged in Porterdale, and for seven years, loved ones had been searching for her until this past weekend.

Saturday, Porterdale Police Department announced the arrest of two people states away. Jonathan Warren was booked into a Los Angeles jail, accused of murdering Bauer.

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Katelyn Goble was booked into a Peoria, Ill. jail, accused of helping him cover it up.

“They were the last two people to be seen with Morgan,” said Gilbert. “I just want to know what happened; you know? They told investigators, they even told her mom, they dropped her off at a gas station, and that’s the last they saw of her.”

Gilbert said she started fearing the missing person case may pivot to a homicide less than two weeks ago.

That’s when detectives said they discovered new clues at a home on Broad St. in Porterdale. Although, police have not revealed what the evidence was or how it connects to the arrests.

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