Teen Missing After Dating App Meetup Found Stabbed 27 Times in Apartment

An Arizona teenager who vanished after allegedly meeting someone she connected with on a dating app has been found dead, ending a desperate search with a devastating discovery.

Yessenia “Sisi” Norman, 18, was reported missing on January 19 after she failed to return to the transitional living facility where she had been staying. Friends told investigators she left days earlier, on January 15, to meet a man she had met through a dating app.

Nearly two weeks later, on January 28, police located Norman’s body inside an apartment in Tolleson, Arizona. According to the Tolleson Police Department, she had been stabbed 27 times.

“It is with profound sadness that we share the heartbreaking loss of Yessenia ‘Sisi’ Norman, a beautiful and bright 18-year-old daughter,” wrote Kathryn Gasaway in a GoFundMe created to help cover funeral expenses. “After two weeks of searching, her remains were tragically found. The circumstances surrounding her death are currently under investigation.”

Investigators identified 27-year-old Randal Santillan as a key suspect. Police say he was a tenant at the apartment where Norman’s body was discovered. Santillan had previously lived there with his ex-wife, who reportedly moved out in December.

Cell phone data placed both Santillan and Norman in the same area on the night she disappeared, according to local reports.

After Norman’s death, Santillan allegedly fled Arizona in his vehicle. Authorities tracked his movements across several states, including Illinois, New Mexico, Texas, and Missouri, before he was finally located in Mississippi.

Around 7 a.m. on Friday, February 6, Santillan was arrested in Biloxi. He has been charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping and is currently being held at the Harrison County Adult Detention Center while awaiting extradition back to Arizona.

Norman had been living in a facility contracted with the Arizona Department of Child Safety, though officials have not said how long she had been there before her disappearance.

Her mother, Jessica Nuñez, struggled to process the loss.

“I can’t imagine,” she told Fox 10 Phoenix. “I just can’t imagine who would do that to her. I don’t understand.”