Baby Sofia suspect a no-show in earlier kidnapping case

The woman now charged in the killing of a Wichita mother and the kidnapping of her newborn baby was a fugitive at the time of the crimes, records show.

When Yesenia Sesmas failed to appear in a Sedgwick County court in August after bonding out of jail in another kidnapping case, authorities trying to find her discovered she had moved to Dallas, Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter said Tuesday.

Sesmas, 34, eluded capture until authorities arrested her during a raid of a home in Dallas early Saturday. Inside the Dallas home, SWAT officers found a healthy baby Sofia Gonzales. The raid occurred less than two days after the baby’s mother was found fatally shot and the baby was missing.

On Tuesday, Sedgwick County prosecutors filed charges against Sesmas in the killing of 27-year-old Laura Abarca-Nogueda and the kidnapping of her 6-day-old daughter, Sofia. They lived in an apartment near Maple and Ridge.

Also, new information emerged Tuesday about how Sesmas became a fugitive this past summer.

On July 25, Sesmas was booked into the Sedgwick County Jail in another case on suspicion of aggravated battery and aggravated kidnapping, records show. The alleged victims were an eight-months-pregnant Wichita mother and her two young daughters, that mother said in an interview Monday.

At the time of her arrest in that case, Sesmas had no previous serious criminal record in Sedgwick County, records show.

Her bond was set at $50,000. On July 26, the day after her arrest, she was released on bond, jail records show.

She faced an Aug. 9 court appearance, records show. But she didn’t show up.

On Tuesday, Easter provided details about what happened after Sesmas didn’t appear in court on Aug. 9.

Her bond was raised to $200,000, and between Aug. 12 and Aug. 24, sheriff’s officers tried three times to find her. No one was home at her last known address on South Elizabeth. The sheriff’s office found out that she had moved to Dallas and faxed to Dallas police a warrant for Sesmas’ arrest and requested their help in finding her.

“Folks are fugitives for a reason,” Easter said. “And they try not to get caught, so it makes it difficult to find them. That happens every day in Sedgwick County.”

Earlier Tuesday, prosecutors said they had filed charges against Sesmas in Sedgwick County District Court.

The state will now notify authorities in Texas, where she is in custody, of its intent to pursue extradition of Sesmas. The extradition process is likely to take up to three months, the district attorney’s office said.

After Sesmas is brought to the Sedgwick County Jail, a first court appearance will be held on the charges just filed, the office said. At that point, a document listing the charges will become available to the media.

In a television interview in Spanish, Sesmas told KUVN-TV of Dallas-Fort Worth on Monday that Abarca-Nogueda had agreed to turn over her newborn daughter to her but backed out of the deal at the last moment. Sesmas said she shot Abarca-Nogueda by accident.

Wichita police said Sesmas faked being pregnant for months and had been a longtime acquaintance of Abarca-Nogueda’s.

This story was originally published November 22, 2016 at 3:40 PM with the headline "Baby Sofia suspect a no-show in earlier kidnapping case."