Rape charge filed after missing NW Indiana girl found in Ohio

Two men are being held in Ohio on rape charges after a 14-year-old girl disappeared Friday from northwest Indiana and was found four days later in Cincinnati.

Eric Zyn Ho, 25, is charged with one count of rape; while Bryan Matthew Otero, 27, is charged with one count of complicity to rape, according to the Clermont County sheriff’s office.

The girl had last been seen about 12:55 a.m. Friday in the 1100 block of East Highway 330 in Schererville, Indiana, according to the Lake County sheriff’s office.

Around 12:15 p.m. Tuesday, she was found in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was taken to a local hospital for a checkup, the sheriff’s office announced Tuesday afternoon. She was returned safely to Lake County, Indiana.

Ho and Otero were taken into custody by the FBI at the home in Ohio where she was found, according to the sheriff’s office. A third man, 21-year-old Ian Smith Buti, was taken into federal custody in Derby, Kansas.

Buti allegedly picked up the girl about 11 p.m. April 27 from her home after meeting her in an online chat room, according to the sheriff’s office.

Buti left the girl with with Ho and Otero at the home in Ohio, where she was eventually found, the sheriff’s office said. He then drove back to Kansas, where federal authorities found and arrested him.

Authorities did not say whether the girl was taken against her will.

“This is a complex case and investigators are still gathering information,” a statement from the sheriff’s office said.