A Texas Department of Public Safety special agent recently won a lifesaving award for his efforts in finding a missing Corpus Christi child.
Henry J. Schultz, a special agent in the DPS Criminal Investigation Division, was recognized by the Texas Public Safety Commission and DPS Director Steve McCraw at the April PSC meeting for his investigative work in a case involving a 16-year-old boy who was convicted on June 10 Missing in 2023.
The agent began working on the case two days later.
Through an in-depth analysis that included forensic digital evidence and examination of video surveillance from surrounding businesses near the victim's last location, he uncovered key details that led law enforcement to locate the missing minor on July 25, 2023 in Gainesville , Florida, along with the missing minor found two suspects.
Schultz, who sat down for an interview with the Caller-Times on Wednesday, recounted the countless hours he spent on the case.
“I am very grateful and proud to have received the award, although the extensive efforts that were made were not for recognition but for those of the victim and his family,” he said. “I saw a distraught mother and family, and being a mother of three, I approached it with an attitude and effort as if it were my own child who was missing.”
Schultz started with DPS as a Highway Patrol trooper in 2006 and was promoted to CID in 2013. He said he became involved in the case when he was called in to assist Corpus Christi police.
According to the CID Division's website, special agents in the CID Organized Crime Division, where he works, work with internal and external stakeholders from across the state, as well as international partners. They work together to identify, investigate, disrupt or dismantle drug trafficking, human trafficking and criminal gang organizations.
While Schultz said he has investigated cases involving runaways, drugs, gangs, organized crime and fraud, among others, this was the first time he had handled a missing persons case as an agent.
He attributed his ability to obtain video footage of the minor, the suspect and the suspect's vehicle to the cooperation and understanding of store personnel who were concerned about the missing juvenile and immediately agreed to let him view the videos captured by their surveillance systems.
Digital evidence obtained through a cell phone query and account analysis was also crucial in identifying the perpetrator.
“I worked quickly and dedicated a lot of time, day and night, to follow up on every lead that came in,” he said. “Sometimes I worked late into the night and in the middle of the night. There were a lot of tips coming in from other cities as far away as Laredo, so I had to pull videos from Laredo where people thought they had spotted the teen.”
Family members provided most of the clues, he said. Many more clues were shared by the public and posted and shared on social media.
He said he reviewed video footage from six different locations in Corpus Christi and other cities that provided false evidence of alleged sightings of the teen.
“It was a family effort,” he said. “I got to know every member of the family and built a relationship with them, a rapport and a trust. They saw how dedicated I was and I told them, ‘I’m going to need your help.’ We developed a group chat that was open 24/7.”
Video evidence from businesses surrounding the missing person's most recent location led Schultz to trace the minor's movements to a location where the suspect was seen picking up the minor in an SUV, confirming that he was The case did not involve a kidnapping or kidnapping, the special agent said.
From there, Schultz coordinated with police and checked city traffic cameras to identify the vehicle. However, there were no new clues without a license plate. The missing person's phone was turned off and the direction of travel was unknown, he said.
With the willingness of the victim's mother, the agent was able to obtain an old Wi-Fi cell phone on June 14, 2023 and conduct two extractions that ultimately uncovered the crucial information in the case a month later – the IP address leading to the suspect in Florida leads.
Florida law enforcement was unaware of the case when DPS contacted them on July 25, 2023 to obtain a search warrant, Schultz said.
But by compiling evidence on the case and working with colleagues and agents with whom he had developed relationships while patrolling the border as part of Operation Lone Star, he was able to obtain a search warrant in Florida and have it executed within five to seven hours.
On July 25, 2023, officers from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Alachua County Sheriff's Office, investigating the reported disappearance of the Texas child, executed a search warrant at the suspect's home in Alachua County, Florida, according to a release dated July 2. April 1, 2024, press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Florida.
According to the report, the child was rescued and two suspects, 40-year-old Timothy Frederick Murphy-Johnson of Gainesville and 21-year-old Olivia Henn of Orlando, were arrested.
Murphy-Johnson faces 15 years to life in prison and five years to life on supervised release. Henn faces a sentence of 15 to 90 years in prison and five years to life if released on supervised release.
They each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce child pornography and two counts of producing child pornography. Murphy-Johnson also pleaded guilty to transporting the child from Texas to Florida for the purpose of sexual abuse. The two will be sentenced at 11:30 a.m. June 25 at the U.S. Courthouse in Gainesville.
Schultz said he flew to Florida after executing the search warrant and spent six days working with all agencies involved, including the Department of Homeland Security in Florida, the Texas DPS and Homeland Security Investigations in Gainesville. He appreciates the coordinated efforts of all law enforcement agencies.
Looking back on the investigation, Schultz said the most difficult problems to overcome were the lack of leads to help move forward and the delay in obtaining needed account information while waiting for nearly 50 subpoenas analytical work-up would have to be carried out as soon as the evidence emerged through digital extraction.
He said he knew he would eventually find the victim and he was in close contact with the victim's family.
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