Investigators found Rubi Perez the morning after she was reported missing, and a 14-year-old boy now faces a first-degree murder charge as the case moves deeper into juvenile court.
GREAT BEND, Kan. — A 14-year-old boy has been charged with first-degree murder after 14-year-old Rubi Perez was reported missing and then found dead the next morning near Veterans Memorial Park in Great Bend, authorities and court records show.
The case has shaken this central Kansas community because it unfolded around a middle school student whose disappearance turned into a homicide investigation in less than a day. Police, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and Barton County authorities moved quickly from a missing-person search to search warrants, interviews and an arrest. The immediate questions now center on what evidence prosecutors will present, what investigators believe happened between Perez’s last confirmed appearance and the discovery of her body, and how the juvenile case will proceed at a detention hearing set for April 21.
The known timeline begins on the evening of April 8, when Great Bend police received a missing-person call at about 8:36 p.m. Officers said Perez had last been seen attending a class at Holy Family School on Broadway Avenue. Police followed up on multiple calls about possible locations but did not find her that night. At 9:10 a.m. on April 9, officers were sent to the 4700 block of 17th Street Terrace after someone reported a juvenile female behind a large dirt pile. Officers found Perez dead there, near Veterans Memorial Park and across from the town cemetery. Investigators then locked down the area, processed the scene, interviewed witnesses and executed search warrants. By later that day, officers had arrested a 14-year-old boy on a requested first-degree murder charge. Authorities have not publicly released the accused boy’s name because he is a juvenile.
Even with the arrest and formal charge, the public record still has important gaps. Police have identified Perez, her age, the place where her body was found and the agencies involved in the investigation, but they have not publicly laid out a full narrative of the hours between her last known class and the discovery of her body. Officials also have not publicly described a motive, disclosed what evidence first led them to the suspect or released a detailed public account of the victim’s injuries. Reports about the case have described a violent killing, but authorities have kept many of the core investigative facts sealed or unstated while the case moves through juvenile court. That means the public still does not know whether prosecutors believe the killing was planned far in advance, what object or objects may have been used, whether digital evidence played a role, or whether other people saw any part of what happened. Those questions will likely shape both the next hearing and the pace of future court filings.
The victim’s identity and place in the community help explain the scale of the reaction in Great Bend, a city of roughly 15,000 people west of Wichita. Perez was an eighth grader at Great Bend Middle School, and local outlets reported that the accused boy also attended school in the same community. In the hours after police announced her death, the school district said it was grieving alongside the community and activated an enhanced counseling response with a crisis team on campus. Her obituary described her as a standout student and athlete who excelled in track, volleyball and basketball. In a small city, those details matter. They place the case not at a distant crime scene but in the daily life of a school, a parish area, a public park and neighborhoods where many families know one another. That closeness has turned the investigation into something larger than a court case, with grief moving through classrooms, church circles and local businesses at the same time.
The legal process has advanced in small but significant steps. Court records summarized by local media show the boy made a first appearance on Monday, April 13. A detention hearing first appearance is now set for 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 21. The Great Bend Tribune reported that an initial detention hearing was conducted by Zoom before 20th District Lay Magistrate Judge Timarie Ann Walters and that the juvenile defendant was later transferred to the Reno County Juvenile Detention Center after first being taken to the Barton County Jail. Prosecutors have described the case as first-degree murder, and local reporting has said the charge is intentional and premeditated first-degree murder. Even so, much of the probable-cause record remains out of public view, which is common in juvenile proceedings. The next hearing could clarify whether the boy remains in detention, what timetable the court expects for future filings and how much more information can be released publicly without compromising the prosecution.
Outside the courthouse, the response has centered on remembrance as much as fear. A candlelight vigil took place April 12 at Veterans Memorial Park, the same public space now linked to the investigation, and more fundraisers have followed. Community notices described raffle efforts, memorial donations and an event planned for April 19 at Heizer Park to help Perez’s family. Her funeral was held April 15 in Great Bend, with relatives asking mourners to wear white. The school district’s statement captured the public mood in restrained terms, saying its focus in the days ahead would be supporting students and staff. Friends and neighbors have filled in the emotion that official statements often leave out. They have remembered Perez as energetic, kind and easy to notice in a crowd, a girl whose death disrupted an ordinary school week and left classmates trying to understand why a normal routine suddenly ended in sirens, police tape and grief counseling. That mixture of formal silence and public mourning is where the case stands now.
As of April 18, the public outline is clear even if the missing details are not: Perez disappeared April 8, officers found her dead April 9, and a 14-year-old boy has since been charged. The next milestone is the April 21 detention hearing, where the court may provide the first fuller sign of how prosecutors intend to move the case forward.
Author note: Last updated April 18, 2026.