An 18-year-old Arizona man has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder after shooting and killing his 16-year-old pregnant girlfriend — violence that her family says began when she refused his demand to abort their child.
Michael Sanchez killed Rylee Montgomery on Thursday evening in Buckeye, Arizona. He also shot two other young women at the scene, including a 17-year-old who was pregnant. That girl, Abby, was shot in the back and forced to deliver her baby boy at 25 weeks. Both she and the baby are in the ICU.
Rylee’s stepmother Amy Montgomery described the escalation in a GoFundMe and in interviews with local media. Sanchez “started off very sweet and nice” to Rylee, she said, but “once he got her pregnant in February, it was all over.” After demanding she “kill the baby” and being refused, Sanchez began threatening and physically assaulting Rylee — including choking her at the family home. When Rylee broke up with him in March, he pointed a gun at her face and told her she was not allowed to leave.
On the day of the murder, Sanchez sent Rylee a photo of himself with a gun pointed at his head and a text threatening to “get her.” She called police. Three hours later, she was dead. Sanchez drove 20 miles to where Rylee was with friends and opened fire. He was wearing an ankle monitor at the time — the result of a prior charge for fleeing police during a road rage incident while driving to confront Rylee.
Amy said the family contacted police in both Buckeye and Avondale multiple times before the murder. Avondale police said they lacked sufficient evidence to act on Rylee’s report that Sanchez had pointed a firearm at her.
Rylee was 14 weeks pregnant. She did not know she was having a girl. Under Arizona law, the death of her baby is charged as a separate murder count. Sanchez is being held in Maricopa County jail.
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