Austin Tylor Birtel Charged With Child Solicitation and Kidnapping After Missing Child Found in Michigan Hotel

 

Austin Tylor Birtel Accused of Kidnapping a Missing Child and Taking Her Across State Lines

On October 12, 2026, Austin Tylor Birtel, 27, of Port Huron, Michigan, was booked into an Indiana jail on felony charges involving the disappearance of a child.

The case began on September 13, when a child was reported missing from her home in Kosciusko County, Indiana, after running away around 1 a.m.

Investigators discovered an iPad the child had used to communicate with Birtel.

Messages reportedly contained screenshots of Greyhound bus tickets from South Bend, Indiana, to Cleveland, Ohio.

Authorities eventually located the missing child inside a hotel room with Birtel in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

By the time investigators found her, the child's hair had reportedly been dyed from blonde to black.

Birtel was initially held in the Kalamazoo County Jail before being extradited to Indiana.

He now faces Level 4 felony child solicitation and Level 5 felony kidnapping charges.

His preliminary bond was set at $70,500.

The charges remain pending, and Birtel has not been convicted.

A child disappeared from home. Investigators found messages arranging interstate travel. When authorities finally located her, she was in a hotel room with a 27-year-old man, and her appearance had reportedly been changed.

Children who run away are still children. Their vulnerability should never become somebody else's fucking opportunity.