EDITOR’S NOTE: WHTC asked one of Melissa Yates daughters to confirm that Ms. Yates attended Holland High: She did not. She attended high school in Mississippi.
HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — The Holland Township residents whose apartment was searched by police in SWAT gear say they are being unfairly targeted.
Edna Montelongo, 41, had just left home with her teenaged son to pick up a pizza and planned to return home and watch football on TV. Instead, they returned to chaos, their home being searched by police for the suspect in the hit-and-run death of Melissa Yates.
Police have been looking for the suspected driver, Holland resident Sebastian Abel Villarreal, 22, since Yates died one week ago, hours after being pushed to the ground and run over by a Dodge Charger in the parking lot of the One Stop, just a few blocks from Montelongo’s apartment
Ottawa County Sheriff’s Capt. Mark Bennett said Villarreal is considered dangerous. Several sources told WHTC he may be in a gang. Bennett said the incident in which Yates was killed is not considered gang-related.
Montelongo said he was not at her home. She said it’s the second time police have burst into her apartment, the last time being in the wake of the fatal shooting of 14-year-old T.J. Wells in February. She said in that search, police said they were looking for two women who may have had a connection to that case, but found no one.
Bennett said police have received a considerable number of tips, in March related ot the Wells case, and again after Yates’ death, indicating Villarreal had been at the apartment.
On Sunday night, Montelongo said, she and her 14-year-old son were held outside their home and questioned by police. Her roommate, Evelyn Medina, had been taken outside of the apartment and questioned, as well as a visiting friend, who’d planned to watch football with them.
Montelongo said she began screaming at police, angry that Medina, who has had back surgery and is disabled, was on the ground. Montelongo said Medina only recently got out of the hospital.
Medina said Sunday’s search started with a knock at the apartment door, but before she could answer, police burst in, guns drawn. She said they demanded to know where Villereal was. Medina said she knows who Villereal is, but hasn’t seen him in three weeks. She said she heard he wasn’t even in Michigan, but acknowleged that could be a rumor.
Bennett said in cases where police are searching for someone considered dangerous, as was the case with Villarreal, it is standard practice to enter a room or building with guns drawn.
The women told WHTC they feel targeted by rumors, and that this year’s two police searches of their home makes them want to move. And they said they were friends with Missy Yates, and would not help or harbor the person believed responsible for Yates’ death.
Montelongo said she and Medina are just trying to pay their bills, while keeping her son from getting into more trouble. He is on probation for assisting a shoplifting, Montelongo said, and is now on a 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew. She says she doesn’t want anyone in her apartment who might jeopardize her son’s probation. She is fierce about keeping him in check, after her older son went to prison on a 2017 home invasion and weapons conviction. She said a video circulated showing her younger son with Villarreal is more than a year old.
No one was charged or ticketed Sunday evening, just questioned and released. Medina said she tried explaining to neighbors that they weren’t doing anything wrong.
Bennett said he has two messages for anyone may be helping Villarreal avoid capture.
“If you’re harboring him, you’re going to be held accountable, and you’re going to be criminally charged,” he said. “Second, if you have any information as to where he’s at, we would welcome a call to Silent Observer, so he can be taken off the streets and held accountable.”
The women say they don’t want trouble. After Sunday’s search left their apartment in disarray, they’d like to move, but can’t afford to do that. They have appealed to Good Samaritan Ministries for help in finding a new place to live, under HUD rules, Montelongo said. (Listen to their complete interview.)
“What do you do about false accusations? You know?” Medina said. “You have your world turned upside down over false accusations.”
Montelongo added, “The peace is gone … Who fixes the medical bills? Who fixes the anxiety of us living here? … I don’t understand, of 14 other apartments, this could happen two times.”
Montelongo said she’s lived there for nearly 15 years and feels endangered — yet she is the one who typically calls police when a fight or other disturbance breaks out. She said she doesn’t know how to regain her sense of peace and trust.
Anyone with any information on Sebastian Abel Villareal’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office directly, at (616) 738-4000, or Silent Observer at: 1-877-88-SILENT or visit mosotips.com to share anonymous information.
