Missing mom of 3 found dead; father of her kids arrested with other family members

Ana Carrillo worked hard in a Wyoming, Michigan factory to provide for her family. Yet whatever her kids asked her to do, she did.

So when she didn't bother to pick them up on Sunday, September 3, Ana's mom "Birdie" was immediately worried. It all started with a knock at the door. It's Andrew Hudson, the father of Ana's three kids. They'd dated on and off since they were teenagers. But over the summer Ana left Andrew and moved in with a friend.

"I hadn't seen or talked to him since December and then he shows up at my apartment with his mom?" said Birdie Carrillo. "He said, 'Yeah, Ana was supposed to come pick up the kids and she never showed up.' And I'm like 'What do you mean she didn't show up?'"

Andrew claims after he and Ana got into a big fight on the phone, she was supposed to come pick up the kids. It was just before 8 o'clock that morning when Ana's roommate Connie says she asked to borrow the car.

"She said 'I'll be 20 minutes,' I said 'OK Cookie, 20 minutes, I'm counting,' she said OK, she never came back," said Connie.

It was now 3 in the afternoon.

"After they left I right away try to call Ana and the phone rang about four times and then it went busy," said Birdie.

Birdie and her partner Christy Tanis headed out to search for Ana while Andrew made a few more surprise visits.

"My daughter called and said Andy was at our house," said Ana's friend Amber Boulanger. "I was just shocked. We don't really have a relationship with him."

Amber Boulanger's kids always had play dates with Ana and Andy's children. Amber was shocked to now learn Ana was missing. She says Andrew seemed worried as well.

"He was so antsy like his hands shook the whole time," said Amber. "He was just asking questions like, 'Well, do you think that she may be got into some hard-core drugs?' and I'm like 'There's no way.'"

After about an hour Andy left, he then tracked down Ana's sister Melinda by phone. Melinda's mom had just told her the news. But Melinda was sure Ana would turn up.

Then that Sunday evening, a break in the search: Police use OnStar to locate the car Ana had been driving. Where was the car?

"Right around the corner from where Andrew lives, parked at a church parking lot," said Birdie. "It wasn't good."

"The fact that when we opened the driver's side door, the seat was pushed all the way back," said Melinda Gomez. "My sister's my height. There is no way she would drive like that."

When police finished searching the red Chevy, they head around the corner to Andrew's house on Colby Avenue, and so does Ana's family.

"It didn't go well, my cousins and everybody else was yelling at him, just like, 'What did you do with her, just tell us where she's at,' and he was like 'I didn't do nothing," said Melinda.

She says Andy blamed Ana's roommate Connie.

"And then them two are yelling back and forth, so the cops made us leave," said Melinda.

But what cops are about to discover beneath the family shouting, would lead to not one, but several shocking arrests.

"She's only one person and it took all of you?" said Ana.

The day Ana Carrillo didn't show up to get her three kids, her family instantly knew something was terribly wrong.

"That would never happen. She would never not come and get her kids," said Ana's friend Amber Boulanger.

Day one of the search for Ana led cops to her abandoned car and to a person with a motive and enough passion to want her gone.

"He said 'Well I hired a detective.' And I said 'You hired a detective? For what?'" said Christy Tanis.

According to Ana's family, the father of her three kids recently told them he'd hired a private investigator to keep tabs on her. They say Andrew Hudson was angry that Ana moved out of their house over the summer and was now living with her friend Connie.

"Andy had called and was like 'Your sister's in trouble, CPS is about to take the kids from her,'" said Melinda Gomez. "'I hired a private investigator, and you wouldn't imagine the stuff that he found out about her. Just know that your sister and Connie, they are in a relationship.'"

Melinda Gomez says he even claimed to have pictures to prove it, but he wouldn't show them to her.

"It was never confirmed if he hired a private investigator," said Melinda.

Ana's mom Birdie Carrillo says her daughter didn't leave for another lover. She had another very good reason to want out.

"He was abusing her all the time, but she was telling the kids not to let us know," said Birdie.

But everyone knew Andy had been convicted twice for beating Ana, including once when she was pregnant with their third child. Melinda believes her sister put up with the abuse because of the couple's kids.

Was she afraid that he would attempt to take the kids from her?

"Yes, he threatened her all the time," said Melinda.

So on that September morning when he told Ana to come pick up the kids at his place, she rushed right over. About 12 hours later, while everyone was looking for Ana, cops rushed to the home on Colby Avenue and immediately spot something suspicious: a fire burning in the back yard.

Andy told cops he was burning yard waste. But when the fire was extinguished, there were numerous items, button, clasps, zippers, a lot of different clothing, metal material.

A closer look at the buttons revealed the brand name Aeropostale. Cops immediately obtained a search warrant for the house. Once inside they found more damning evidence.

Detectives say blood evidence linked to Ana was found throughout Andy's basement. It was also found in the kitchen and on a bathtub. And in his truck there were signs someone tried cleaning it up.

Even without a body, just five days after Ana vanished, Andrew Hudson was arrested and charged in Ana's murder. But he's not going to jail alone. In a stunning twist, Andrew's own father is also arrested. Lyle Hudson is charged with perjury for reportedly lying to detectives about a trail camera and images it may have captured. The felony charge could send Lyle to prison for life.

One month later, Andy's mother Nancy DeCamp is also arrested, along with his father's common-law-wife Angela Wilson, are both charged with perjury for reportedly lying to detectives when questioned about Ana's murder. Angela faced a second charge for allegedly erasing her cellphone after learning she'd have to turn it over to investigators.

With four members of his family now facing charges in connection with Ana's murder, we tried talking to Andrew's brother about the case. But Jamie Hudson made it clear he wasn't interested in talking to us.

But at his brother's preliminary hearing, Jamie did talk. And even though he asked for cameras not show his face, he dropped a courtroom bombshell, telling the court that four days after Ana vanished, he called for a family meeting and asked Andrew if he knew what happened to Ana.

"He made some statement along the lines of 'If they find the body, I'm [----],'" Jamie Hudson said in court.

Jamie's wife, who didn't want her face shown either, says her husband was in shock.

The courtroom was packed again for day two of the preliminary hearing, but within minutes it was over. The judge ordered Andrew Hudson to stand trial for Ana's murder. Then minutes later outside court came a stunning announcement from police.

"We've received some additional information that we've acted on and now we believe that we've recovered the remains of Ana," said Wyoming Police Chief James Carmody.

Cops won't say where Ana was found or what ultimately led them to her body. An autopsy will help investigators determine exactly how she was killed.

Melinda has custody of her sister's three kids who are suddenly without both their parents.

Everyone charged in connection with Ana Carrillo's death has pleaded not guilty.