Jacob Block pleaded guilty to accessory to abandonment of a corpse and accessory to tampering with evidence in connection with Abbi Schaeffer’s May 2022 disappearance.

Abbi Schaeffer was captured in a haunting image entering a Kansas City home. According to police, she was never seen again.

Now, after Schaeffer’s remains were found inside a large box discarded along a roadway, Jacob Block has pleaded guilty to one count of accessory abandonment of a corpse and one count of accessory tampering with physical evidence, according to court records obtained by Oxygen.com.

Investigators believe that Block and his co-defendant Eunice Carlo-Martinez allegedly gave Schaeffer fentanyl and she died from an overdose before they disposed of the body, according to a statement from Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson.

A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office told Oxygen.com that Carlo-Martinez remains at large.

What Happened to Abbi Schaeffer?

The investigation began May 30, 2022 when Schaeffer was reported missing by her family, according to a statement of probable cause provided to Oxygen.com. The 22-year-old was seen in Ring surveillance footage leaving the family’s Clay County, Missouri home on May 23 with her cat and getting into a grey BMW.

Using her Life360 app, the family tracked her to a Jackson County home, but police were unable to find anyone there. A neighbor told authorities, per the court records, that the homeowner drove a dark-colored BMW and had been seen with a U-Haul truck parked at the property over the weekend. Detectives linked Block to the grey BMW and put out a request to locate him.

He was located on June 2, per the court records, though Block allegedly claimed that he didn’t know Schaeffer. Then, he admitted to knowing someone with the same first name, but denied that she’d left with him in his car, according to the probable cause statement.

However, using home surveillance footage, detectives confirmed that Block and Schaeffer did enter a home together at 11:09 p.m. on May 23—the last day she was seen alive—but she never exited the property again, per the court records.

Abbi Schaeffer captured in camera footage entering home before she disappeared.

Photo: Kansas City Missouri Police Department

Abbi Schaeffer’s Remains Are Discovered in Box Along Roadway

Kansas City Police released a haunting image captured of Schaeffer before she disappeared.

“Over the next few days, the defendant and codefendant are captured on video surveillance exiting and entering the residence several times,” prosecutors said in the statement announcing Block’s arrest. “Camera footage shows the codefendant moving mop buckets and deactivating and then reactivating one of the cameras.”

The two were also allegedly seen on the camera footage on May 26 “loading a U-Haul with a large black box-like object,” prosectors said, “and then leaving the residence.”

Schaeffer’s cat was also found abandoned near the residence on June 6 and brought to an Animal Control center, per the court records, which verified its identity through a chip reader.

For months, Schaeffer’s whereabouts remained unknown until skeletal remains were discovered April 1, 2023 in a “broken box in a ditch off a roadway,” per the statement from prosecutors.

“The box looked like the same size and color the defendant was seen loading into the U-Haul truck,” prosecutors said. “Detectives conducted a search of the defendant and codefendant’s cell phones and found photos and videos in the residence of the wooden box, which appeared to be the same one found at the crime scene.”

Abbi Schaeffer

Photo: Kansas City Missouri Police Department

The crime lab later confirmed that the box was the same one seen in the photos, authorities said.

“Detectives also conducted searches of the defendant and codefendant’s Facebook accounts,” prosecutors said, “which revealed messages indicating they gave the victim Fentanyl, and she suffered an overdose.”

Schaeffer’s cause of death could not be determined due to the level of decomposition, however, prosecutors said her brain tissue contained “fentanyl metabolites” suggesting the possible overdose.

Jacob Block Enters Guilty Plea in Court

Block and Carlo-Martinez were arrested in January 2025 and charged with one count of accessory abandonment of a corpse and one count of accessory tampering with physical evidence.

Block pleaded guilty to the two felony charges against him on April 17, according to court records provided to Oxygen.com. He was sentenced to six years behind bars and given credit for time served.

Carlo-Martinez remains at large.