Missing Massachusetts Teen Found After Partner’s Stabbing Arrest

Around 6:30 a.m. on February 7, Nick Pollinger headed upstairs to his daughter Aubrey’s room to wake her up for school in Northbridge, Massachusetts. But her bed was empty, and the teenager was nowhere to be found. Left behind in the home were her most prized belongings, including her sneaker collection and cell phone.

Her family presumed she was with Patricio Bautista Matus, a 23-year-old man she met while working as a hostess at Goodstuff Smokehouse. Five days before her daughter’s disappearance, Aubrey’s mother, Becky Pollinger, had obtained a restraining order against Bautista Matus, who was living in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and worked as a cook at the restaurant. The court ordered him not to contact the 16-year-old and to stay away from her school and home.

Flyers about the missing teen were plastered all over town. News reports urged the public to keep an eye out and contact the local police should they have any information on her whereabouts. The mother was desperate to find Aubrey, the youngest of four children, whom she described as a humorous girl with a giant heart and a funny, sarcastic tone.

As the days went by, the family learned Bautista Matus was heading down south with Aubrey — possibly to the Miami area, where Bautista Matus used to reside.

“He had mentioned that he was going to take her to Florida,” Becky tells New Times. “We called him when Aubrey was missing and told him to bring her home, and he flat out said no.”

Bautista Matus might have stayed off the cops’ radar for longer if not for a bloody incident at a public rail station in Atlanta.

According to an arrest report obtained by New Times, Bautista Matus allegedly sliced a man in the face with a blade and stabbed him in the leg at MARTA Peachtree Center Station on the morning of February 24. Police arrived to find the blood-soaked man on the ground, locked in a struggle with Bautista Matus.

The man told police Bautista Matus had followed him from Lindbergh Center Station and kept calling him a thief. As he was exiting the train, he said, Bautista Matus spit on him, and the two started to fight. That’s when Bautista Matus allegedly pulled out the knife. The man suffered a gash to his thigh and laceration to his eye.

A Hampton Beach folding knife was recovered from the scene. One witness told law enforcement Bautista Matus tried to take the man’s phone before the fight ensued.

Bautista Matus was arrested and taken to Fulton County jail, charged with aggravated assault and possession of a knife in the commission of a felony, according to the booking report.

Following the incident — after three weeks of anguished searching and pleas for help — the Pollinger family got word that Aubrey was in Georgia. Her mom started driving down to Atlanta to pick the teenager up from a local children’s hospital, she says.

“We are not taking her off as ‘missing’ until we have her safe at home,” Becky tells New Times.

Prior to her daughter’s disappearance, the family repeatedly advised Bautista Matus that hanging with a 15-year-old was inappropriate, according to the mother. “We found out that he was sneaking to see her, so that’s when I filed for the restraining order,” Becky says.

The order, which went into effect on February 2, expires on January 3, 2025.

“I didn’t even tell her I was pulling a restraining order until it was issued,” Becky says. “My kid is very stonewalled. He will just silence you to death, so she’ll just say nothing. That’s how she handles things.”

The mother says Bautista Matus, who is originally from Chile, previously lived in Miami and that she believes he has family ties to the area.

According to Miami-Dade County court records, he was arrested in Miami Beach in May 2022 on charges of felony burglary and resisting an officer without violence. No action was taken on the burglary charge, and the remaining charges, including a supplemented misdemeanor assault count, are listed as nolle prosequi, indicating prosecutors did not pursue the case.

Becky says her teenage daughter’s heart was being “ripped into different locations” while on the run. “I think my kid is torn between him telling her she’s never gonna get to see him again and coming home,” the mother says. Becky was in touch with the FBI regarding the girl’s disappearance as she communicated with media and local police about the search.

“Night or day, I will come and get you,” the mother says.