A girl from Washington who went missing in 2018 has been found in Mexico. FBI announced WednesdayAranza Maria Ochoa Lopez last seen When she was 4 years old, she was with her biological mother at a shopping mall in Vancouver, Washington.
Lopez visited his mother under surveillance the day he went missing, the FBI confirmed to CBS News. Her mother was arrested in Puebla, Mexico about a year later, but Lopez remained missing.
The FBI was offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to Lopez’s recovery. They worked with the Vancouver Police Department in Washington and Mexican law enforcement to conduct the investigation.
Mexican authorities found the girl in Michoacan, Mexico, in February, and she was brought back to the United States by FBI special agents.
“For more than four years, the FBI and our partners have not given up on Aranza,” said Richard A. Corrody, a special agent in charge of the FBI’s Seattle field office. “Our concern is to help Aranza begin reintegrating into the United States.”
FBI officials did not provide further information about Lopez’s case. CBS News has also reached out to Vancouver Police for more information.
According to local publications, during a supervised visit, Lopez’s mother, Esmeralda Lopez Lopez, asked him to take her to the mall’s restroom. Colombian. She then fled with her daughter in a stolen car and left with her accomplice.
Lopez had been placed in foster care due to complaints that her mother had abused her.
After being arrested in Mexico in 2019, Lopez pleaded guilty to second-degree kidnapping and robbery and first-degree obstruction of custody in 2021 and was sentenced to 20 months in prison. according to Colombian.
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, most kidnapped children are taken away by their families. Only 1% of missing child cases are abducted by non-family members. According to the data of the center.
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