Glendale Police Division
A teen who went lacking in 2019 turned up in a small Montana city close to the Canadian border after strolling into an area police division and figuring out herself.
Alicia Navarro, who has autism, was simply 14 when she disappeared in September 2019, forsaking a word saying she could be again. Her birthday was only a couple days after her disappearance. On the time, her mom, Jessica Nunez, suspected her daughter had been lured away by a predator on-line.
However Glendale police spokesperson Jose Santiago stated in a press convention Wednesday that the now 18-year-old Navarro was “wholesome and pleased” because the discovery—regardless of being a little bit “overwhelmed.”
It’s unclear precisely when Navarro walked into the police station—with police merely stating that it was “earlier this week” and that she was alone. She confirmed up, recognized herself and requested for assist to clear her identify from a lacking juvenile checklist, Santiago stated, including she just isn’t in any bother. Police stated they won’t launch any additional info in regards to the “very small city” about 40 miles from the Canadian border.
As quickly as Navarro recognized herself, police say they performed interviews with Navarro and her household, and “are assured that the person who we’re speaking with and coping with is certainly Alicia Navarro.”
She didn’t want medical consideration on the time of her discovery, or since she has been talking with police.
“There’s a number of combined feelings with this explicit announcement that we’re having. We’re pleased and on the similar time we’re hopeful that we can provide this household with a little bit extra closure,” Santiago stated.
There’s nonetheless a number of questions, he provides, whereas revealing Navarro has been by means of a “traumatic state of affairs” and has requested for privateness. “She is wanting to have the ability to transfer on in her life, she’s trying to construct a life for herself,” Santiago stated.
“She’s overwhelmed,” he added, saying Navarro “could be very educated” concerning the consideration surrounding the case however that her precedence was to “speak to her mother and ensure her mom knew that she was OK. “We’re taking it daily, step-by-step together with her.”
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Glendale Police Lieutenant Scott Waite stated police have been not sure why she reappeared now, however famous “she felt like now was the time, whether or not it’s emotionally, mentally, that she needs to take the following steps in her life…to do the issues {that a} regular, wholesome grownup would do. I can’t say there may be any single triggering second, I believe there’s most likely been a protracted development for her within the journey she’s taken.”
It stays unclear the place she was for the previous a number of years.
Police launched a photograph, obtained by The Day by day Beast, of Navarro on the day she arrived on the police station. “I’ll let you know, to be direct, she doesn’t look a lot totally different than she did when she disappeared…her look is that of a really younger wanting woman,” Santiago stated.
A present photograph of Alicia Navarro.
Glendale Police Division
Police stated each indication is that Navarro wilfully left her dwelling in 3019, however the ”dynamics surrounding that call” is being investigated.
It’s unclear if Navarro had been with anybody throughout the years that she was lacking. She has been cooperative, police stated, including it began as a runaway state of affairs nevertheless it grew to become “extra dynamic” as investigators labored on the case.
It is usually unclear how Navarro obtained to Montana. No costs have been laid within the case however police added it was a risk. Navarro went to police station at her personal free will and isn’t going through any costs. “She is coming and going at her personal free will and has been extraordinarily cooperative,” Santiago stated.
In a brief video despatched by the Glendale Police Division to The Day by day Beast, Navarro may be seen being questioned by investigators by way of video name.
An investigator asks: “Did anyone damage you in any means?”
“No, nobody damage me,” she solutions.
Navarro seems to be in good spirits, police claimed, including that she “actually needs to maneuver on together with her life,” and is “very apologetic to her mom and understands she induced a number of ache.”
The teenager stays hopeful that they will rebuild their relationship.
“For greater than 4 years detectives right here have adopted up on THOUSANDS of leads,” Santiago stated in an announcement to The Day by day Beast.
“This case is much from being closed. We’re persevering with to analyze her whereabouts for the final 4 years and can achieve this alongside our Federal companions. Alicia is asking for her privateness at the moment. We’re grateful we are able to carry some kind of closure to her household. We’re additionally grateful she seems to be in good well being and pleased.”
Police stated Alicia has been reunited together with her household as police “start to place collectively the puzzle which is her disappearance and returning.” Waite requested the general public for persistence from Navarro and her household.
“We are able to solely think about what she’s going by means of, mentally and emotionally, in addition to her household. As a lot as we’d wish to say that is the top, that is most likely solely the start of the place this investigation will go.”
Glendale Police Division
In a video message an hour after discovering out, her mom, Jessica, instructed the general public it was a “miracle” and despatched a message to different households with lacking family members. “I need you to make use of this case for instance, that miracles do exist,” she says, including that she was unaware of the main points surrounding her daughter’s discovery. “That is current information for me, I don’t have particulars however the essential factor is she is alive…by no means lose hope and at all times combat,” she stated.
Police wouldn’t go into particulars of the reunion between the pair, besides that it was “emotionally overwhelming” for each of them.
Santiago stated Navarro was “very apologetic to what she has put her mom by means of,” that it was “not intentional” on her behalf and that understands she induced a number of ache to her mom.
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