Arizona mother by no means stopped on the lookout for her lacking daughter. She confirmed up 4 years later in Montana

HAVRE, Mont. (AP) — When Alicia Navarro disappeared in 2019 from her house in a Phoenix suburb days earlier than her fifteenth birthday, she left a signed notice for her household promising she would return.

“I will be back, I swear,” the notice learn. “I’m sorry.”

Believing she would maintain her promise, Jessica Nunez by no means stopped looking for her daughter.

She paid for a billboard advert in Mexico that featured a photograph of her daughter for a 12 months. She purchased 10 extra advertisements in Las Vegas. She spoke at occasions and gave numerous media interviews to lift consciousness in regards to the case. She left flyers throughout Glendale — at salons, truck stops, parks.

Nunez’s yearslong search got here to an finish Sunday when her daughter, now 18, walked right into a small-town Montana police station close to the Canadian border and recognized herself because the lacking teenager.

Police stated Navarro informed them she hadn’t been harmed, wasn’t being held and will come and go as she happy. She doesn’t face any felony prices, they added.

Investigators at the moment are attempting to find out what occurred to Navarro after disappearing at age 14 and the way she ended up in Havre, Montana, greater than 1,300 miles (2,090 kilometers) away from her house.

Over the years, Nunez had raised considerations that Navarro, who was recognized as on the autism spectrum, could have been lured away by somebody she met on-line.

Law enforcement officers took a person into custody at an condo only a few blocks from the Havre police station on Wednesday evening, in keeping with a number of witnesses interviewed by The Associated Press.

As many as 10 closely armed uniformed and undercover officers confirmed up about 8 p.m. and took away in handcuffs the person who had been dwelling within the condo, stated Rick Lieberg, who lives throughout the road.

A younger girl later emerged from the condo who Lieberg stated he had not beforehand seen. He stated the girl resembled {a photograph} of Navarro that was launched by police.

“She came out, talked to the officers, then two ladies pulled up and then she got into a car with them and they left,” Lieberg stated.

Officers remained on the scene for a number of hours, taking footage and doing different work contained in the condo, Lieberg stated. He stated the younger girl returned to the condo constructing with the 2 girls on Thursday, however he didn’t see her go into the condo.

A second witness, Jonathan Michaelson, who lives subsequent door to the condo, stated he was questioned on the scene by a plainclothes police officer who stated he was from Arizona and requested if Michaelson had ever seen a lady on the condo subsequent door. He stated he had not.

“If she was in that apartment, I’m surprised I never saw her,” Michaelson stated.

Glendale police Lt. Scott Waite stated this week they have been trying into all of the potential situations that might have led to Navarro’s disappearance, together with kidnapping.

“As much as we’d like to say this is the end,” Waite stated at a information convention Wednesday, “we know this is only the beginning of where this investigation will go.”

Nunez declined an interview request from The Associated Press. But for years, she had documented her efforts to seek out her daughter on a Facebook web page titled “Finding Alicia.”

In an emotional video seen greater than 200,000 occasions because it was posted Wednesday, Nunez informed her tens of hundreds of followers: “For everyone who has missing loved ones, I want you to use this case as an example. Miracles do exist. Never lose hope and always fight.”

Nunez had amassed a loyal following on social media all through the years whereas sharing inspirational quotes, photographs of Navarro as a younger little one and posts addressed on to her daughter.

“Alicia I know you will fulfill what you promised,” Nunez wrote in a single submit. “You will be back.”

People throughout the U.S. reached out to the Arizona mom to ask how they might assist, creating an off-the-cuff community of volunteers. They shared photographs and data by means of the Facebook web page.

Glendale police stated this week that they obtained hundreds of suggestions through the years.

Authorities in each Montana and Arizona haven’t stated how lengthy they consider Navarro had been in Havre earlier than strolling into the police station. The city of about 9,200 individuals is surrounded by farmland and is north of the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation.

In a brief video clip that Glendale police stated was taken shortly after Navarro arrived on the Montana police station, she could be heard telling authorities, “No one hurt me.” In one other quick video, Navarro thanked the police.

“Thank you for offering help to me,” she stated.

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