A teenage girl who went missing almost four years ago has been found alive after she walked into a police station.
Alicia Navarro vanished from her home in Glendale, Arizona, in September 2019 when she was 14.
Her parents, who were reportedly asleep when she slipped out of the house, found a handwritten note from their daughter stating: “I ran away. I will be back. I swear. I’m sorry,” the next day, KTAR News reports.
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Now 18, Navarro reported to a police station and identified herself in a small town in Montana, close to the Canadian border.
“She is by all accounts safe, she is by all accounts healthy, and she is by all accounts happy,” Jose Santiago, a spokesman for Glendale Police said during a news conference yesterday (26 July).
Police Lieutenant Scott Waite said the disappearance started as a runaway but the case is still under investigation. More details about how she got to Montana is unclear.
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“Every indication she’s given to us so far is that she wilfully left her home,” he said. “Now the dynamics surrounding that decision are obviously something we’re looking into.”
Navarro was alone when she arrived at the police station and every time she has spoken to police, she did so alone.
“She showed up to a police department,” Santiago said. “She identified herself as Alicia Navarro. She basically asked for help to clear her off of a missing juvenile list.
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“She is not in any kind of trouble. She is not facing any kind of charges.”
Navarro has been reunited with her mother which was ‘emotionally overwhelming’ for both of them,’ Police Lt. Waite said.
"I can say, for everyone involved, including the detectives, it was extremely overwhelming," Waite added.
"We are only [beginning] to put together the puzzle that is her disappearance and her returning. I would only ask for patience.
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"We can only imagine what she's going through as well as her family. This is probably only the beginning of where this investigation will go."
Police did not reveal the name of the town in Montana where Navarro was found.
Navarro and her family are asking for privacy during this emotional time.
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She was ‘very apologetic [as] to what she has put her mother through’ and expressed that it was not intentional. Navarro hopes to have a relationship with her mother and move forward with her life.
The FBI and Center for Missing and Exploited Children were involved in the search for Navarro after she went missing. Thousands of tips were sent in over the years, police said.
Spokesman Santiago said: "There’s a lot of mixed emotions with this particular announcement that we are having. We are happy and at the same time, we are hopeful that we will be able to supply this family with a little more closure.
“For more than four years detectives here have followed up on thousands of leads. This case is far from being closed. We are continuing to investigate her whereabouts for the last four years and will do so alongside our federal partners."
Topics: US News