Yesterday, Montana police got an unexpected visit from Alicia Navarro, who was reported missing nearly 4 years ago from her home in Glendale, Arizona in September of 2019.
Navarro vanished from her home town in the Phoenix area when she was just 14 years old. Police investigated her disappearance, but there was no evidence that suggested anything other than a teenager who had runaway. Police Lt. Scott Waite told reporters that they are unsure how the girl got up to Montana, but the case is still under investigation.
The girl, now 18 years old, arrived in a Montana town, not far from the US-Canadian border, alone. Lt. Waite told reporters “every indication she’s given to us so far is that she willfully left her home . . . now the dynamics surrounding that decision are obviously something we’re looking into.”
Glendale police spokesman, Jose Santiago, told reporters that she is “by all accounts safe . . . healthy . . . and happy.” He also said that when she arrived at the police station in Montana, she “basically asked for help to clear her off of a missing juvenile list,” he also confirmed that Navarro “is not in any kind of trouble. She is not facing any kind of charges.”
When she disappeared in 2019, the Glendale police included the FBI and the Center for Missing and Exploited Children in their searches. Police said that there had been thousands of tips over the years about the missing girl. After reuniting with her mother, the girl and her family have asked for their privacy.
Santiago told reporters that Navarro is clearly “very apologetic to what she has put her mother through.” She told police that she would like to move on and wants to mend her relationship with her mother. Lt. Waite said that “for everyone involved, including the detectives, it was extremely overwhelming.”
We can be happy that Navarro is home safe and sound. Regardless of what she may have been through in the past 4 years, hopefully it can all remain in the past and she can go back to her family and have a normal life once again.