GARFIELD COUNTY, MONTANA: A girl from Arizona, who went missing just days before her 15th birthday four years ago, was found safe, officials announced on Wednesday, July 26. Now 18, Alicia Navarro, who was reported missing in September 2019, walked into a police station in a small Montana town 40 miles from the Canadian border, according to Glendale police.
Glendale public safety communications manager Jose Santiago said during a press conference, "Alicia Navarro has been located; she is, by all accounts, safe, she is by all accounts healthy and she is by all accounts happy." The teenager was 14 when she went missing from her Glendale home at night on September 15, 2019, according to her missing person's report, which characterized her as autistic but high functioning.
'I ran away. I will be back. I swear. I'm sorry'
When Navarro went missing, her parents were asleep. They discovered a message from their daughter that read, "I ran away. I will be back. I swear. I'm sorry," per KTAR News. She reportedly entered the police station on her own and requested that her name be removed from the missing children's list.
When Glendale police were notified, they verified Navarro's identity and got in touch with her family to let them know she had been located. Her mother, Jessica Nunez, who had never stopped looking for her, had an emotional reunion with the teenager, police said. Santiago said that the teenager was very sorry to have caused her mother to suffer over the past four years and wanted to make sure her mother knew she was OK, per the New York Post.
'Miracles do exist. Never lose hope and always fight'
In a video shared on Facebook, Nunez said, "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." She said she did not have all the details about her daughter's disappearance but said "the important thing is that she is alive."
Many issues, however, remain unexplained, according to the Glendale police, who said they were looking into how Navarro reached Montana and whom she had been staying with for the past four years. According to the cops, she left her home of her own free will and had been helping them with their investigation.
Navarro also informed authorities that she had not been hurt. She was still in Montana and free to go whenever she wants. According to Santiago, she was requesting privacy to move on.
Glendale PD Lt. Scott Waite said, "We can only imagine what she's going through, mentally, emotionally, as well as her family, and as much as we'd like to say this is the end, this is probably only the beginning of where this investigation will go." Navarro's case is being investigated.
