NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – A toddler kidnapped by her non-custodial parent more than 25 years ago was found in Mexico, according to New Haven police.
Andrea Michelle Reyes was just two years old when she was abducted in New Haven by her mother, Rosa Tenorio, who did not have legal custody, police said.
An investigation was launched at the time, but years passed without answers. In 1999, a felony warrant for custodial interference was issued for Tenorio.
Reyes’s father spent years searching for her but had no contact, police said. Over time, several age-progressed images were created to show what she might look like at different ages, police said.
In 2023, the New Haven Police Department reopened the case. After 25 years and two months, authorities determined that Reyes had been taken to Puebla, Mexico, where she had lived ever since.
Reyes eventually made contact with her father. To confirm her identity, New Haven police partnered with Othram, a forensic DNA company, to analyze a potential familial match. A DNA sample from Reyes was compared to her father’s profile, confirming her identity.
Now 27 years old, Reyes is the seventh person in Connecticut to be publicly identified using Othram’s technology, officials said.