A 4-year-old who went missing in 2018 has been found in Mexico and was safely returned to the United States last month, per the FBI.
The now 8-year-old, Aranza Maria Ochoa Lopez, was kidnapped on Oct. 25, 2018, from a Vancouver, Washington shopping mall by her biological mother, the FBI shared last Wednesday.
Lopez was located by Mexican authorities who found her in Michoacán, Mexico before she was finally returned to the U.S. by FBI special agents in February, the bureau shared in its release.
“Aranza’s safety and privacy is of utmost importance,” the FBI said, as it noted that her location has not been disclosed for her safety.
According to a report from The Columbian, the mother of the girl, Esmeralda Lopez-Lopez, lost custody of her daughter in 2017 due to authorities confirming complaints about her physically abusing the girl. She was in the state’s custody at the time of the abduction.
The FBI was made aware of Lopez’s location after they put out a Missing Person Poster that offered a reward for information leading to her recovery.
The mother, who was taken into custody in Puebla, Mexico in 2019, was sentenced to 20 months in prison in 2021 after pleading guilty to kidnapping, robbery, and custodial interference charges, The Columbian reported.
At the time of her sentencing, Lopez-Lopez told police she didn’t know where her daughter, who she had abducted, was, but she was helping investigators in their efforts to locate her.
But now, almost half a decade after she was initially kidnapped, Lopez has been returned to the U.S.
“For more than four years, the FBI and our partners did not give up on Aranza,” Richard A. Collodi, a special agent in charge of the FBI’s Seattle field office shared in the release. “Our concern now will be supporting Aranza as she begins her reintegration into the U.S.”
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