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Arizona teenager who vanished four years ago shows up alive in Montana

July 27, 2023 | | Print Article

An Arizona teenager who vanished nearly four years ago from her home in the middle of the night was found alive in Montana near the Canadian border.

(Video Credit: FOX 10 Phoenix)

Alicia Navarro is said to be a high-functioning autistic teenager. She was fourteen when she disappeared on September 15, 2019, and is now eighteen and seems to be safe, sound, and happy according to the Daily Mail.

She reportedly went to a police station in the small Montana town where she showed up, and after identifying herself, she asked that her name be taken off the missing persons’ list, according to Glendale police on Wednesday.

When the teen went missing, she left a note for her parents, stating, “I ran away. I will be back, I swear. I’m sorry.” She was considered a runaway.

Her mother has spent almost four years endlessly looking for her.

“She is by all accounts safe. She is by all accounts healthy, and she is by all accounts happy,” Officer Jose Miguel Santiago noted during a news conference.

Details are still very sketchy at this point. No one seems to know how a 14-year-old girl got to Montana or who she has been with all this time. That’s over 1,000 miles from her home in Arizona.

Her mother, Jessica Nunez, is relieved beyond all words that her daughter is alive and says that it is proof “miracles do exist.”

Lt. Scott Waite recounted that Navarro had an “emotionally overwhelming” reunion with her mother. The estranged daughter was reportedly “very apologetic (as) to what she has put her mother through.”

When Navarro disappeared, a massive search was conducted to find her by the FBI. Over the years, police received thousands of tips according to police spokesman Jose Santiago.

When Glendale police got wind of the teen identifying herself, they immediately responded to police in the unidentified small town in Montana. They verified her identity and stated that she had been extremely cooperative with authorities.

“I can’t even begin to express to you all the pride that I personally have in the men and women here at our police department,” Santiago commented concerning his colleagues’ search for the teen.

“Since her disappearance, our men and women here have been working tirelessly around the clock to not only bring closure to this family but to make sure Alicia gets everything she possibly needs,” he added.

The officer said that the teen “by all accounts appears to be in good spirits” and “really just wants to move on with her life.”

“She is very apologetic to what she has put her mother through. And she understands that she has caused a lot of pain to her mother, and it was not intentional on her behalf, and she is hopeful that they can have a relationship,” Santiago relayed.

When the child disappeared in 2019, her mother feared that since she was diagnosed as high-functioning on the autism spectrum, she could have been lured away by a predator online.

The story is not over. Investigators from the police department, FBI, and US Marshals Office now have to figure out exactly what happened to Navarro after she vanished and how it happened in the first place. The teen says she was not harmed.

“I would ask patience, not only for us as law enforcement in this investigation, but patience for Alicia and her family,” Glendale Police Department Lt. Scott Waite urged on Wednesday. “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.”

The girl was reportedly not held against her will and there will be no charges pressed against her, according to police.

“I, first of all, want to give glory to God for answering my prayers and for this miracle,” Navarro’s mother said on Facebook. “For everyone who has missing loved ones, I want you to use this case as an example that miracles do exist and never lose hope, and always fight.”

The mother doesn’t have all the details about her daughter’s disappearance yet. She is in shock, “but the important thing is that she is alive. I want to thank the community and God for all that you have done.”

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