According to information disclosed by the FBI’s Seattle office on Wednesday, a little girl from Washington state who had been missing for more than four years was located in Mexico and brought back to the United States in February in a safe condition.
Aranza Maria Ochoa Lopez was just four years old when, according to investigators, her biological mother abducted her from a shopping center in Vancouver, Washington on October 25, 2018. She was at the time.
According to the FBI, Lopez was discovered by officials in Mexico in the state of Michoacán. According to a press release issued by the FBI, special agents from the bureau transported her back to the United States and brought her to an unknown location within the country. According to the FBI’s statement, “Aranza’s safety and privacy is of the highest importance.”
After distributing a poster looking for Lopez, the investigators said they were able to piece together that he was in Mexico. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was offering a reward of $10,000 for information that would lead to the return of the girl.
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In 2019, Lopez’s mother was arrested in Puebla, Mexico. The city is located in Mexico.
A local newspaper in Vancouver, Washington The mother was identified as Esmeralda Lopez-Lopez, according to the Columbian. According to reports, Lopez-Lopez was unable to maintain custody of her daughter in 2017 after police investigated and confirmed allegations of physical abuse against the child.
According to the information provided by the newspaper, Lopez-Lopez was given a sentence of twenty months in jail in January of 2021 after pleading guilty to charges that included kidnapping, robbery, and interference with custodial duties.
“For more than four years, the FBI and our partners did not give up on Aranza,” said Richard A. Collodi, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Seattle field office. “Our concern now will be supporting Aranza as she begins her reintegration into the U.S.”
The FBI’s legal attaché in Mexico City, the Vancouver Police Department, the Department of Children, Youth, and Families in Washington state, the Fiscala General del Estado de Michoacán (FGE Michoacán), and the Instituto Nacional de Migración were some of the law enforcement agencies that collaborated with the FBI over the years to track down Lopez.
