Kidnapped by her own mother: A girl who disappeared from a US mall was found in Mexico five years later

Kidnapped by her own mother: A girl who disappeared from a US mall was found in Mexico five years laterPhoto byAndrey KonUnsplash

Her mother kidnapped her. A girl who disappeared from a US mall was found in Mexico five years later.

Aranza Maria Ochoa Lopez, living in a foster home, was abducted by her biological mother from a shopping mall.

A US girl who went missing in October 2018 was found live and well in Mexico. The FBI has reported, according to Sky News. Aranza Maria Ochoa Lopez, living in a foster home, was abducted by her biological mother from a mall in Vancouver, Washington state, at age four.

The girl was last seen during a supervised visit by her mother, who was arrested a year later in Pueblo, Mexico. But the child, now eight, was not found by authorities until February this year in Michoacan, Mexico.

The FBI has offered a $10,000 reward for any information that could help recover the girl. Aranza was returned to the US by FBI special agents. "For more than four years, the FBI and our partners have not abandoned Aranza," said Richard A. Colloid, the special agent who heads the Seattle office. "Our concern now will be to assist Aranza as she reintegrates into the United States."

Her mother, Esmeralda Lopez-Lopez, pleaded guilty to the case in January 2021 and was sentenced to 20 months. Aranza ended up in state care and a foster home in 2017 after authorities received complaints that the girl was being physically abused by her mother, according to The Columbian newspaper. Lopez-Lopez was allowed to visit her daughter twice a week.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/girl-who-was-abducted-from-washington-mall-in-2018-found-in-mexico-12830083