Mystery surrounds case of US teen who re-emerged after going missing in 2019

When Alicia Navarro disappeared in 2019 from her home in a Phoenix suburb, days before her 15th birthday, she left a signed note promising she would return.

“I will be back, I swear,” the note read. “I’m sorry.”

Believing her daughter would keep her promise, Jessica Nunez never stopped searching. She paid for a billboard ad in Mexico that featured a photo of her daughter for a year. She bought 10 ads in Las Vegas. She spoke at events and gave media interviews. She left flyers all around Glendale: at salons, truck stops, parks.

Nunez’s search came to an end last Sunday when her daughter, now 18, walked into a small-town Montana police station, near the Canadian border, and identified herself.

Police said Navarro told them she had not been harmed, was not being held, and could come and go as she pleased. She does not face any criminal charges, they said.

But investigators are trying to determine what happened to Navarro after she disappeared and how she ended up in Havre, Montana, more than 1,300 miles from home.

Nunez had raised concerns that Navarro, who was diagnosed with autism, may have been lured away by someone she met online.

Authorities in Montana and Arizona have not said how long they believe Navarro was in Havre before walking into the police station. Glendale Lt Scott Waite said at a news conference on Wednesday police were looking into all the possible scenarios, including kidnapping.

In Havre – a town of about 9,200 surrounded by farmland, north of the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation – Navarro’s story had residents buzzing even though most had never seen or heard of her. It also piqued interest when heavily armed law enforcement officers entered an apartment and took a man into custody a few blocks from the Havre police station on Wednesday night, witnesses said.

As many as 10 uniformed and undercover officers showed up at about 8pm and took the man away in handcuffs. He had been living in the apartment, said Rick Lieberg, who lives across the street. A young woman later emerged from the apartment who Lieberg said he had not previously seen. The woman resembled a photograph of Navarro released by police.

Jonathan Michaelson, who lives next door, said he was questioned by a plainclothes police officer from Arizona who asked if he had ever seen a girl at the apartment next door. He said he had not.

“If she was in that apartment, I’m surprised I never saw her,” Michaelson said.

Officer Gina Winn, a spokesperson for the Glendale police, said on Friday morning no one had been taken into custody in the disappearance of Navarro. Winn declined to say if investigators know how long Navarro was in Montana or how she ended up there. No one answered the door at the apartment, one of six units in an aging building in a residential neighborhood.

Jeff Hummert, who works at the Dollar Tree in Havre, said he saw a young woman resembling Navarro last year in a city park two blocks from the apartment raided by police. She was walking alone and carrying a plastic Walmart bag, Hummert said.

Nunez declined an interview request. But for years, she had documented her efforts to find her daughter on a Facebook page titled Finding Alicia.

In an emotional video viewed more than 200,000 times since it was posted on Wednesday, Nunez told tens of thousands of followers: “For everyone who has missing loved ones, I want you to use this case as an example. Miracles do exist. Never lose hope and always fight.”

Nunez amassed a loyal following on social media throughout the years while sharing inspirational quotes, photos of Navarro as a young child and posts addressed directly to her daughter.

“Alicia I know you will fulfill what you promised,” Nunez wrote. “You will be back.”

People across the US reached out to the Arizona mother to ask how they could help, creating an informal network of volunteers. They shared photos and information through the Facebook page. Glendale police said this week they received thousands of tips over the years.

In a short video clip Glendale police said was taken shortly after Navarro arrived at the Montana police station, she could be heard telling authorities, “No one hurt me.”

In another short video, Navarro thanked the police.

“Thank you for offering help to me,” she said.

Source: The guardian