JULY 29, 2023:
HAVRE, Mont. (AP) — A man in Montana was detained and questioned by police as authorities try to piece together the mysterious disappearance and sudden reappearance of Alicia Navarro. She was 14 when she vanished from her Arizona home four years ago. Police on Friday (July 28, 2023) provided no details about Wednesday’s search or the identity of the man, who was released. But a man who lives in the apartment next to the one that was searched says for at least a year Navarro lived there with the man who was questioned. Navarro’s whereabouts were revealed Sunday when she showed up at the Havre police station and told officers she wanted her name removed from the missing persons list.
Extended version:
HAVRE, Mont. (AP) — A man was detained and questioned by police and his Montana apartment searched as authorities tried to piece together the mysterious disappearance and sudden reappearance this week of Alicia Navarro, who was 14 when she vanished from her Arizona home four years ago.
Police on Friday (July 28, 2023) provided no details about Wednesday’s search or the identity of the man, who was released. But Garrett Smith, who lives in the apartment next to the one that was searched, said for at least a year Navarro lived there with the man who was questioned. He described them as quiet and said he hasn’t seen the man since the night police were there.
Navarro’s whereabouts were revealed Sunday when she showed up at the Havre police station and told officers she wanted her name removed from the missing persons list. Police in Glendale, Arizona, the community where she lived before disappearing, held a news conference Wednesday to announce that she’d been found.
Outside of a brief video appearance at the news conference, Navarro has said nothing publicly. On Friday, an Associated Press reporter knocked on the door of the apartment that was searched in Montana and the woman who opened it said she wanted to be left alone. The woman didn’t give her name but looked and sounded like Navarro.
Police had not made any arrests as of Friday night and questions remained about how she got there, who she has been with and what she has been doing since she ran away.
Authorities in both states aren’t saying much and neither is Alicia Navarro’s family or a private investigator they hired. Navarro has seen and spoken to her mother, Jessica Nuñez, remotely but they have not been reunited in person.
Glendale police spokesperson Gina Winn said that a person was temporarily detained for questioning Wednesday and released as Glendale detectives executed a search warrant in Havre.
“That was the purpose of the search warrant, to interview a person,” she said.
Three other people in Havre have been questioned, she said. She declined to name the people who were interviewed and would not specify whether detectives are still in the Montana town. Winn said authorities are working to determine what happened over the past four years and whether a crime occurred and someone could be held accountable.
Kidnapping is among the possible scenarios, Glendale police Lt. Scott Waite said earlier this week.
Asked why Nuñez hasn’t traveled to Montana to see her daughter, private investigator Trent Steele, who assisted Nuñez in the search for Navarro through the Miami-based nonprofit Anti-Predator Project, said Nuñez was attending to her other children at home in metropolitan Phoenix as the investigation unfolds in Montana. He also alluded to another dynamic.
“They need to keep Alicia close – the law enforcement officers who are currently working the investigation. And until they are done with what they need, they need to keep her close,” Steele said. “It has nothing to do with family dynamics.”
Police in Havre and Steele said when Navarro, 18, walked into the city’s police department, she also talked about wanting to move forward in life as an adult, including getting a driver’s license. She appeared to be fine and in good health, according to police.
One of the biggest questions remains: How did she end up nearly 1,400 miles (2,253 kilometers) away from her childhood home in Glendale, Arizona, in far northern Montana?
Police have said Navarro told them she hadn’t been harmed, wasn’t being held, and could come and go as she pleased. She does not face any criminal charges, they added.
In Havre — a town of about 9,200 people surrounded by farmland — Navarro’s story had residents buzzing even though most had never seen or heard of her. It also piqued interest when a team of heavily armed law enforcement officers entered an apartment and took a man into custody just a few blocks from the Havre police station Wednesday night, witnesses told The Associated Press.
As many as 10 uniformed and undercover officers showed up around 8 p.m. and took him away in handcuffs. The man had been living in the apartment, said Rick Lieberg, who lives across the street.
A young woman, who resembled Navarro, later emerged from the apartment — one of six units in an aging building in a residential neighborhood — who Lieberg said he had not previously seen.
A person who works at the Dollar Tree in Havre, Jeff Hummert, said he saw a young woman resembling a photograph of Navarro last year in a city park just up the street from the apartment police searched Wednesday. She was walking alone and carrying a plastic Walmart bag, Hummert said.
Theories about how Navarro came to be in Montana topped the conversation Friday among the regulars at a coffee shop inside Gary & Leo’s IGA, a grocery store in downtown Havre. With scant details from authorities, most of the talk — about Navarro’s possible destination and whether she was being coerced — was conjecture, said former county Coroner Steve Sapp, who joined the discussion.
“When you’re in law enforcement, all these different stories about what happened make it hard to tell which story is really true,” Sapp said. “I would really like to know more.”
When Navarro disappeared in 2019, days shy of her 15th birthday, she left a note for her family promising she would return.
“I will be back, I swear,” the note read. “I’m sorry.”
The years Navarro has been gone have been agonizing for Nuñez, who never stopped searching for her daughter. She paid for a billboard ad in Mexico that featured a photo of her daughter for a year and bought 10 more ads in Las Vegas. She spoke at events and gave media interviews to raise awareness. She left flyers around Glendale — at salons, truck stops, parks.
Over the years, Nuñez had raised concerns that Navarro, who was diagnosed with autism, may have been lured away by someone she met online. Police have emphasized their efforts to afford privacy to Navarro even as investigations move forward.
“She is an adult, so it’s up to her whether or not she wants to go home,” Winn said.
In brief video clips that Glendale police released shortly after she arrived at the Havre police station, Navarro thanked authorities for offering to help her and said: “No one hurt me.”
Nunez declined an interview request. But for years, she had documented her efforts to find her daughter on a Facebook page titled “Finding Alicia” and an audio podcast. In an emotional video posted Wednesday, Nunez said “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 had 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 in one post. “You will be back.”
JULY 28, 2023:
HAVRE, Mont. (AP) — An Arizona mother never stopped searching for her daughter after she went missing in 2019 just days before her 15th birthday. Jessica Nunez put photos of her daughter Alicia Navarro on billboard ads around the U.S. and in Mexico. She spoke at events and gave countless media interviews to raise awareness about the case. Her yearslong efforts came to an end on Sunday (July 23, 2023) when her daughter was found safe in a small Montana town near the Canadian border. Authorities say 18-year-old Navarro walked into a police station in Havre, Montana, and identified herself as a missing teenager from the Phoenix suburb of Glendale. Authorities are now trying to figure out what happened to her after disappearing at age 14 and how she ended up in Montana.
Extended version:
HAVRE, Mont. (AP) — When Alicia Navarro disappeared in 2019 from her home in a Phoenix suburb days before her 15th birthday, she left a signed note for her family promising she would return.
“I will be back, I swear,” the note read. “I’m sorry.”
Believing she would keep her promise, Jessica Nunez never stopped searching for her daughter.
She paid for a billboard ad in Mexico that featured a photo of her daughter for a year. She bought 10 more ads in Las Vegas. She spoke at events and gave countless media interviews to raise awareness about the case. She left flyers all around Glendale — at salons, truck stops, parks.
Nunez’s yearslong search came to an end Sunday (July 23, 2023) when her daughter, now 18, walked into a small-town Montana police station near the Canadian border and identified herself as the missing teenager.
Police said Navarro told them she hadn’t been harmed, wasn’t being held and could come and go as she pleased. She does not face any criminal charges, they added.
Investigators are now trying to determine what happened to Navarro after disappearing at age 14 and how she ended up in Havre, Montana, more than 1,300 miles (2,090 kilometers) away from her home.
Over the years, Nunez had raised concerns that Navarro, who was diagnosed as on the autism spectrum, may have been lured away by someone she met online.
Law enforcement officers took a man into custody at an apartment just a few blocks from the Havre police station on Wednesday night, according to several witnesses interviewed by The Associated Press.
As many as 10 heavily-armed uniformed and undercover officers showed up about 8 p.m. and took away in handcuffs the man who 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. He said the woman resembled a photograph of Navarro that was released by police.
“She came out, talked to the officers, then two ladies pulled up and then she got into a car with them and they left,” Lieberg said.
Officers remained on the scene for several hours, taking pictures and doing other work inside the apartment, Lieberg said. He said the young woman returned to the apartment building with the two women on Thursday, but he did not see her go into the apartment.
A second witness, Jonathan Michaelson, who lives next door to the apartment, said he was questioned at the scene by a plainclothes police officer who said he was from Arizona and asked if Michaelson 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.
Glendale police Lt. Scott Waite said this week they were looking into all the possible scenarios that could have led to Navarro’s disappearance, including kidnapping.
“As much as we’d like to say this is the end,” Waite said at a news conference Wednesday, “we know this is only the beginning of where this investigation will go.”
Nunez declined an interview request from The Associated Press. 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 Wednesday, Nunez told her 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 had 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 in one post. “You will be back.”
People across the U.S. 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 that they received thousands of tips over the years.
Authorities in both Montana and Arizona haven’t said how long they believe Navarro had been in Havre before walking into the police station. The town of about 9,200 people is surrounded by farmland and is north of the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation.
In a short video clip that Glendale police said was taken shortly after Navarro arrived at the Montana police station, she can 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.
JULY 27, 2023:
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Authorities say an Arizona teenager who disappeared nearly four years ago is safe after walking into a police station in Montana. Eighteen-year-old Alicia Navarro of Glendale showed up alone this week in a small town about 40 miles from the Canadian border and identified herself, according to police in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale. Police say they’re still investigating but the girl seemed healthy and happy, said she hadn’t been harmed and won’t face any criminal charges. Navarro was 14 when she left home, leaving a note promising to return. Her disappearance sparked a massive search and thousands of tips. Her mother, Jessica Nunez, confirmed in a Facebook post that her daughter had been found but said she had no details.
Extended version:
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — An Arizona teenager who disappeared days before her 15th birthday nearly four years ago is safe after walking into a small-town police station in Montana this week, authorities announced Wednesday.
Alicia Navarro, now 18, showed up alone this week about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from the Canadian border and identified herself to authorities there as the missing teenager, according to police in Glendale, a Phoenix suburb.
Her disappearance in 2019 sparked a massive search that included the FBI. Glendale police spokesperson Jose Santiago said over the years, police had received thousands of tips.
Her mother, Jessica Nunez, raised concerns that Navarro, who was diagnosed as high-functioning on the autism spectrum, may have been lured away by someone she met online.
The name of the town wasn’t immediately disclosed, but Montana is more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) from Arizona.
“She is by all accounts safe, she is by all accounts healthy, and she is by all accounts happy,” Santiago said at a news conference.
Investigators were trying to determine what happened to Navarro after her disappearance at age 14 on Sept. 15, 2019.
Police Lt. Scott Waite said they were investigating all the possible scenarios that could have led to Navarro’s disappearance, including kidnapping.
“As much as we’d like to say this is the end,” Waite said, “we know this is only the beginning of where this investigation will go.”
Police said Navarro told them she hadn’t been harmed, wasn’t being held and could come and go as she pleased. She does not face any criminal charges, they added.
In a short video clip that police said was taken shortly after Navarro arrived at the Montana police station this week, she can 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.
When she disappeared from her home, Navarro left a signed note that read: “I ran away. I will be back, I swear. I’m sorry.”
Waite described Navarro’s reunion this week with her mother as “emotionally overwhelming” and that Navarro said she was sorry for “what she has put her mother through.”
Nunez confirmed that her daughter had been found but said she had no details.
“I want to give glory to God for answering prayers and for this miracle,” she said in a Facebook post.
“For everyone who has missing loved ones, I want you to use this case as an example,” she said. “Miracles do exist. Never lose hope and always fight.”
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