Kidnap Ruled Out in Disappearance

A 14-year-old Newhall girl who had been the victim of a kidnaping a year ago in El Salvador was reported missing Saturday after last being seen at school.

Nuria Lisbeth Valladares was reported last seen about 6:30 Friday morning when she got off a bus at Canyon High School at 19300 Nadal St. in Canyon Country, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Spear.

Her family told deputies she was abducted a year ago in El Salvador by a man they identified as Carlos Chavez Ventura, 22, also known as Carlos Nan Chavez, Spear said.

Family members told investigators that they had seen a man they believed to be Chavez near their Newhall home the day before the abduction.

Authorities had originally suspected Chavez, but late Saturday evening they reclassified the case as simply a missing person incident, after a classmate of the girl spotted her at 7:30 p.m. in the Santa Clarita area, said Deputy Benita Hinojos.

Authorities were also basing the change in status of the case on other information, which they declined to release.

After the incident in El Salvador, the family moved to Newhall and Nuria began school at Canyon High School last spring.

The family said they feared retribution from Chavez when he got out of prison in El Salvador.

Nuria is 5 feet tall, weighs about 100 pounds, has brown hair and black eyes. She was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, white jeans and black boots.