Girl Missing for 10 Days Calls Home

An 11-year-old Laguna Hills girl who ran away with her 21-year-old boyfriend called home to say she was safe--and that she wants to stay in Mexico and become the man’s wife, the girl’s mother said Wednesday.

Guadalupe Hernandez Vasquez, missing for about 10 days, called her mother Monday night and said she was in Mexico with the family of Asael Perez Celis, a construction worker.

On Monday, Celis’ father called the girl’s mother, Maria Vasquez, to tell her that the couple were at his house and that he wanted Vasquez to sign paperwork allowing them to marry. Vasquez said she refused and demanded the return of her eldest daughter.

“She’s my daughter, and I love her,” Vasquez said Wednesday. “[Celis’] mother got on the phone too and told me that she loves her like a daughter and wants to keep her. She may care for her, but she doesn’t love her like I love her.”

Guadalupe spoke briefly with her mother, telling her she saw no reason to come home and was afraid to return, her mother said. Mexican authorities were unable to find Guadalupe and Celis at the home after the telephone call, Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Amormino said.

The legal age for marriage in Mexico is 14, but loopholes in Mexican law may allow the marriage to take place, Orange County Sheriff’s Sgt. Christine Murray said.

One way would be for the girl to get permission from her father, who lives in Guadalajara. But Maria Vasquez said Wednesday that the girl’s father also does not want her to marry.

Vasquez, who sobbed openly when speaking about her daughter, said she is in frequent contact with her ex-husband, who is working closely with authorities in Mexico to find the girl.

Murray said her department has been coordinating efforts to locate Guadalupe through the justice departments of both countries.

Although the girl left willingly with Celis, police are treating the case as an abduction in light of the girl’s age and the fact that Celis took her without her parents’ permission, Amormino said.

Celis and his father had rented a room in the girl’s Laguna Hills apartment for about 15 months, until her parents became concerned that Celis and the girl were growing too close and ordered him to leave.

Celis picked Guadalupe up about 8:30 a.m. March 6, after the girl’s mother and stepfather had left for work. Since the two were last seen that afternoon, there had been no solid leads on the girl’s whereabouts, although her family and investigators always believed the pair had headed for Mexico.

Times correspondent Louise Roug also contributed to this report.