Girl Who Vanished in ’98 Found Safe

A 15-year-old Pasadena girl who police say was abducted three years ago by her mother’s boyfriend was reunited with her family Friday after authorities in Sonora, Mexico, alerted Pasadena police to her whereabouts.

The girl vanished in February 1998 after leaving Washington Middle School with Gustavo Anguiano, who had just broken up with her mother.

After three years of pursuing the case, Pasadena detectives learned earlier this week from state and local police in Mexico that she was living in the desert city of Hermosillo.

“Thank God she is alive,” her mother said after speaking to her daughter by phone for the first time as police drove the teenager up from Mexico. “The three years have been times that have been very difficult and very sad.”

Trying to contain her emotions, the mother said that during the phone conversation, there was laughter, silence and talk. She said her daughter told her she had tried to communicate with her over the years but couldn’t. The reason was not clear. “She was thankful to God to be reunited,” the mother said.

Anguiano abandoned the teenager three or four months ago and he remains a fugitive wanted on suspicion of child abduction, said Pasadena Police Chief Bernard Melekian.

“She was living with a family” not related to Anguiano, he said.

In 1998, Melekian said, Anguiano coerced the teenager into leaving with him and then convinced her that she would be arrested if she came back to the United States.

“Mr. Anguiano convinced her they had some sort of relationship. I don’t want to go into details,” he said.

The mother, speaking in Spanish, thanked Pasadena detectives George Vidal and Monica Cuellar for never giving up their search, which also involved the FBI and the Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The teenager was reunited with her mother and 11-year-old brother Friday night at an undisclosed location.

Pasadena police had known that Anguiano had connections to the region where the girl was discovered. They were able to overcome the red tape that can hinder international police cooperation because they had worked with Mexican authorities earlier this year, Melekian said. In March, Pasadena police arrested Johnny Ortiz in Mexico City on suspicion of murdering a 17-year-old Pasadena flamenco dancer.

Melekian said those connections developed by Det. Alejandro Peinado led to the break in the search for the teenager.

“An extraordinary level of cooperation between Pasadena police, Sonoma State police and Hermosillo police helped find her,” said Melekian at a news conference attended by the girl’s mother.

Melekian said the girl “is apparently in good health.”