The mother of an Arizona teenager who showed up at a Montana police station nearly four years after she disappeared said it is a “miracle” that her daughter was found alive.
“I do feel I owe this video to the community and to God because first of all, I want to give glory to God for answering our prayers and for this miracle,” Jessica Nuñez said in a video message Wednesday, about an hour after authorities announced that Alicia Navarro had been located.
“For everyone who has missing loved ones, I want you to use this case as an example that miracles do exist and never lose hope and always fight,” she continued.
Navarro, now 18, went missing from her mother’s home in Glendale, Arizona on September 15, 2019. Nuñez told NBC’s “Dateline” in 2020 that she had found a note in her daughter’s bedroom saying she ran away, but Nuñez said that was out of character for the then 14-year-old.
The FBI and the Center for Missing and Exploited Children helped in searching for Navarro.
Authorities in Glendale said Wednesday that Navarro went to a police station in a small Montana town near the Canadian border and told them that she was the missing girl.
“She is by all accounts safe, she is by all accounts healthy, and she is by all accounts happy,” Jose Santiago, a spokesman for Glendale police, told reporters at a news conference.
Police Lt. Scott Waite said that the case remains under investigation. They did not immediately have details on how she arrived in Montana.
“Every indication she’s given to us so far is that she willfully left her home,” Waite said. “Now the dynamics surrounding that decision are obviously something we’re looking into.”
Waite said that the teen arrived at the police station by herself. Santiago said she “basically asked for help to clear her off of a missing juvenile list.” Authorities would not name the town and said Navarro is not facing any charges.
Nuñez, who has been reunited with her daughter, said in her video that she does not have any details surrounding the disappearance.
“But the important thing is that she is alive. And I want to thank the community and God for all that you have done,” she said.
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