Missing girl found alive after 26 yrs following FBI investigation

A lady who was abducted as a toddler 26 years ago has been found alive and safe.

Andrea Michelle Reyes, who was just 23 months old when she was taken from her home in October 1999, was located in New Haven, Connecticut, after a cold case was reopened with the help of the FBI, social media, and advanced DNA technology.

Andrea’s mother, Rosa Tenorio, who did not have primary custody, was allegedly responsible for the abduction.

A felony warrant for Custodial Interference was issued for Rosa at the time, but despite extensive searches, both Andrea and Rosa remained missing and untraceable for over two decades.

The breakthrough came when authorities in New Haven decided to revisit the case.

Using social media, search warrants, and a review of previous interviews, investigators were able to locate Andrea.

She reached out to the man she believed to be her father and agreed to provide a DNA sample.

The results confirmed a father-daughter relationship, positively identifying Andrea as the child who was kidnapped in 1999.

According to DNASolves.com, the DNA comparison was a critical step in confirming Andrea’s identity.

This case marks the seventh publicly identified case in Connecticut solved using forensic genetic genealogy technology developed by Othram, a leading company in the field.

Now 27 years old, Andrea has been reunited with her father.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System had previously placed both Andrea and Rosa near Mexico City, but despite multiple searches by Andrea’s father and family members in Mexico, the case remained unsolved until now.

The investigation gained momentum with the assistance of the FBI and the use of age-progressed images of Andrea.

*Missing children: A global Concern

Missing child cases are a significant global issue, with thousands of children reported missing each year.

In the United States alone, an estimated 460,000 children are reported missing annually.

Other countries, such as Germany and India, also face high numbers of missing children, with 100,000 and 96,000 cases reported yearly, respectively.

The reasons for these disappearances range from parental abductions and human trafficking to voluntary runaways.

Efforts to address this issue include international cooperation, advanced technologies like forensic genetic genealogy, and public awareness campaigns.

*A Nigerian family’s search for a missing child

In a related story, a Nigerian man, Olusegun Adewole Samson Ifeanyichukwu, has shared his family’s ongoing search for a child born in 1999 whose whereabouts remain unknown.

The child, named Adewole Michael Ibukunoluwa Onyekachukwu, is believed to be Olusegun’s stepbrother.

The family’s only clue to his existence is a copy of his birth certificate.

Olusegun has appealed to the public for assistance in locating the child, whose fate remains uncertain.

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