A private investigator has suggested that the reunion between an autistic teenager who disappeared from her Arizona home for nearly four years and her mother may not have gone as smoothly as the family would have liked.
Alicia Navarro, 14, disappeared from her Glendale home in 2019, sparking a large-scale manhunt involving the FBI.
In July, the now 19-year-old walked into a police station 1,000 miles away, identified herself as a missing person and is said to have found her mother after turning up in Montana.
However, a private investigator said that despite mother Jessica Nunez’s claim that the two had planned to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas together, something may have gone wrong.
Mother Jessica Nunez explained that she and her daughter Alicia Navarro, 19, had planned to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas together
In July, Alicia Navarro walked into a police station in Montana and identified herself as a missing person. In the picture she is seen as a 14-year-old – although she is now 19 years old
Trent Steele, co-founder of the Florida-based nonprofit Anti-Predator Project and chief spokesman for the family, has expressed doubts about whether mother and daughter have even had a reunion yet – even though Alicia was found four months ago.
“We can’t even comment or confirm that they did it.” [Alicia and her mother] “I’m reunited at this point,” Steele told The Sun.
“I know there are some reports out there that it is her [Alicia] After they were reunited, they said they spoke to a family spokesman. “I handle all media on behalf of the family, so I’m not sure who they spoke to.”
Steele declined to provide information about the exact living conditions of the family members.
“The family will come out and talk about all of this when they’re ready.” They’ve made it pretty clear that they just don’t want any more media attention, they don’t want to comment on it. “There may come a time when they do, but for now they just want some privacy.”
Private investigator Trent Steele doubted that mother and daughter had ever met again
Nunez seemed less than pleased as she recounted how a planned press conference featuring her daughter, pictured, had been canceled – and that she would be shutting down the Facebook page set up to help find Alicia
In a cryptic video message on Wednesday, Nunez appeared less than pleased as she recounted how a planned press conference with her daughter had suddenly been canceled – and that she would be closing the Facebook page set up to help with the search Helping daughter Alicia.
A press conference was planned for the family in Chicago, but it was suddenly canceled.
Nunez appeared to be reading from a carefully prepared script, her voice faltering several times.
“I know a press conference was planned for this time, but circumstances have changed and I have decided to release this video statement instead,” she said hesitantly.
“It was a very difficult journey, but it had a happy ending and today my journey is complete again.”
“The holidays in our house are going to be extra special this year because of money,” Nunez continued before taking a deep breath and sighing and continuing her statement.
“But none of this would have been possible without the support my family and I have received from all of you.”
When asked about the nature of the video, Steele was equally cryptic.
“Everyone can somehow deduce whatever they want from it.” It can mean many things – it can mean that they are together; This could mean that they spoke on the phone, or that they chatted online.
“It can mean a lot of different things. “We’re staying very vague on this for good reason.”
Earlier this week, a family representative confirmed the teenager had received medical treatment and said there were “challenges” ahead as she had not attended school since her disappearance.
Alicia Navarro was believed to have been reunited with her mother after she disappeared from her Arizona home in 2019 at the age of 14 – but that may no longer be the case
Earlier this week, it was suggested that mother Jessica Nunez and her formerly missing daughter Navarro would spend Christmas and Thanksgiving together – but that may no longer be true
Steele’s report that mother and daughter may not yet be reunited contradicts that of the Glendale Police Department.
Lt. Scott Waite said Navarro had an “emotionally overwhelming” reunion with her mother and was “very apologetic for what she did to her mother.”
Nunez’s nightmare ordeal began when her daughter disappeared from the family home on September 15, 2019, just a week before her 15th birthday.
She left her parents a note that said, “I ran away.” I will come back, I swear. I’m sorry.’
Despite a multi-agency search and thousands of tips, she eluded authorities for more than four years.
But in July, she strolled into a Maricopa County police station and asked to be taken off the missing list so she could reapply for a driver’s license.
Soon after, investigators discovered that she was living with her boyfriend, Edmund Davis, 36, on the Fort Belknap Reservation in Montana.
Davis has since been charged with child sexual abuse after material he tried to hide in a trash can was found on his cellphone after police searched his home in Montana.
Her mother expressed concerns that Navarro, who has been diagnosed as high-functioning on the autism spectrum, may have been lured away by someone she met online when she disappeared four years earlier.
Edmund Davis, 36, is being held on $1 million bond at the Hill County Detention Center on two counts of child sexual abuse
Investigators from the police, FBI and U.S. Marshals Office have been trying to determine what happened to Navarro after her disappearance. Police said Navarro told them nothing happened to her.
Over the years, Nunez worked with various private investigative services, put up billboards, appeared on television shows and used social media in her efforts to find her daughter.
She said her daughter’s reappearance was proof that “miracles do exist” and urged others not to give up hope as she announced she would close the page seeking information about her daughter’s whereabouts .
In a statement on Facebook, she added: “My family is now complete.” “Thank you everyone for all the concern and support, God is a miracle worker.”
The day before she disappeared, the teenager asked her mother if she could stay home from school.
Nunez agreed and the duo then spent a pleasant day visiting a chocolate factory.
But that night, Navarro asked her mother when she was going to bed and slipped out of the house while she was asleep.
“I am more than 90 percent sure that my daughter met this person online,” she claimed at the time.
She added that her daughter is quite a cautious person, so it would have been unusual for her to be easily lured.
“Knowing my daughter’s personality, I don’t think she would have fallen for it,” Nunez said. “That person probably took a while to win [her] Trust.’