8-year-old Washington girl abducted from mall in 2018 found in foreign country

A girl abducted from a Washington state mall in 2018 has been found in Mexico and returned to the US.

Aranza Maria Ochoa Lopez, now 8 years old, was found in Michoacán, Mexico. KGUN-TV.

Statement FBI said that because “Aranza’s security and privacy are of paramount importance, [h]U.S. location not disclosed.”

“For more than four years, the FBI and our partners have not given up on Aranza,” said Special Agent Richard A. Collodi.

“Now our concern will be to support Aranza as she begins her reintegration into the US,” he said.

Aranza Maria Ochoa Lopez, 8, who went missing in October 2018, was returned safely to the United States in February 2023 after being found in Michoacán, Mexico.
https://t.co/SVEGISNUTZ

— KOMO News (@komonews) March 11, 2023

The FBI reported that the girl was taken away on October 25, 2018.

The girl was in care state when she was abducted, according to Colombian.

She was placed in foster care in 2017 after valid complaints were made of physical abuse by her mother, Esmeralda Lopez-Lopez.

The girl had large bruises, and Lopez-Lopez was considered a risk to the girl’s health. Lopez-Lopez received two supervised visits a week when the girl was kidnapped.

Lopez-Lopez asked to take her daughter to the toilet during a visit to the Vancouver Mall. Instead, she led the girl out of the mall and into a waiting car.

After more than a year on the run in Mexico, 21-year-old Esmeralda Lopez-Lopez appeared in #Clarkqua court on Friday to file charges related to her alleged kidnapping of her 5-year-old daughter during a supervised visit to #Vanva Shopping mall in October 2017. pic.twitter.com/8Ts3IqSERr

— Jerzy Shedlock (@jerzyms) October 4, 2019

Lopez-Lopez was taken into custody in September 2019 in Puebla, Mexico, and pleaded guilty in 2021 to kidnapping and second-degree robbery and interfering with first-degree custody, according to the UK. daily mail.

“I feel bad about this. I’m so sorry,” she said during the sentencing. Colombian.

Clark County Superior Court Judge Daniel Stanke rejected comment at the time of her sentencing.

“You shouldn’t have taken her to where you no longer know where she is,” Stanke said.

While hunting for a child FBI offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to her finding, according to the Daily Mail.