Aranza Maria Ochoa Lopez, a 4-year-old girl from Washington, has been found in Mexico after going missing in 2018, the FBI announced this week. Lopez had been last seen with her biological mother at a mall in Vancouver, Washington, during a supervised visit.
The FBI had worked in conjunction with the Vancouver Police Department in Washington and Mexican law enforcement to locate Lopez, offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to her recovery. After her mother was arrested in Puebla, Mexico in 2019, Mexican authorities located Lopez in Michoacán in February 2021. She was then escorted back to the U.S. by FBI special agents.
Lopez had been in foster care because of complaints of her mother’s abuse before her disappearance. Her mother, Esmeralda Lopez-Lopez, pleaded guilty in 2021 to second-degree kidnapping and robbery and first-degree custodial interference and was sentenced to 20 months in prison.
Richard A. Collodi, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Seattle field office, said: “For more than four years, the FBI and our partners did not give up on Aranza. Our concern now will be supporting Aranza as she begins her reintegration into the U.S.”
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, most abducted children are taken by family members, with only 1% of missing children cases involving abductions by non-family members.
The details of Lopez’s case serve as a reminder of the importance of staying vigilant and reporting any information that could help to locate missing children. It also highlights the need for better protections for children who may be subject to abuse or neglect.
