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8-year-old Washington girl found in Mexico 4 years after she was kidnapped, FBI says

A child authorities said was kidnapped in 2018 was found in Mexico, FBI says. She’s back in the U.S.
A child authorities said was kidnapped in 2018 was found in Mexico, FBI says. She’s back in the U.S. Getty Images/iStockphoto

An 8-year-old girl from Washington was found in Mexico more than four years after she went missing, authorities said.

The child was found in Michoacan, Mexico, and returned to the U.S. in February, the FBI said in a Wednesday, March 8, news release.

McClatchy News is not including her name to protect her identity.

Her mother kidnapped her from a Vancouver, Washington, shopping mall on Oct. 25, 2018, the FBI said in an initial release. The FBI said it later learned the girl “had been taken to Mexico.”

Her mother was arrested in September 2019 in Puebla, Mexico, the FBI said, but authorities didn’t know where the child was.

She was then found four years after her disappearance by authorities in Mexico.

“For more than four years, the FBI and our partners did not give up ...,” said Richard A. Collodi, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Seattle field office. “Our concern now will be supporting (her) as she begins her reintegration into the U.S.”

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This story was originally published March 9, 2023 at 8:51 AM with the headline "8-year-old Washington girl found in Mexico 4 years after she was kidnapped, FBI says."

Helena Wegner
McClatchy DC
Helena Wegner is a McClatchy National Real-Time Reporter covering the state of Washington and the western region. She’s a journalism graduate from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She’s based in Phoenix.
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