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Police had not made any arrests as of Friday evening and questions remained about how she obtained there, who she has been with and what she has been doing since she ran away.
HAVRE, Mont. (AP) — A person was detained and questioned by police and his Montana house searched as authorities tried to piece collectively the mysterious disappearance and sudden reappearance this week of Alicia Navarro, who was 14 when she vanished from her Arizona residence 4 years in the past.
Police on Friday supplied no particulars about Wednesday’s search or the identification of the person, who was launched. However Garrett Smith, who lives within the house subsequent to the one which was searched, mentioned for at the very least a 12 months Navarro lived there with the person who was questioned. He described them as quiet and mentioned he hasn’t seen the person for the reason that evening police have been there.
Navarro’s whereabouts have been revealed Sunday when she confirmed up on the Havre police station and instructed officers she needed her identify faraway from the lacking individuals record. Police in Glendale, Arizona, the neighborhood the place she lived earlier than disappearing, held a information convention Wednesday to announce that she’d been discovered.
Exterior of a quick video look on the information convention, Navarro has mentioned nothing publicly. On Friday, an Related Press reporter knocked on the door of the house that was searched in Montana and the lady who opened it mentioned she needed to be left alone. The lady didn’t give her identify however regarded and appeared like Navarro.
Police had not made any arrests as of Friday evening and questions remained about how she obtained there, who she has been with and what she has been doing since she ran away.
Authorities in each states aren’t saying a lot and neither is Alicia Navarro’s household or a personal investigator they employed. Navarro has seen and spoken to her mom, Jessica Nuñez, remotely however they haven’t been reunited in particular person.
Glendale police spokesperson Gina Winn mentioned that an individual was quickly detained for questioning Wednesday and launched as Glendale detectives executed a search warrant in Havre.
“That was the aim of the search warrant, to interview an individual,” she mentioned.
Three different individuals in Havre have been questioned, she mentioned. She declined to call the individuals who have been interviewed and wouldn’t specify whether or not detectives are nonetheless within the Montana city. Winn mentioned authorities are working to find out what occurred over the previous 4 years and whether or not a criminal offense occurred and somebody could possibly be held accountable.
Kidnapping is among the many attainable eventualities, Glendale police Lt. Scott Waite mentioned earlier this week.
Requested why Nuñez hasn’t traveled to Montana to see her daughter, personal investigator Trent Steele, who assisted Nuñez within the seek for Navarro by means of the Miami-based nonprofit Anti-Predator Undertaking, mentioned Nuñez was attending to her different kids at residence in metropolitan Phoenix because the investigation unfolds in Montana. He additionally alluded to a different dynamic.
“They should maintain Alicia shut — the legislation enforcement officers who’re at the moment working the investigation. And till they’re accomplished with what they want, they should maintain her shut,” Steele mentioned. “It has nothing to do with household dynamics.”
Police in Havre and Steele mentioned when Navarro, 18, walked into town’s police division, she additionally talked about wanting to maneuver ahead in life as an grownup, together with getting a driver’s license. She gave the impression to be effective and in good well being, in line with police.
One of many greatest questions stays: How did she find yourself practically 1,400 miles (2,253 kilometers) away from her childhood residence in Glendale, Arizona, in far northern Montana?
Police have mentioned Navarro instructed them she hadn’t been harmed, wasn’t being held, and will come and go as she happy. She doesn’t face any legal prices, they added.
In Havre — a city of about 9,200 individuals surrounded by farmland — Navarro’s story had residents buzzing though most had by no means seen or heard of her. It additionally piqued curiosity when a crew of closely armed legislation enforcement officers entered an house and took a person into custody only a few blocks from the Havre police station Wednesday evening, witnesses instructed The Related Press.
As many as 10 uniformed and undercover officers confirmed up round 8 p.m. and took him away in handcuffs. The person had been residing within the house, mentioned Rick Lieberg, who lives throughout the road.
A younger lady, who resembled Navarro, later emerged from the house — one among six models in an getting old constructing in a residential neighborhood — who Lieberg mentioned he had not beforehand seen.
An individual who works on the Greenback Tree in Havre, Jeff Hummert, mentioned he noticed a younger lady resembling {a photograph} of Navarro final 12 months in a metropolis park simply up the road from the house police searched Wednesday. She was strolling alone and carrying a plastic Walmart bag, Hummert mentioned.
Theories about how Navarro got here to be in Montana topped the dialog Friday among the many regulars at a espresso store inside Gary & Leo’s IGA, a grocery retailer in downtown Havre. With scant particulars from authorities, many of the speak — about Navarro’s attainable vacation spot and whether or not she was being coerced — was conjecture, mentioned former county Coroner Steve Sapp, who joined the dialogue.
“If you’re in legislation enforcement, all these totally different tales about what occurred make it arduous to inform which story is basically true,” Sapp mentioned. “I would love to know extra.”
When Navarro disappeared in 2019, days shy of her fifteenth birthday, she left a observe for her household promising she would return.
“I can be again, I swear,” the observe learn. “I’m sorry.”
The years Navarro has been gone have been agonizing for Nuñez, who by no means stopped looking for her daughter. She paid for a billboard advert in Mexico that featured a photograph of her daughter for a 12 months and purchased 10 extra advertisements in Las Vegas. She spoke at occasions and gave media interviews to lift consciousness. She left flyers round Glendale — at salons, truck stops and parks.
Over time, Nuñez had raised issues that Navarro, who was identified with autism, might have been lured away by somebody she met on-line. Police have emphasised their efforts to afford privateness to Navarro at the same time as investigations transfer ahead.
“She is an grownup, so it’s as much as her whether or not or not she needs to go residence,” Winn mentioned.
Briefly video clips that Glendale police launched shortly after she arrived on the Havre police station, Navarro thanked authorities for providing to assist her and mentioned: “Nobody damage me.”
Nunez declined an interview request. However for years, she had documented her efforts to search out her daughter on a Fb web page titled “Discovering Alicia” and an audio podcast. In an emotional video posted Wednesday, Nunez mentioned “For everybody who has lacking family members, I need you to make use of this case for instance. Miracles do exist. By no means lose hope and at all times struggle.”
Nunez had amassed a loyal following on social media all through the years whereas sharing inspirational quotes, images of Navarro as a younger baby and posts addressed on to her daughter.
“Alicia I do know you’ll fulfill what you promised,” Nunez wrote in a single put up. “You can be again.”
Lee reported from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Related Press reporter Rio Yamat in Las Vegas contributed to this story.