A man was questioned by authorities just a few days after an Arizona teen reappeared 1,000 miles away after going missing in 2019, 4 years ago, is thought to have some connection to her case.
Alicia Navarro was 14 when she disappeared from her Glendale, Arizona home on Sept. 15, 2019.
Alicia, now 18, showed up to a police station in Havre, Montana last week. Alicia personally identified herself and asked police to take her off the missing persons list.
“She is by all accounts safe, she is by all accounts healthy, and she is by all accounts happy,” Jose Santiago, a spokesman for Glendale police said.
As authorities work to figure out the timeline since Alicia disappeared, a man was detained and questioned. The identity of the man has not been released, nor have the contents of the interview been disclosed. No arrests have been made, and the man was released after questioning.
Glendale police spokesperson Gina Winn said that three additional people were also interviewed. However, authorities are still determining if a crime occurred as the investigation continues.
Alicia reportedly told authorities that she was unharmed after she reappeared.
A neighbor living next to Alicia in Montana allegedly heard her say “I will go back” the day before she arrived at the police department.
“I was here the other day and I heard them yelling. She did say, ‘I will go back.’ But that’s all I heard,” Garrett Smith, 22.
Smith said that he talked to Alicia for the first time just a few days before she went to the Montana police station. She had told him that she was looking for her real uncle while they met at a post office.
“Alicia and the guy she lives with have been residents of Havre apartments at least since I moved here a year ago. I don’t know how long they were here before me,” Smith added.
In a Facebook video on Sunday, Alicia’s mother, Jessica Nuñez, thanked her followers for support over the years and asked for privacy as the investigation unfolds.
“Now that we know Alicia is alive, I have to ask one more favor of you,” Nuñez said. “I know you want answers and I do too, but the public search for answers has taken a turn for the dangerous. I have been harassed, my family has been attacked all over the internet. The public has gone from trying to help Alicia to doing things like showing up to her house and putting her safety in jeopardy.”
She went on to ask people to stop making social media videos or reaching out to her or Alicia in search of answers.
“This is not a movie, this is our life,” Nuñez said.
