An Arizona teenager who vanished without a trace nearly four years ago is finally known to be safe after she walked into a police station in Montana, authorities have said.
Alicia Navarro, 18, of Glendale, showed up alone this week in a small town about 40 miles from the Canadian border and identified herself, police in Glendale, a Phoenix suburb, said on Wednesday.
Her disappearance in 2019, at the age of just 14, sparked a massive search that included the FBI.
Santiago said over the years, police had received thousands of tips.
Her mother, Jessica Nunez, raised concerns that Navarro, who was diagnosed as high-functioning on the autism spectrum, may have been lured away by someone she met online.
The name of the town wasn’t immediately disclosed, but Montana is more than 1,000 miles from Arizona.
“She is by all accounts safe, she is by all accounts healthy, and she is by all accounts happy,” police spokesman Jose Santiago said at a news conference.
Investigators were trying to determine what happened to Navarro after her disappearance on September 15, 2019.
Police said Miss Navarro told them that she hadn’t been harmed.
Police said she wasn’t being held and could come and go as she pleased. She does not face any criminal charges, they added.
“She is not in any kind of trouble,” Mr Santiago said.
When she disappeared from her home, Miss Navarro left a signed note that read: “I ran away. I will be back, I swear. I’m sorry.”
Lt Scott Waite said that Miss Navarro had an “emotionally overwhelming” reunion with her mother and was “very apologetic (as) to what she has put her mother through.”
Ms Nunez confirmed that her daughter had been found but said she had no details.
“I want to give glory to God for answering prayers and for this miracle,” she said in a Facebook post.
“For everyone who has missing loved ones, I want you to use this case as an example,” she said.
“Miracles do exist. Never lose hope and always fight.”
