Teen Missing for Years Resurfaces at Police Station, But Questions Remain

Alicia Navarro, who was reported missing as a 14-year-old in Glendale, Arizona, has been found healthy and happy, police said Wednesday. She is now 18.

Glendale Police Department media manager Jose Santiago said during a press briefing that Navarro was located in a small Montana town roughly 40 miles from the Canadian border, and was "by all accounts" safe, healthy and happy. According to Santiago, Navarro identified herself to a local police department in Montana and Glendale police worked to confirm her identity.

"I don't think that you could put enough words in the joy that we feel knowing earlier this week when we received a call that Alicia Navarro had identified herself to police officers in Montana," Glendale Police Lieutenant Scott Waite said during the briefing. "Not only the relief and joy for us, for Alicia, for her family and for our community."

Navarro was reported missing by her family members in September 2019 after she left a note for her parents, saying that she was leaving her home in Glendale but would return later. Police previously described her as a high-functioning autistic teen.

Several questions remain in Navarro's case, and police said in a statement sent to Newsweek that investigations into her whereabouts over the past five years or so are "far from being closed." Police said that Navarro, who is turning 19 in the coming months, is asking for privacy.

"We will continue to work with our state, local federal partners and even across state lines to make sure that Alicia has everything that she needs," Waite said at the briefing. "That she's taken care of, that her family is getting the help that they need, and that most importantly that this investigation is completed thoroughly and done correctly."

It is unclear if Navarro had contact with anyone during her time missing or how she transported herself from Glendale—a city roughly nine miles northwest of Phoenix—to Montana. Police said she showed up to the Montana police department by herself and had asked how to take herself off the missing-juveniles list. She also did not require any medical attention when she arrived at the station.

The name of the town where Navarro was found is not being shared at this time for privacy reasons.

Preliminary conversations with Navarro indicate that the case initially began as a "runaway situation," but Waite told reporters that detectives have not discounted any possibilities, including kidnapping.

Waite also briefly described the moment that Navarro was reunited with her family, adding that it was "emotionally overwhelming" for all involved.

"I think for Alicia, is that she felt like now was the time that, whether it's emotionally or mentally, that she wants to take the next steps in her life," Waite said in regards to what he believed could have "triggered" Navarro to want to reveal her whereabouts nearly four years later.

"She's expressed a desire to move forward in life and do the things that a normal, healthy adult would do," he continued. "And we certainly want to help her get those."