Aranza Maria Lopez: Washington girl, 8, abducted by abusive mom 5 years ago found safe in Mexico
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MICHOACAN, MEXICO: An 8-year-old girl was found safe and alive after being abducted from a Washington state mall in 2018, reports FBI. Aranza Maria Ochoa Lopez was only four years old when she was last seen on a supervised visit with her birth mother at the mall in Vancouver, Washington.
Aranza's mother was arrested in Puebla, Mexico, in 2019, but the 8-year-old was reported missing until she was found in Michoacán, Mexico, in February of this year. The girl was turned over to the US, authorities said. "For more than four years, the FBI and our partners did not give up on Aranza," said Richard A Collodi, special agent in charge of the Seattle field office of FBI in a statement. "Our concern now will be supporting Aranza as she begins her reintegration into the US," he added.
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What charges did Aranza Lopez' s mom face?
Aranza's mother, Esmeralda Lopez-Lopez pleaded guilty in January 2021, to second-degree kidnapping and robbery and first-degree custodial interference in Clark County Superior Court. According to The Columbian, she was sentenced to behind the bars for two decades.
The mother allegedly tormented the girl, which is why she was placed in the care of the state in 2017 and placed in foster care. The girl was reportedly covered in large bruises, and Lopez-Lopez was considered a danger due to a history of abuse. She was granted visits with her daughter twice a week, and during one of those visits, she asked to take her daughter to a restroom at the mall. According to the report, she then fled with the girl and escaped in a car driven by an accomplice. The FBI filed a missing person report, and authorities later learned that the girl had been taken to Mexico.
The agency said officials will not release information on her whereabouts for her safety.
Esmeralda Lopez-Lopez did not know Aranza's whereabouts
Lopez-Lopez said she no longer knew where her daughter was when she was arrested. Prosecutors said she helped investigators find her, and her defense attorney said Lopez-Lopez believed the girl was safe with her family.
Other investigating agencies included the FBI’s Legal Attache in Mexico City, Vancouver Police Department, Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families, Fiscalia General del Estado de Michoacan and the Instituto Nacional de Migracion.