5-year-old New Mexico girl found dead in Rio Grande river three days after she was reported missing
ESPAÑOLA, NEW MEXICO: A five-year-old girl who was reported missing three days ago and sparked a massive search operation that saw the FBI get involved has been found dead.
Renezmae Calzada was reported missing by her mother, Victoria Maestas, on Sunday, September 8, according to KRQE. An AMBER alert was issued the same night, with the Rio Arriba County Sheriff's Office, FBI's New Mexico division, and other local agencies all pooling their resources in a bid to find the five-year-old.
Authorities spent the next three days combing through the Española neighborhoods where she lived, with James Langenberg, Special Agent in charge of the FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office, announcing that they would "follow every lead" and "leave no stone unturned" to bring her back home.
On Wednesday, September 11, search crews combing the Rio Grande river found her body just before noon near Santa Clara Pueblo. Search crews and an Albuquerque boat were spotted on the edge of the river on the southern part of town close to the scene.
Rio Arriba Sheriff James Lujan confirmed Renezmae's death in a press conference later the same day. "This was supposed to be a news conference for an update but it's bad news," he said. "Renezmae has been located, her remains have been located."
He asked the community to offer their prayers for the family of the girl and thanked all the agencies that had assisted them in the search, and ultimately, in the recovery of the five-year-old's body.
An emotional Langenberg did not give too many details about their ongoing investigation but insisted they would find the perpetrator. "Today is for the mourning of Renezmae and offering our condolences to the family," he said. "We will not stop until we can identify the responsible party for Renezmae."
Dispatch records obtained by the Rio Grande Sun show that Maestas reported her daughter missing at 7.39 pm, around nine hours after she was last seen playing in the front yard of her stepfather Malcolm Torres' home.
"The father called her (and) said she has been missing since 9.30 am this morning," the dispatchers wrote. "Malcolm Torres is the father. Father hasn't reported the child missing and thought the (mother's) family picked her up."
Lujan said in the press conference that a person had been taken into custody shortly after Renezmae was reported missing, after first being held in investigative detention. According to dispatch records, that person was Torres, though he was later released and taken back home.
Wilmer Chavarria, the principal at Fairview Elementary where Renezmae was a kindergartner, revealed that the five-year-old had not shown up to school for a week leading up to her disappearance, but said it wasn't unusual for children to miss days during the start of the academic year.
Investigators have not yet declared the young girl's death as a homicide and revealed that, pending the resulting of an autopsy, they are considering it a suspicious death.