Success Stories
North Carolina Detectives, FBI Stop Abduction of Child to Mexico
The call for help came early on March 12, 2012 to the National Center
for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) in Alexandria, Va. A two-year-old
girl from Haywood County, N.C., was missing, police said, and her mother
may be trying to flee the country with the child.
The child’s aunt had temporary custody, and when the mother did
not return her after a scheduled visitation, the aunt called police.
The aunt had reason to worry: the mother was due in court the next day
on felony drug charges.
NCMEC employees quickly disseminated a poster of the missing child and
mother. Through phone records, the lead detective discovered the mother
had left the state and was in Alabama, possibly on her way to Mexico
to meet up with her boyfriend.
The FBI was notified, and an agent took a copy of the poster to the
local bus depot and interviewed bus attendants. They directed the agent
to another bus company at a nearby Mexican store, from which their buses
make regular runs to Mexico. Records confirmed that the mother had purchased
a ticket the previous day, and the bus she was on was scheduled to stop
at their Houston station for 20 minutes before continuing to Mexico City.
The FBI agent quickly contacted agents in Houston. When agents arrived
at the bus station, they interviewed the station manager and showed him
NCMEC’s poster. The manager at once recognized the mother and child,
who were waiting on the platform for the next bus. The child was safely
recovered, while agents with the Houston Police Department and FBI arrested
the mother.
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