Alicia Navarro. It’s a name many Glendale recognize well after the then-14-year-old girl disappeared in 2019.
Thousands of fliers were printed and taped onto poles, store windows, and even cars.
ABC15 went back to the community where Alicia Navarro used to live with her mom.
Neighbors celebrated over Wednesday's news that she was found safe, but understandably had many questions.
Kelly Scachct was one of them.
"Who took you? Where did you go? How did you get there? How did you meet this person?" she asked. Though she tells us, the community is just happy the teen is alive.
"It's a godsend that she's safe… and I couldn't imagine being a mother, what her family went through all this time," Scachct added.
Navarro disappeared in 2019, days before her 15th birthday. Authorities believed the teen left her home at the time, of her own free will.
On July 23rd, the now 18-year-old walked into the Havre Police Department in Montana and identified herself.
She was alone and requested to change her “missing person” status.
"This was something I don't think any of us saw coming, but it's a happy ending," said Trent Steele, president and national director of Investigative Operations at Anti-Predator Project.
He's also a private investigator with the Anti-Predator Project.
Steele has been working this case for years.
"When somebody goes missing for this amount of time, we have to rebuild their life for the last three years and figure out what happened," Steele told ABC15.
He says Navarro, who's not in police custody, has spoken to her mom Jessica Nuñez, but they have not met in person just yet.
"While she's been found alive, the investigation is far from over."
ABC15 spoke to Nuñez who says she is not ready to go on camera.
Though Nuñez shares she's happy to know her daughter is alive, she's extremely overwhelmed with many emotions.
