Police in a small Montana town were surprised when a girl walked into their station and wanted to report herself as no longer missing. Alicia Navarro disappeared from Glendale, Arizona, a week before her 15th birthday in September of 2019. She’s 18 now and “not in trouble for anything,” police note. They also say that nobody else is under arrest but shortly after she told her story, a nearby apartment was raided by heavy duty law enforcement and a man was led out in cuffs. Updates are trickling in but only as incomplete and unconnected drips.
Missing girl approaches police
They didn’t know the girl had been reported missing as a teen when Alicia Navarro walked into the Havre, Montana, police department on July 26. That was “four years after vanishing from her Arizona home.” She was simply there to tell them, “I’m not missing.” They were thrilled that she seemed healthy, happy and not under any duress.
As an adult, with no pending charges, she was perfectly free to go. They were real curious about how she ended up in their little community and where she had been staying up until now. Especially, before her 18th birthday. All interesting details were carefully left out of the news reports.
Not long after that, witnesses told AP reporters who invaded the tiny town that “a team of heavily armed law enforcement officers a stormed an apartment in Havre, Montana, on Wednesday, and left with a handcuffed man.”
🔥🚨BREAKING: Alicia Navarro is an Arizona girl was missing since 2019, and she walked in Glendale police station today at 18-years-old and asked the cops to remove her off the missing children list. pic.twitter.com/sKnkPCJNA0
— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) July 28, 2023
That bit of excitement occurred only “blocks” from the police station but everything in the whole town lies within the same radius. An unidentified girl matching her photo was spotted at the apartment when “as many as 10 uniformed and undercover officers showed up about 8 p.m.” Police in Havre and Glendale both continue to deny there has been an arrest.
One of the neighbors, Rick Lieberg, lives across the street from the apartment building. He told police a girl looking a lot like the one on the news “came out, talked to the officers, then two ladies pulled up and then she got into a car with them and they left.” That sounds like social services.
After that, “investigators remained at the scene for several hours, taking pictures and doing other work inside the apartment.” The young woman “returned to the apartment building with the two women on Thursday.” Lieberg “did not see her go inside.”
Forty miles from Canada
The sleepy Montana hamlet sits a mere 40 miles from the Canadian border and this is more excitement than the town has seen since the French and Indian War. Glendale, Arizona is the exact opposite.
Part of metropolitan Phoenix, the urban sprawl extends from horizon to horizon in all directions, roasting under unbearable heat. Alicia’s mom lives there and is thrilled to hear her little girl is “by all accounts,” safe, healthy and happy. Jessica Nuñez was particularly worried because Alicia is “autistic but high-functioning.”
She and her husband were asleep when the girl “slipped out of the house.” She left a note saying: “I ran away. I will be back. I swear. I’m sorry.” They didn’t hear another word until they got the call from Montana.
A message from Alicia Navarro's mom. pic.twitter.com/aCBSEbjxTI
— L❤ve🧡thy💛Neighbor (@lisahawkfan) July 26, 2023
They related that Alicia “wanted to make sure her mom knew that she was OK and was very apologetic over the pain her mother went through not knowing where she was for the past four years or even if she was still alive.” As Nuñez posted on social media, “For everyone who has missing loved ones, I want you to use this case as an example. Miracles do exist. Never lose hope and always fight.”
Police note they are still investigating and “the girl currently remains in Montana and is able to come and go as she pleases. She is asking for privacy so she can move on with her life.”
As related by Glendale Police at a press conference, “we can only imagine what she’s going through, mentally, emotionally, as well as her family, and as much as we’d like to say this is the end, this is probably only the beginning of where this investigation will go.” Experts say that from what they’ve seen of the girl and her behavior, she could be suffering from a form of “Stockholm Syndrome” which is now fashionably called “trauma bonded.“
