Reappeared teen Alicia Navarro’s (middle) mother Jessica Nunez (left) urged the public to ‘move on’ from her daughter’s story (Pictures: Facebook/Finding Alicia/Glendale Police Department)
The mother of a missing teen who walked into a police station four years after running away from home has asked the public to ‘move on’ even as an investigation into her mysterious reappearance continues.
Alicia Navarro’s mother, Jessica Nunez, issued an emotional video statement on Sunday, a week after her now 18-year-old daughter turned up at a police station 1,000 miles away from their home.
Nunez said that their family has been ‘harassed’ and ‘attacked all over the Internet’ and that ‘the public has gone from trying to help Alicia to doing things like trying to show up to her house and putting her safety in jeopardy’.
‘So I beg you, please no more TikToks, no more reaching out to Alicia or to me with your speculation or questions or assumptions,’ Nunez said in her video posted on Facebook. ‘This is not a movie, this is our life, this is my daughter.’
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Nunez pleaded: ‘There’s an ongoing investigation, and I’m begging you to move on.’
On September 15, 2019, just days before her 15th birthday, Alicia left a note for her parents at their Arizona home that read: ‘I ranaway. I will be back. I swear. I’m sorry.’
Last Sunday, she reappeared at a police station in the small Montana town of Havre to take herself off the missing list. It came long after the FBI and Center for Missing and Exploited Children called off search efforts.
Nunez last week said, ‘I want to give glory to God for answering prayers and for this miracle’ and that ‘miracles do exist’. She maintained the same message in her latest statement.
Alicia Navarro’s mother Jessica Nunez shared a video statement on Facebook on Sunday night (Picture: Facebook/Jessica Nunez)
‘Let’s focus that my daughter is alive,’ Nunez captioned her video. ‘This is a miracle.’
She started her remarks by saying she has appreciated the public’s support over the past four years.
‘I could never have kept going without all of your love, help and well wishes,’ said Nunez, choking back tears. ‘I can’t even put into words the amount of gratitude I have for you all.’
The mother continued: ‘But now that we know Alicia is alive, I have to ask one more favor of you.
Arizona teenager Alicia Navarro who vanished four years ago reappeared in Montana last week (Picture: Facebook/Jessica Nunez)
‘I know you want answers, and I do too, but the public’s search for answers has taken a turn for the dangerous.
‘My job has always been to protect her and just as I have never given up on her before, I won’t stand for the treatment now.’
In asking for privacy, Nunez noted, ‘I love her more than anything in the world, and I think I have shown you that.’
Nunez shared her video a day after neighbors reportedly said that Alicia was shouting at an unidentified man in an apartment unit in Havre close to the police station.
Alicia Navarro’s mysterious reappearance is under investigation by police (Picture: FOX 10)
‘I was here the other day and I heard them yelling. She did say, “I will go back.” But that’s all I heard,’ a neighbor Garrett Smith, 22, told the New York Post. ‘It was the day before she turned herself in.’
On Friday, police reportedly arrested a man at a Havre apartment unit close to the police station, and neighbors said they saw a young woman resembling Alicia emerge from the room shortly after.
Police last week released clips of Alicia speaking with them in a video call. Alicia told the cops that ‘nobody hurt me’ and ‘thank you for offering help to me’. She agreed at the time to speak to cops again amid the ongoing investigation into her disappearance and return.
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Reappeared teen Alicia Navarro’s mother Jessica Nunez asked the public to ‘move on’ from the mysterious case.
