New evidence has shed light on the whereabouts of Arizona’s Alicia Navarro during her four-year disappearance.
Navarro, a teenager, had purportedly been spotted in the company of an unidentified man multiple times in Havre, Montana, the small town where she voluntarily presented herself at the police station last week to end her listing as a missing person.
Garrett Smith, a resident of the same apartment building as Navarro, shared his observations with the New York Post.
He recounted hearing a dispute between Navarro and her male companion. “I was here the other day and I heard them yelling. She did say, ‘I will go back.’ But that’s all I heard,” he stated. His account provides some context to the events leading up to Navarro turning herself in.
The means by which Navarro arrived in Montana remains a puzzle. However, Smith informed the Post that Navarro had been residing in their apartment complex with a man in his twenties for at least a year.
Smith’s first interaction with Navarro happened a few days prior to her appearance at the Havre police station when she asked him for directions to her “uncle” near a post office.
“She was asking for directions. She looked scared,” Smith recalled, adding that she seemed unfamiliar with the surroundings.
Smith further explained, “She said she was walking with her uncle and got lost and she’s looking for 6th Street. I later found out that she was referring to him as her uncle.”
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Navarro expressed to the authorities her desire to be withdrawn from the missing person’s registry, indicating a wish to obtain a driver’s license and strive for a “normal life.”
Smith said that the many police and FBI agents were at the building on Wednesday.
A woman living across the street from the apartment Navarro is believed to be still living in told the Post she was questioned by authorities on Thursday.
“At the end, they asked if I’ve seen a girl about 18 with dark, long hair,” she said, declining to give her name.
Navarro’s mother, Jessica Nunez, reported her daughter missing in 2019 when Navarro was just 14 years old. At the time, Navarro left a note for her mother that read, “I ran away. I will be back, I swear. I’m sorry.”
Concerned that her daughter might have been ensnared by an online predator, Nunez voiced her worries. Additionally, she disclosed that Navarro had been diagnosed as high-functioning on the autism spectrum.
Navarro’s perplexing disappearance instigated a nationwide hunt that included FBI assistance. Over the years, the bureau received an overwhelming number of tips, according to Jose Santiago, a spokesperson for the Glendale, Arizona, police department.
“For more than four years detectives here have followed up on THOUSANDS of leads,” stated a post by the Glendale Police Department on their official Facebook page.
“This week, Alicia walked into a police department in a small town in Montana and identified herself. At that point, Federal partners, local police along with detectives here at Glendale Police began their investigation into this individual,” the statement said.
“Through our interviews, along with family members, we are confident that the now 18-year-old young lady is indeed Alicia Navarro,” the statement concluded.
Police indicated Friday that a man was detained and questioned relating to Navarro’s disappearance. It was not disclosed whether it was the same individual she had shared the apartment with.
The police department has stated that despite Navarro’s reappearance, the case remains open.