Mom of missing Arizona teen who surfaced after 4 years says family being "harassed"

The mother of an Arizona teenager who surfaced four years after disappearing without a trace is asking people to give her family privacy as police continue their investigation. 

Last week Arizona police announced that 18-year-old Alicia Navarro, of Glendale, showed up alone and unharmed in a small town about 40 miles from the Canadian border and identified herself. 

Police said the investigation into her disappearance at age 14 on Sept. 15, 2019, remains ongoing, but that she is not facing any criminal charges. 

Let’s focus that my daughter is alive This is a miracle

Posted by Finding Alicia on Sunday, July 30, 2023

But since her reappearance, online and media speculation about what happened to Navarro has now turned into harassment, according to her mother, Jessica Nunez.

Nunez posted a video message sending thanks to those who sent well wishes during her daughter's disappearance but said now that Alicia has been found she has to ask for one more favor after the public search for answers turned "dangerous."

"I have been harassed, my family has been attacked all over the internet. 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," Nunez said in a video posted to Facebook. 

"So I beg you, please no more TikToks, no more reaching out to Alicia or me with your speculation or questions or assumptions. This is not a movie, this is our life, this is my daughter," she pleads. 

"I love her more than anything in the world, and I think I have shown you that," Navarro continues. "There's an ongoing investigation and I'm begging you to move on."

Nunez had previously raised concerns that Navarro, who was diagnosed as high-functioning on the autism spectrum, may have been lured away by someone she met online.

Police said Navarro told them she hadn't been harmed and that she wasn't being held and could come and go as she pleased. 

When she disappeared from her home, Navarro left a signed note that read: "I ran away. I will be back, I swear. I'm sorry."