Mexican authorities find Washington state 8-year-old missing since 2018, returned to US: FBI

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A Washington state 8-year-old missing since 2018 was recently found in Mexico and returned to the U.S., according to the FBI.

Aranza Maria Ochoa Lopez was kidnapped by her biological mother on Oct. 25, 2018, at a Vancouver, Washington, shopping mall, according to the FBI. She was found and safely recovered by Mexican authorities in February in Michoacán.

FBI special agents escorted Lopez back to the U.S. after she was found.

When the 8-year-old was kidnapped, the FBI determined that she was taken to Mexico.

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Aranza Maria Ochoa Lopez was kidnapped by her biological mother on Oct. 25, 2018, at a Vancouver, Washington, shopping mall, according to the FBI. She was found by Mexican authorities in February in Michoacán. (FBI)

Her mother was taken into custody in September 2019 in Puebla, Mexico, but the 8-year-old wasn't found.

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Richard A. Collodi, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Seattle field office, said that law enforcement never gave up on finding Lopez.

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"For more than four years, the FBI and our partners did not give up on Aranza," Collodi said. "Our concern now will be supporting Aranza as she begins her reintegration into the U.S."