Law Enforcement and Missing Children

Authorities in Washington County, North Carolina, say an 11‑year‑old girl kidnapped nearly six years ago from Duarte, California, was found alive Tuesday living under a fake name and enrolled in the local school district. The child vanished at age 5 on June 2, 2020, amid a Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services investigation, and deputies later concluded her mother — who had custody and stopped communicating with DCFS — was likely responsible for the disappearance. The breakthrough came after a tip that a student in the Washington County School District might be the missing girl, prompting a multi‑agency effort from North Carolina to California to verify her identity and place her in protective custody. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which had issued an updated age‑progression image three months earlier, called the recovery a testament to persistent coordination and a reminder that long‑term missing‑child cases can still end with rescues. No arrests have yet been made, and neither the Washington County Sheriff’s Office nor the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has commented on next investigative steps, leaving open questions about how the child was moved across the country and kept hidden in plain sight for years.