Woman abducted from CT as a toddler alive and well in Mexico
Andrea Michelle Reyes was just a month shy of turning 2 when her mother abducted her from New Haven in October 1999.
Now, with the help of DNA technology and a Texas-based forensic laboratory, officials have learned that the little girl with curly black hair and brown eyes who went missing more than 25 years ago is alive and well. She has spent most of her life living in Puebla, Mexico, a city of more than 1.5 million people southeast of Mexico City.
Reyes is now 27 years old.
When Reyes went missing, New Haven police launched an investigation and eventually sought help from the FBI and other agencies. The theory at the time was that Rosa Tenorio, the girl’s non-custodial parent, abducted the girl because she was upset the girl’s father had remarried.
A felony warrant was issued for Tenorio’s arrest, and details of the girl’s abduction were entered into the NamUs, the national database for missing persons.
Officials created several age-progressed images over the years to aid in the search of Reyes; her father never gave up looking for her.
Eventually, the search led officials to Mexico, but the girl’s specific whereabouts were unclear. Officials learned Tenorio was very experienced in crossing the border illegally, making her difficult to track down. Reyes’ father, who has asked to be anonymous at this time, traveled to Mexico several times looking for his daughter, police said.
In 2023, a cold case detective with New Haven’s Special Victims Unit took up the investigation once more, and through interviews, search warrants and social media, determined Reyes was most likely living in Puebla.
During this new investigation, Reyes made contact with the man she believed to be her father, officials said. In order to confirm the woman’s identity, the New Haven Police Department teamed up with the Othram laboratory to evaluate the potential familial relationship between the girl believed to be Reyes and the man who had been looking for her for more than 25 years.
DNA confirmed a father-daughter relationship, Othram said.
"This case reflects the hard work of our officers and detectives," New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson said in a statement Wednesday. "While cases may have investigative leads exhausted at the time, no cold case is ever truly closed. We remain committed to resolving every cold case and this is a perfect example of that effort."
Jacobson said the arrest warrant for Tenorio is still active, but only valid within the United States. Tenorio is believed to still be living in Mexico.
This case is part of Othram's Project 525 initiative, which aims to bring resolution to 525 juvenile cases published in NamUs, Othram said in a release.
Othram, owned by David and Kristen Mittelman, has teamed up with Connecticut agencies on several cases to identify missing people or human remains. This was the seventh case in Connecticut solved using technology developed by Othram, according to the company.
The company has used crowdfunding to help pay for the DNA testing, but has also received contributions from NamUs.