A Florida girl who was allegedly abducted by her father in 2007 when she was 6 years old was reunited with her mother at the US-Texas border.
According to the Clermont Police Department, the woman, Jacqueline Hernandez, who was taken in 2007, made contact with her mother on social media in early September and asked to meet at the U.S./Mexico border in Texas.
Her mother, Angelica Vences-Salgado, contacted CPD on Sept. 2 and told officers about the contact, which included the meeting in Texas on Sept. 10.
Numerous agencies — including the Orange County Sheriff’s Office — came together and “coordinated a plan to intercept the victim and to determine if the identity of the female was the victim in this case,” the Clermont Police Department said in a release.
Sheriff’s Office detectives worked with the Central Florida Intelligence Exchange in Orlando, Homeland Security Investigations, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in Orlando, and HSI officials in Loredo, Texas, as part of the effort.
Clermont detectives say the two women arrived to meet as planned on Sept. 10, and at 1:50 p.m. were intercepted at the border by HSI, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the Laredo Police Department.
After a brief investigation at the scene, officials determined the woman was in fact Hernandez, who had been missing for 14 years.
By 4:55 p.m., mother and daughter were finally reunited, investigators said.
“This is a prime example of what can be accomplished when multiple law enforcement agencies and their respective communities work cooperatively together and maintain open lines of communication,” Clermont Police Chief Charles Broadway said. “In this case, several agencies in different counties and states across the nation were able to create a force multiplier and aid in reuniting the victim with her mother after 14 years.”
