Girl Taken in 2007 Is Reunited With Mother

Police say Jacqueline Hernandez was brought to Mexico by her father
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 14, 2021 10:40 AM CDT
Girl Taken in 2007 Is Reunited With Mother
The reunion.   (Clermont (Florida) Police Department)

The police department in Clermont, Fla., has taken the unusual step of releasing a photo of a mother hugging her daughter. But this was no ordinary hug. It shows Angelica Vences-Salgado embracing 19-year-old Jacqueline Hernandez in Laredo, Texas, near the border with Mexico, reports CBS News. The two hadn't seen each other in 14 years. In a 2007 missing-child flyer, authorities accused the girl's father, Pablo Hernandez, of abducting her in Florida and said he might take her to Mexico. The case remained cold until earlier this month, when Jacqueline Hernandez reached out to her mother from Mexico via social media, per the Orlando Sentinel.

She asked to meet her mother at the border, and state and federal authorities made it happen last week after verifying the young woman's identity. "A kidnapped daughter was reunited with her mother as a result of enforcement working together," says Homeland Security official Davide Pezzutti in Orlando, per CBS. Authorities didn't provide details about exactly where Hernandez had been living in Mexico or on the whereabouts of Pablo Hernandez. However, a warrant for his arrest is still active, per Click Orlando. It wasn't immediately clear if Jacqueline Hernandez planned to live permanently in the US. (More cold cases stories.)

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