Child illegally taken by her mother from US to Mexico in 1999 is found
and reconnects with dad
[March 13, 2025]
By DAVE COLLINS
Carlos Reyes-Couvertier spent the past quarter century trying to find
his missing daughter. There were multiple trips to Mexico, where police
believed she was living after having been abducted by her mother. Local
and federal authorities worked the case, while national missing person
groups helped with publicity pleading for information.
Andrea Reyes was nearing her second birthday in 1999 when her mother,
Rosa Tenorio, who did not have custody rights, illegally fled with the
girl from a scheduled visitation in New Haven, Connecticut, police said.
The search for Reyes went cold, but Reyes-Couvertier never gave up hope.
Years later, news finally came: a detective who had renewed the
investigation in 2023 discovered that Reyes, now 27, was living in
Mexico, and DNA testing would confirm they were father and daughter.
Now the two are hoping to meet in-person soon after talking on the phone
and messaging. Reyes-Couvertier spoke at a news conference Wednesday in
New Haven with police, FBI agents and others.
“It was a moment of joy,” the father, now 55, said about reconnecting
with his daughter for the first time in more than 25 years. “We have
some sense of happiness, but the chapter is not closed yet. There’s a
lot of steps that we have to take.”
Reyes was in Mexico and was not present Wednesday. A message seeking
comment was sent to an Instagram account for an Andrea Reyes who lives
in Puebla, Mexico, southeast of Mexico City, where authorities say
Reyes-Couvertier's daughter now resides.
Reyes-Couvertier, a second-grade teacher in New Haven, had legal custody
of Reyes. After she disappeared, New Haven police worked with the FBI to
try to find her. City police obtained an arrest warrant for Tenorio for
alleged felony custodial interference. The warrant is still valid today,
but only within the U.S., authorities said.
In the spring of 2000, officials in Puebla notified authorities in
Connecticut that Reyes and her mother had been located, but they
declined to take any action, New Haven police said. Mexican officials
said they did not consider parental kidnapping an extraditable offense
under a treaty between Mexico and the U.S., police said.
The case eventually went cold, despite multiple visits to Mexico by
Reyes-Couvertier, investigative work by New Haven police and the FBI and
efforts by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
In 2023, New Haven Detective Kealyn Nivakoff renewed the investigation,
as part of her work focusing on missing persons in the department's
Special Victims Unit. Officials said Nivakoff identified a woman in
Puebla she believed could be Reyes-Couvertier's daughter and contacted
her, through the use of search warrants, interviews and social media.
[to top of second column]
|
Carlos Reyes-Couvertier speaks at a news conference at the New Haven
Police Department on Wednesday, March 12, 2025 concerning the
solving of the cold case of the parental abduction in 1999 of his
daughter, Andrea Reyes. Behind him is a photo of his daughter as a
child. (Arnold Gold/ Hearst Connecticut Media via AP)
Working with the DNA testing company Othram, Nivakoff persuaded
Reyes to send in a DNA sample, and a comparison with a sample
provided by Reyes-Couvertier confirmed they were father and
daughter, police said.
Nivakoff said she believed from the outset that there was a good
probability of solving the case.
“I’m really pleased with the outcome. At the same time, for us as a
police department, this might be closure on our end but it’s
certainly not closure on their part. This is really just the
beginning of a whole healing process for them,” she said.
Neither Nivakoff nor Reyes-Couvertier would discuss specific
communications with Reyes.
Reyes-Couvertier, who was New Haven's Teacher of the Year for 2017,
and his wife, Lucia Rafala, thanked police, federal authorities and
missing persons groups for all their help.
“After 25 years, God has answered our prayers and blessed us with
the chance to know her again,” Rafala said. “We recognize that this
reacquaintance will have challenges. However, we are confident that
God is building the path before us and leading our steps.”
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is helping to
prepare the father and daughter for an in-person reunion, said John
Bischoff III, vice president for the center's missing children
division.
“As you can imagine, it’s a very emotional time for the family,”
Bischoff said in a phone interview. “He found his daughter that he
had not seen, not spoken with for 25 years.”
One task for setting up the reunion is finding an appropriate place
for them to meet that will be comfortable for both of them, he said.
Another is helping them through the range of emotions from such a
traumatic separation long ago, he said.
“It’s absolutely going to be, I’m sure, a scary time for everyone
involved," Bischoff said. “A lot of unknowns. But it’s all positive
in the end because she’s been found.”
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
