Monday afternoon, family members were posting fliers on campus for Aleah Letherer, a 15-year-old who had been missing since Saturday.
At 4 p.m. Tuesday, Letherer was back with her family in Albuquerque.
"Oh my God, we're so thankful," said Crissi Letherer, Aleah's mother.
She said police told her most missing children do not come back alive.
Forty-one-year-old Victor Castellon is in custody in El Paso, Texas, where he was found with Aleah on Tuesday coming back from Juarez, Mexico, Albuquerque Police Department spokeswoman Trish Ahrensfield said.
She said police issued a warrant for Castellon for custodial interference and transporting a minor. Family members suspected Castellon abducted her because he and Aleah had been text-messaging each
other for a while.
Ahrensfield said they had been in contact since February.
She said when they were caught, Aleah said Castellon was her boyfriend.
Aleah's mother said Castellon knew what he was doing and it was not right. He knew she was a little girl, she said.
Crissi said her daughter got Castellon's number through a friend who had dialed a wrong number. The friend gave Aleah the number, and he and Castellon started text messaging each other.
Castellon showed up at Aleah's school with chocolates and fl owers, saying he was her cousin, the mother said. After the incident, APD filed a case against him for enticement of a minor.
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Crissi said he told her daughter he loved her and hewas 21. She said he brainwashed her into going with him.
Andrea Letherer, Aleah's cousin, said on Monday the family
suspected she had been abducted and were upset because police
did not issue an Amber Alert, a child abduction bulletin.
Crissi said family members called everyone they knew because
they thought they had to do their own Amber Alert.
Ahrensfi eld said Aleah was a runaway and her case did not fit
the criteria for an Amber Alert.
For police to issue an Amber Alert, they have to know an
18 year-old younger child was abducted, they have to have
information the child is in imminent danger and they need
suspect information, Ahrensfield said.
"It's not used for runaways," she said. "And she's a runaway."
Crissi said the family didn't know Aleah was a runaway because
she left her belongings in her room.
As for the Letherer family, Crissi said they are happy Aleah
is home, but it's just the beginning.
"There's lots of work that
needs to be done," she said. "We
just hope for the best."
Ahrensfield said Castellon will
be brought to Albuquerque to be
charged.
Crissi said she hopes the state
expands its requirements for
Amber Alerts.
