Missing girl found in Mexico
Monday afternoon, the state of Idaho cancelled the amber alert out for Aaliyah Esqueda, 5 of Idaho Falls. She was found in Mexico with her father. Idaho Falls Police believe her paternal grandparents took her there.
Now, detectives are working with other agencies to bring her back home to Idaho.
The Amber Alert was issued in the state of Idaho Friday. Five other states also were asked to issue the alert but they didn’t issue the warning.
Dawn Peck, the Amber Alert coordinator for the state of Idaho said California, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas were on the path to Mexico so those states were given the Amber Alert notice.Officials there decided not to issue the warning and instead distributed photos of Aaliyah to police officers to keep an eye out for her.
Peck said those states denied issuing an amber alert because officials said Aaliyah was not in imminent danger.
“I don’t think she’s in danger as far as the grandparents and we’ve never felt that she was.I think the grandparents love her and are not going to harm her,” said Sgt. Phil Grimes with the Idaho Falls Police department.
Unharmed, Aaliyah Esqueda was found in Mexico late Monday afternoon. She had been living with her mom at her maternal grandparents home since she was born.
Six months ago, Aaliyah’s mother committed suicide which gave her maternal grandparents, Scott and Debra Yagues legal guardianship.
David Johnson is an attorney in Idaho Falls practicing family law. He is independent from the Aaliyah Esqueda case.
“A guardian is a person who is responsible for that child,” said Johnson.
That means the Yagues are able to make decisions about her well-being, health and education.
“The legal guardians are the ones reporting her [missing] and the paternal grandparents have no guardianship at this point,” said Grimes.
“She was over there on visitation,” said Debra Yagues, the legal guardian and maternal grandmother of Aaliyah.
Aaliyah’s paternal grandparents, Irene and Salvador Esqueda had routine visits with their granddaughter.
Before Aaliyah’s mother died, she had set up visitation rights with the Esquedas.
They were allowed to have Aaliyah every other week for five days.
Scott Yagues, the paternal grandfather, said under mutual agreement Irene Esqueda had been taking Aaliyah every year to Mexico for a monthlong visit to see her father.
The father was deported to Mexico and also had multiple felony charges in Idaho.
