The FBI reports that a Vancouver girl who has been missing for more than four years has been found alive in Mexico.

Aranza Maria Ochoa Lopez, 8, who went missing in October 2018 was found in Michoacán, Mexico, and safely brought back to the United States in February 2023.

Aranza was kidnapped by her biological non-custodial mother from a Vancouver, Wash. shopping mall. The FBI published a poster for a missing person after learning Aranza had been transported to Mexico, but they were unable to locate her.

In 2019, her mother was taken into custody in Vancouver, but Aranza stayed in Mexico until her whereabouts were made public.

Aranza was located and safely recovered by Mexican authorities in February 2023, and FBI special agents escorted her back to the United States.

For more than four years, the FBI and our partners did not give up on Aranza,” said Richard A. Collodi, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Seattle field office. “Our concern now will be supporting Aranza as she begins her reintegration into the U.S.”

Aranza’s safety and privacy require that neither her location in the United States nor any other details be made public at this time.