Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Autistic teen girl missing four years, SAFE.

Episode Date: July 29, 2023

At 14-years-old, Alicia Navarro , diagnosed with high-functioning autism, disappeared. The teen  loved playing online video games. And that's how Navarro's family believes someone she met online,  lured her from her home.  Four year later, now 18,  Navarro walked into a Montana police station asking to be taken off the missing list.  Joining Nancy Grace Today: Trent Steele - President and National Director of Investigative operations, Anti-Predator Project www.antipredatorproject.org  Jose Santiago - Glendale Police Department Communications manager Alicia Kozak - SURVIVOR, www.aliciakozak.com Dr. Angela Arnold - Psychiatrist, Atlanta Ga. Sierra Gillespie - CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter   Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A 14-year-old teen girl goes missing missing seemingly without a trace. Was she lured by a predator? Where is she? In the last hours, we learned teen girl Alicia Navarro safe and sound. That's right, the Glendale girl Alicia Navarro missing four years now found. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thanks for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111.

The story is developing. This is what we know. What more do we know? The Glendale PD say Alicia, now 18, goes into a police department in Montana and asks to be taken off a missing persons list. They say she's healthy and happy. How did the whole thing unfold? Let's start with our friend Dave Mack at CrimeOnline.com.

Alicia Navarro is 15 years old and is on the autism spectrum. Her mother, Jessica, says she is shy and anxious in some social situations and isn't fond of being out in public much or for very long. She did, however, like going to McDonald's for Chicken McNuggets. Alicia Navarro takes medicine and has a compromised immune system. She also likes to wear the same clothes and the same shoes over and over, which her mother says is because of her autism. For example, she only wore sweatshirts in Arizona, despite the harsh heat. In the very early hours of September 15, 2019, Navarro's mother saw her come down from her room and get a glass of water. Around 1 a.m., she made her way back to her room.

Later that same morning, around 7 a.m., Alicia's mother, Jessica, made breakfast for her husband and her two youngest children. Alicia was not up yet. When her mom went to check, Alicia was gone. How can it happen just like that? Mom sees Alicia go to the kitchen sink and get a glass of water around 1 a.m. When mom checks on Alicia the next morning, just a few hours later, she's gone. With me, an all-star panel to break it down and put it back together again. Trent Steele, who has been working on this case. President, National Director, Investigative Operations at the Anti-Predator Project at AntiPredatorProject.org.

Jose Santiago, Glendale PD, communications manager, and you can find them at Glendale AZ dot com forward slash police. Alicia Kozak, we know her well, a survivor who was lured online, was kidnapped, taken far away from her home, assaulted repeatedly. And the night she believes her kidnapper was set to kill her to get rid of evidence, the FBI swoops in and saves her. I'll let you hear her tell her story herself. She's at AliciaKozak.com. Dr. Angela Arnold, renowned psychiatrist, joining me from the Atlanta jurisdiction. She's at AngelaArnoldMD.com. But first, to Sierra Gillespie, joining me, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter.

Sierra, let's kick it off with our friend Ryan Sims at KTVK CBS 5 Arizona. Listen. Not only are we talking about a girl who depends on family for everyday things, but in the process, she missed her own birthday party. We all miss you a lot. I don't know exactly what happened, but I really don't care. I just want you to come back home. Jessica Nunez's message is as distressed as it is desperate.

Without any warning at all, she says her daughter, Alicia Navarro, left home last Sunday morning and hasn't been seen or heard from since. There is no fight. Even though she's autistic, she doesn't have where she wanders or nothing like that. Families say Alicia left behind a note saying she was sorry for leaving and that she would return. On Friday though her disappearance took on a whole new urgency when Alicia missed her own 15th birthday party. In the end families say they served Alicia's birthday cake to the volunteers searching for her. My smaller sibling told me are we gonna save a piece for Alicia when she comes back you know and I don't know what to say. Do you hear the pain in mom's voice? She missed her own birthday party and instead served the birthday cake to volunteers who were trying to find Alicia. Please help us. Let me, at the get-go, tell you the tip line, 623-930-3000.

Repeat, 623-930-3000. And Sierra Gillespie, CrimeOnline.com, hold just one moment, because I want to go first to Alicia Kozak, survivor. Alicia, let me give you a rapid-fire set of questions. How old were you when you were kidnapped? I was 13 years old. A young teen just like Alicia. However, Alicia has the added difficulty of being on the autism spectrum. You heard the reporter say that very often she would wear the same clothes all the time, the same shoes all the time. She's very nervous in social settings.

She depends on her family for her food, her medication. Alicia Kozak, when you were kidnapped, you had met your kidnapper. You were shy, beautiful, sweet, great grades, but you were a little shy, and you met a friend online. A little friend girl, right? Exactly. Who turned out to be not a girl at all, and when you were kidnapped, isn't it true, you were lured out of your house? Yes, I was. So, guys, I just wanted those questions with Alicia

and she's going to tell you her whole story because you've got to hear this. She's a miracle. Alicia Kozak at AliciaKozak.com So, when we're talking about this little teen girl,

Alicia Navarro, who's now missing, I think she was lured out of her home. This little girl is not equipped to be even out of the house to go to a mall on her own. I mean, Sierra Gillespie, a lot of people are acting like they don't care because they think she left on her own. That's not what happened.

I think this girl was lured out online. She has no idea what's outside her home. She's autistic. Sierra, tell me what happened. Yeah, Nancy. So some people think she ran away because she did leave a letter. We've actually seen the letter. It's been broadcast all over.

It's kind of in sloppy handwriting. But again, when she left, she was only 14. And the letter says, quote, I ran away. I will be back. I swear. I'm sorry. Hold on, Sierra. Let me just get the facts out there.

Had she ever left the home before? No, not at all. Her mom is very strict about that. Never. To Trent Steele, joining me, President and National Director of Investigative Operations at AntiPredatorProject.org. Trent Steele, you are intimately familiar with this case.

This little girl, I mean, for Pete's sake, she's still wearing braces on her teeth. She's never had a date. She's never even gone to the mall or walked around a department store by herself. This little girl has a lot of emotional issues. She is autistic. Trent, this child had never, ever run away in her life. She was happy at home. There were no problems. No, no. We've spoken with mom at length about this, and there were no problems. In fact, from what we understand, Alicia and her mom had a fantastic relationship. They got along well, you know, without disclosing a whole lot about the investigation, obviously, because it's still an ongoing case and we don't want to tip our hands to what we've got or, you know, step on anything that Glendale PD is doing.

But I would say that your assessment of her being lured out of the house is pretty accurate. Based on what we know, we think that she left the house voluntarily to go meet somebody that she thought she knew or thought she had met online. And once she got there, she found herself in a situation that she never expected. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I recall in the early morning hours, September 15, 2019, teen girl Alicia writes a note to her sleeping family, takes a phone and laptop, and is gone.

Rumors swirled online and amongst missing people circles that she was lured by a predator. How did the whole thing unfold? Before I go to Jose Santiago, who has kindly joined us from the Glendale Police Department, Alicia Kozak, survivor who went through this same thing at age 13. And sometimes I notice when she tells her story, she glosses over the rapes

and the sex assaults. And I thank Dr. Angela Arnold. But now, in the last days, Alicia found safe. When people keep saying she left voluntarily, I hear what they're saying. But when you're lured out of your home as a little girl, I don't call that voluntary. Because children, even under the law, can't buy a car. They can't buy a home.

They can't enter into a working agreement or buy alcohol or cigarettes because they're minors. They don't have the ability to understand what they're doing. So when you're lured out of your home, the way I think Alicia Navarro, this little girl with autism who can't even pick out different clothes in the morning to wear, so she wears the same thing every day. Alicia Kozak, I don't think that that's of your own free will. How did you get lured out of your home, AliciaKozak.com? Well, children are low-risk assessment, high impulse.

And don't always think things through. Wait, wait, wait. You said children are low-risk assessment, high impulse. Okay, I completely agree with that. I had to think through what you were saying. Go ahead, dear. Yes. And so they don't always think through every decision that they make. And so for me, I was 13. I was online. I was a really shy child. I didn't feel un unpopular but I still didn't feel like anybody got me anybody understood me and that's very natural and then somebody was online who pretended to be my friend and be into everything that I was into and to make me feel

special and important and beautiful and unique in a time when it's really hard to feel any of those things. And with Alicia, which is triggering to hear the way it's a relationship. There's just so much here that lines up, including the little girl's name. But what my mind jumps to is the fact that this was her birthday month. Could this have had something to do with that? Could this have been somebody luring her out as a birthday surprise? That's really interesting. Was this her vulnerability?

Okay, that's a really good question, using her birthday as a lure. In your case, tell us about Alicia Kosek, how you were lured out of your home, and what took place. This person online groomed me for a period of nine months and grooming is just pretending to be a child's friend and making them feel all those things that I said that it's really difficult to be a kid. Kids don't ever feel like they're really enough. They can be surrounded by all the love in the world and still feel different. They'll feel out of place and that's really normal and And this person made me

feel normal. And I did not know the dangers of the internet before anybody was talking about that. And one of my vulnerabilities as well was that I lived in a safe little bubble. My parents raised me in a world that was beautiful and loving and not dangerous. And so I wasn't aware. I knew that danger happened and horrible things happened but that happened elsewhere to other people and on new year's day 2002 i agreed to meet this person and i think about alicia getting up having a glass of water her parents seeing her and i'm seeing her this being this very normal situation although it's very late night it reminds me of my own story in that between dinner and dessert i vanished and i think

about my parents in that way i just got to take in what you just said between dinner and dessert i vanished what happened i walked outside of my house to meet somebody who i thought was my friend and he kidnapped me and he took me from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Virginia and held me captive in his basement dungeon. And I do, I don't go into the details for, for many reasons, but one being that it is so, so hard to talk about. It's, it's not, it's not easy by any means, even though it's been all these years. It's still very difficult to talk about and still, for the lack of a better term, triggering what children suffer is horrendous.

And I appreciated your tears when you were crying for her because it is likely that she has suffered something so terrible. And I'm just so grateful that we are talking about this case. Alicia, hold on. Guys, from the outside looking in and Alicia Kovac who we're talking to right now, you would think wow, she's got it all, right? She's young, she's beautiful, she's smart, she's articulate. She goes every day of her

life with the burden of what she lived through. And it's turned that around to try to help other people. At 13, she was kidnapped, taken from her own home from a family meal. She was held with a choke collar. She was assaulted over and over. She was convinced the night the FBI miraculously saved her that she was going to be killed. Alicia,

why in your heart did you know that that night your kidnapper, Scott Tyree, was going to kill you? I knew early on that he didn't have any other option than to get rid of me at some point. So I focused on the only power that I had was trying to stay alive as long as possible. And to get him to see me, my mind jumped into something instinctual. And it's that he sees you as an object, and an object that he wants to hurt and torture. He can see you as a human. And so I did whatever I had to do to survive

and try to, it makes my stomach turn to say this word, but connect with him in whatever way that I could. And on that day, he said, I'm beginning to like you too much. Tonight, we're going to go for a ride. And I knew at that point that that was not even a veiled threat. It was very clearly a threat and that he was going to kill me, that what I had been doing to try to

humanize myself was working too well and he was becoming attached. So he was going to have to end my life sooner. All this happened to Alicia Kozak at age 13. Think of your own child. This little girl, who not only is a young teen, she's autistic. And I believe she's been lured out of her home. Joining me, Jose Santiago, Glendale PD. Jose, what can you tell us about the search for Alicia Navarro? Why do you believe or do you believe she was lured out of her home?

Nancy, I can tell you that we are looking into all the possibilities here. We have been following up with every lead that's been coming in. We've had a couple of people say that they spotted her in in various places but unfortunately those leads did not turn up alicia um we know that uh that night that she disappeared we could see footprints leading to a specific area in the yard at least it did alicia did go over the fence hold on hold on you're cutting out on me osseo santiago glendale pd so you think how could i'm not even going to question how you saw the footprints but you saw footprints leading from front door back door which one from the back door to a fence the op the officers uh did see those footprints that were pointed out by Alicia's parents. And this is something that just, this child just simply disappeared. What was on the other side of the fence?

There was some debris that appeared that she went over on that side. I think she met somebody. I think she met somebody. Because this girl, correct me if I'm wrong, Trent, because I want to have the correct facts, and I don't want the facts to blur together for me. Jose Santiago, Glendale PD, excuse me. Jose, you say that she, you think, went over the fence, but this little girl had never run away, had never discussed running away. There was no argument that night. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

A teen girl goes missing seemingly without a trace. Was she lured by a predator? Where is she? So Jose Santiago, what if any clues were found on the other side of the fence? There was just debris there. There wasn't much to go on in that particular area. Something that we want to make note of is that when she disappeared, she did have her cell phone and she did have her laptop with her. Those devices have not been used since she left the home. So this case really is a mystery because of the fact that there is just no trace of her anywhere. We've spoken to her friends. We've spoken to people that were close to her, which was a very limited group. And no one seems to have any idea

where she may have gone to that evening. To Trent Still, President, National Director, Investigative Operations, Anti-Predator Project.org. Trent, that makes me believe even more so that someone lured her and was waiting for her on the other side of the fence. Because if she had gone on her own, you could at least ping or track her cell phone, right? Or she would have made one call or one text or something if left to her own devices. Go ahead. Correct.

I would tend to agree with that assessment. I would say Glendale PD is correct is correct in following you know every lead that they get in and every scenario because as of now we don't have something that points directly to this scenario this is exactly what happened this is exactly where she went we can just say on our end uh from our investigation that we've conducted that we feel comfortable saying on our end that we believe she met somebody online. We believe that this online relationship because of her autism situation was a long-term thing. This was not something that happened, you know, within two weeks or even six months of her going missing. We believe she had been corresponding with this particular individual for quite a while. She left that night to go meet this individual whom she had built

some sort of trust with, and that's when things went south. Question to you, Jose Santiago, Glendale PD. Are there any home security surveillance cameras that could be gleaned to see where she went or who she met? Are there any tolls that have cameras? For instance, when Alicia Kozak went missing, Alicia, isn't it true that you went through a toll booth with your kidnapper? Several of them. And what happened when you would go through a toll? What would go on in your mind? At each toll booth, I would get a glimmer of hope.

At the very first one, I thought that that was the moment that I would be rescued, that I would speak up, that the person in the toll booth would ask me something, would notice me crying, would report something. And that's no fault of their own. They weren't expecting this to be happening, but that there's so much hope that a child is holding on to in a situation like this, and then it can so easily be cut out when you search for those little bits of hope. Take a listen to our friend Linda Williams at Fox 10. Her mother describes her daughter Alicia as a simple girl. She attends Borgate High School, doesn't even wear makeup, and has a very small group of friends. But she's been

missing almost three full days now, and the family is sick with worry. Everybody is in shock because, you know, she's so vulnerable. She can't even go outside. She's receiving therapy just to go outside somewhere. Despite dealing with many anxiety issues, early Sunday morning, 14-year-old Alicia Navarro left her home near 45th Avenue and Bethany Home Road. She left this note for her family. I ran away. We'll be back. I swear I'm sorry, Alicia.

Nunez says she fears her daughter is somehow involved with or was drawn away by someone online. I want my daughter back. Just please bring her safe and sound. That's all I'm asking from, you know. She needs her help. Don't take advantage. She's so vulnerable. Please just bring her help. Don't take advantage. She's so vulnerable.

Please just bring her back. You're hearing Alicia's mom begging for her return. Joining me, renowned psychiatrist out of the Atlanta jurisdiction, Dr. Angela Arnold at AngelaArnoldMD.com. Dr. Angela, what does it mean to be under the spectrum or on the spectrum? When someone is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, this is a disorder which people can have many different levels of this disorder. It impacts the nervous system. There is a range and severity of symptoms that can vary widely. Common symptoms include difficulty with communication, difficulty with social interactions.

Oftentimes, they will have obsessive interests, and they will exhibit repetitive behaviors. And also, just to let you know, autism affects one in 54 children in the United States today. So when you hear Dr. Angela Arnold that she will wear the same clothes over and over and over, needs help just to bring herself to leave the home to function normally. What does that mean to you regarding her condition? Well, what it means to me is she's got a high level of autism. And she is a very anxious person. So she needs everything around her to always be the same.

Okay? She's so anxious, Nancy, that the feeling of the clothing on her bothers her. Okay? That's why she wears the same thing over again. It can actually be because of the way the clothing feels on her.

I just don't see a child like this who has never left home before, never even discussed leaving home before, seem perfectly happy. It's very hard for me to believe this little girl could devise a plan to leave her home in the dark forever. I don't believe that, Dr. Angela.

Well, I don't either. I don't think she, Dr. Angela. Well, I don't either. I don't think she devised a plan at all. I'm quite sure that someone worked on her and lured her out of the home, maybe to her backyard. But I do not believe that she had any part in devising a plan. To Sierra Gillespie,

CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, earlier we heard Jose Santiago mention there had been sightings of her that did not pan out. What can you tell me about those sightings? So Nancy, there were a couple different people who came forward to police and said that they saw her somewhere in the Glendale area, kind of near her home, but not super close. There were two separate incidences that I saw. People said that they saw Alicia walking hand in hand with an older man, which could be a suspect in this case.

But again, those leads kind of dried up pretty quickly. To Jose Santiago,endale, PD. Jose, you heard Trent Steele state that he, as part of his own investigation with the Anti-Predator Project, firmly believes she was lured from the home. And that it was a cultivated relationship that someone had sparked with this little girl online. Is there a way that you could capture her texts? Are they in the iCloud? Is there any way to, was her phone pinged?

I mean, what can you tell me about that avenue, the forensic avenue of her phone? What I can tell you is that, once again, her cell phone and her laptop have not turned on since the night that she disappeared from her home. social media sites to access as much information as possible to see who indeed she was communicating with days, weeks, months prior to her disappearance. You know, it's important for people to know that we are exhausting every means possible because we want the best result possible for this family. We know how difficult this is. We're getting close to the one- mark. And Jessica, her mom, has been over the top with this as far as her support and cooperating with our officers in every way, shape or form. Take a listen to our friend Ryan Simmons at KTVK CBS 5. Families say Alicia is not only autistic, but struggles to feed herself.

Day six of her missing means day six without the things she needs to get by. It hits me a lot knowing that she's out there and not receiving the services, her medication. Across Glendale, missing posters of Alicia plastered on the doors of businesses. Families hope even the slightest minor of tips will help bring Alicia home. Just get the word out there. I mean, she's somewhere out there. My little girl is somewhere out there. Now, Alicia's family say they believe she was coaxed to leave her home by someone else. Police have not commented or confirmed that yet. Joining me is special guest Alicia Kozak. You can find her at AliciaKozak.com, who was lured from her home with her family there, as she just said, between dinner and dessert at a holiday meal.

She vanished. She was gone for a long time, held by her kidnapper. Alicia Kozak, thank you for sharing with us. What do you advise, from your point of view, having lived through this, for police and investigators to do? Well, Alicia was heavily involved in gaming. And gaming is a very, it's an easy way to lure children because you are playing a game with them you are already being a friend with them so it's really important to not only check those different apps but to look into the gaming platforms as well as the gaming forums so to hop on to discord and to stream and to see who she was playing those games

with as well as i i keep popping ahead with their gaming convention at the time that this person could have said hey i there's a gaming convention in town or a state over or wherever would you like to go it's a birthday surprise you'll be home before whatever date your parents won't even know you're missing whatever so that there's there's very very clear ways that she could have been lured here there's so many vulnerabilities and that's what a predator is seeking to do they are looking for those vulnerabilities in order to exploit them and Alicia had them so clearly and up front that it would not be a difficult task to get this child to do what you wanted her to do and to think that it was a good choice for her that it was fun that it was something that would bring about a good outcome for her when in reality she is now still missing almost a year later.

Trent Steele with the President and National Director of Investigative Operations, Anti-Predator Project.org. Trent, you heard Alicia Kozak state that Alicia Navarro was a gamer. She loved to play games online. What games did she play, Trent? Well, we are aware that she was a gamer. And because the games that she was playing are heavily involved in our investigation, and I don't know if Glendale PD is looking at them or not, I'm not going to disclose specifically what games and what gaming platforms we're looking at.

All I can do is confirm that we are aware of that and we are looking into those. Jose Santiago, do you know the game so I can warn other parents about it that she was playing? Do you know? In unison with Trent, we are keeping that information just because it would hinder the investigation. And so we are just looking into everything that we could find on not only her phone, but as well as her laptop as well. Alicia Kozak, you stated that Alicia Navarro played games like my son does. What games are you referring to, Alicia? Well, any and all games can be a risk.

Any game that has any connection to anybody can be a risk. And there are so many that children play. It's not a specific game. It's usually one that is popular because that's where the kids are. So that's where the predators are seeking children. But what is interesting is that when it comes to gaming it's likely that she was also playing with other people as well so there is hopefully a wealth of knowledge that law enforcement is looking into and that's really great but it is so important to be careful on all of these games

to talk to your children about the fact that they may be playing with somebody who isn't who they say they are and that it is such an easy way to like I said to groom a child and just to pretend to be that friend and to spend time with them in a way that they feel safe and comfortable and they're having fun. Grooming feels good and grooming feels fun in the beginning because this child is getting what they feel that they need or that they're craving. Take a listen to our friend Jamie Warren at KNXV ABC 15. Friday was Alicia Navarro's 15th birthday. It's her 15th birthday. Look at the way I'm celebrating it. But Alicia wasn't at her own party.

Happy birthday to you. Through many tears, her mom, Jessica Nunez, sings to her. When she comes back, because I have faith she's going to come back, she will see how much she was loved and missed. Nunez, spending the past week taping up flyers, searching for her daughter, who she says has autism and relies on medication and the help of her family.

She doesn't know how to be here by herself. Does that make sense? She doesn't know how to take a bus. But Nunez says when she woke up on September 15th, Alicia was nowhere to be found. She says she left behind a note that read, I ran away. I will be back. I swear. I'm sorry. Nunez says the two never had a fight and Alicia never mentioned she was unhappy.

It was, it's just out of character for her. But now in the last days Alicia found safe. Take a listen to KNXV ABC 15. After almost four years Glendale police say Alicia Navarro showed up by herself at a police station in Montana. Now the investigation into how she got there and what happened since 2019 begins. My daughter Alicia Navarro was missing since September 15, 2019. She has been found safe. Glendale Police saying the teen, now 18 years old, was found about 40 miles away from the Canadian border in a small Montana town. She went to a local police department in that area. She identified herself as Alicia Navarro. Glendale police sending us clips from interviews

officers were able to do virtually with Alicia before seeing the teen face to face. Did anybody hurt you in any way? No, no one hurt me. Police say Alicia knew her disappearance gained a lot of attention. After all these years, I asked police if Alicia gave any indication of why she decided to identify herself now.

She's expressed a desire to move forward in life and do the things that a normal, healthy adult would do. One girl found safe. So many others still missing. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.