Detective Finds Abducted Person, Now Adult, In Cold Case From 1999

NEW HAVEN, CT — In October 1999, the New Haven Police Department investigated the abduction of Andrea Reyes, a 2-year-old reported to have been taken from the city by her mother, Rosa Tenorio. The child was in the care of her father, and Tenorio did not have custody of her, police said Wednesday.

"Working in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a felony arrest warrant was issued for Tenorio, and it was suspected at the time that she fled with Andrea to Mexico," police said in a news release. "Andrea’s father did not have any contact with Rosa or his daughter, despite going to Mexico himself several times to look for her in person."

Police spokesperson Officer Christian Bruckhart said the then-child's missing person cases was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, "and the case went cold."

Decades later, in 2023, New Haven police Detective Kealyn Nivakoff, assigned to the Special Victim’s Unit with a focus on missing persons, was reviewing cold cases and began to reinvestigate Andrea’s abduction, Bruckhart said.

"Using a combination of interviews, search warrants and social media," Nivakoff learned that "Andrea, now in her 20s, had been taken by Tenorio to Mexico and was residing in Puebla, a city of over a million people."

Bruckhart said Nivakoff was able to "establish contact with Andrea and, in partnership with the DNA testing company Othram, confirm the relationship between father and daughter, leading to Andrea and her father being in contact for the first time in over 20 years."

"This case reflects the hard work of our officers and detectives," New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson said. "While cases may have investigative leads exhausted at the time, no cold case is ever truly closed. We remain committed to resolving every cold case, and this is a perfect example of that effort."

Bruckhart said the identity of the father is not being released at this time and he requests that his anonymity be respected.

The arrest warrant for Tenorio remains active but is only valid within the U.S. and she is suspected to still reside in Mexico.

A press conference about this incident, with representatives from the DNA testing company, is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 12.