Woman, 27, positively identified by DNA as Connecticut toddler abducted in 1999
A woman who was abducted by her mother 25 years ago from Connecticut has been reunited with her father after DNA comparison.
The company that worked the case, Othram, announced the match on March 4 and New Haven police, where the child was reported missing in 1999, will host a press conference Wednesday to update the public.
The woman, Andrea Reyes, is now 27 years old and has since been reunited with her father, who asked not to be named publicly.
The woman was just two years old in October 1999 when she was abducted by her mother, Rosa Tenorio, the New Haven Police Department said in a press release.
Her case remained cold until 2023, when the New Haven Police Department’s Special Victims Unit reviewed cold cases and took on the Reyes case, Othram said.
During the renewed search, a woman contacted a man who she believed was her father. The New Haven Police Department worked with Othram to see how closely the two were related. Othram compared the woman’s DNA sample to her potential father’s DNA confirming that he is her father.
Abducted toddler went over a two decades without her father
Reyes’ mother did not have custody of her when she was abducted on Oct. 5, 1999; her father did, police said in a news release. The FBI and New Haven police issued a felony arrest warrant for the girl's mother.
Authorities thought the girl’s mother had taken her to Mexico, and her father went there multiple times to search for her to no avail, police said.
Her case was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System and was considered a cold case for years, police said.
Investigators released at least three age-progressed photos of Reyes over the years in an effort that someone would recognize her, including photos in 2011, 2013 and 2020, according to Othram and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
In 2023, Investigators used interviews, search warrants and social media to find out where the girl’s mother had taken her. Now in her 20s, Reyes was living in Puebla, Mexico.
According to Othram, Puebla is a city southeast of Mexico City and is made up of more than 1.5 million people.
“Detective 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 twenty years,” police said in a news release.
Warrant still active for woman who abducted then-toddler in 1999
There is still an active warrant for Tenorio, the girl’s mother who allegedly kidnapped her. The warrant is valid in the U.S. but Tenorio is believed to live in Mexico, police said.
Solving Reyes’ case was part of Othram's Project 525 initiative, which began in May 2024. Othram works with research institute RTI International, which manages the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, to solve juvenile cases.
Reyes’ case marks the seventh time Connecticut officials have solved a case using technology Othram developed.
New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson said in a press release that Reyes’ reunion with her father is the result of “hard work of our officers and detectives.”
“While cases may have investigative leads exhausted at the time, no cold case is ever truly closed,” he said in the press release. “We remain committed to resolving every cold case and this is a perfect example of that effort.”
The New Haven Police Department’s press conference will be at 1 p.m. eastern time on Wednesday. It will be live streamed on the police department's Facebook page.
Saleen Martin is a reporter on Paste BN's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.