{"id":719693,"date":"2026-04-04T16:45:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T13:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/missing-13-year-old-found-alive-decades-after-vanishing-mystery-solved-how-why-she-disappeared-and-when-cops-actually-figured-it-out\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T16:45:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T13:45:14","slug":"missing-13-year-old-found-alive-decades-after-vanishing-mystery-solved-how-why-she-disappeared-and-when-cops-actually-figured-it-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/missing-13-year-old-found-alive-decades-after-vanishing-mystery-solved-how-why-she-disappeared-and-when-cops-actually-figured-it-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Missing 13-Year-Old Found Alive Decades After Vanishing: Mystery Solved! How & Why She Disappeared — And When Cops Actually Figured It Out!\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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New details are coming out about the case of the missing 13-year-old who was found alive over three decades later!<\/p>\n

As we previously reported, Christina Marie Plante<\/strong> \u201cvanished without a trace\u201d from Star Valley, Arizona, in 1994. Years went by, and no one found her, that is, until recently. The Gila County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/strong> gave everyone a shocking update on the case on Wednesday, announcing that they located Christina, now 44! OMG! She is safe, thankfully!<\/p>\n

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However, there are, of course, a lot of questions about what happ<\/a>ened to Christina \u2014 like why she disappeared or where cops found her. GCSO did not reveal any additional details about the situation during the announcement, but we are getting more answers now!<\/p>\n

It turns out Christina, who is now living under a different name, was NOT kidnapped! She ran away! She admitted this to a cold case investigator from the Gila County Sheriff\u2019s Office, saying that family members helped her leave. Chief Deputy James Lahti<\/strong> told NBC News<\/a><\/em> on Friday:<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis was information we had not been aware of before we located her. Up until then, we didn\u2019t know where she was and we were under the impression she had been kidnapped.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Related: Nancy Guthrie\u2019s Case Was DOOMED Because Of This Mistake!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although everyone thinks the police solved the mystery this year, that is not entirely the case! Terry Hudgens<\/strong>, a former Gila County sheriff\u2019s deputy who initially investigated her disappearance, said he could not believe all the interest in the case. Why, you ask? He claimed law enforcement resolved it shortly after she was reported missing! HUH?!<\/p>\n

According to Hudgens, there was a \u201ccustody battle\u201d over Christina, or \u201cTina,\u201d at the time. Her dad allegedly had custody of her, but she wanted to live with her mother instead. So, he explained, the pair orchestrated a plan for the then-teen to meet up with her mom while Christina was walking to a nearby stable to see her horse in 1994. Once together, Hudgens said they drove to the airport in Phoenix and flew out of state \u2014 and even \u201cmaybe out of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hudgens claimed the department dropped the investigation once they determined Christina was safe. However, Lahti said the case was never officially closed until recently. He also confirmed Christina told them certain family members helped her disappear, but gave no other details:<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re still in the process of looking into what happened and as new information develops we will be providing updates.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Gila Sheriff J. Adam Shepherd<\/strong> provided another update on Facebook<\/a><\/strong> on Friday, saying that Christina had been reported missing by her uncle, Gary Plante<\/strong>. At the time, law enforcement tracked down a vehicle suspected to be involved in her disappearance to a nearby hotel, and \u201cdeputies believed Christina may have been taken by her non-custodial parent, her mother.\u201d The statement noted, though, \u201cthat information could not be verified at the time.\u201d Christina was located alive \u201cthrough the use of current technology<\/a>,\u201d and she is \u201cliving within the United States.\u201d Her exact location hasn\u2019t been disclosed at this time. The sheriff added:<\/p>\n

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\u201cHowever, she was not willing to cooperate with investigators regarding the circumstances of her disappearance.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Capt. Jamie Garrett<\/strong>, who located Christina, told NewsNation<\/em> that she \u201cwas dumbfounded\u201d when she reached the missing woman by phone one day:<\/p>\n

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\u201cI was like, \u2018Oh, my gosh. Okay, so you ran away.\u2019 I told her \u2026 \u2018You know, we were under the impression that somebody kidnapped you? It was deemed a criminal offense.\u2019 I guess she [Plante] wasn\u2019t happy with where she was living and who she was living with, and she ran away.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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There are not many other details about where Christina is, as we mentioned, but Garrett shared that the woman said she had not wanted to be found:<\/p>\n

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\u201cShe said that was a long time ago, that was an old life. She\u2019s in her adult life. She has her family now. That\u2019s not something she even thinks about.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What a wild situation! We\u2019re just glad Christina is OK at the end of the day!<\/p>\n

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What are your reactions, Perezcious readers? Share \u2019em in the comments (below)!<\/p>\n

[Image via Gila County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our Social Media category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New details are coming out about the case of the missing 13-year-old who was found alive over three decades later! As we previously reported, Christina Marie Plante \u201cvanished without a trace\u201d from Star Valley, Arizona, in 1994. Years went by, and no one found her, that is, until recently. The Gila County Sheriff\u2019s Office gave…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":719694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/perezhilton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Why-Missing-13-Year-Girl-Who-Was-Found-Alive-Vanished.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[16388,77995,72808,28970,73175,72779],"class_list":["post-719693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-family","tag-missing-person","tag-perezitos","tag-true-crime","tag-viral-kids","tag-viral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=719693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/719694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=719693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=719693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=719693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}