The FBI reports that a California lady who was kidnapped while walking her dog in Mexico last year has been released and is returning to the United States to be with her family.
The FBI’s San Francisco Field Office said the investigation into Monica de Leon Barba’s abductors is ongoing and that no arrests have been made. The FBI had previously advertised a $40,000 reward for information leading to the whereabouts of the missing San Mateo lady.
After eight months of captivity, “the FBI is pleased to announce that Monica De Leon Barba is safe and en route to the United States,” the division stated in a statement. The FBI said Monica was “kidnapped in Tepatitlan, Jalisco, Mexico, while walking home from work with her dog on November 29, 2022.”
“For the past eight months, FBI personnel in California and Mexico have worked tirelessly with the family and with partners here and in Mexico,” added Special Agent In Charge Robert Tripp of the FBI San Francisco Field Office.
The tweet below verigies the news:
California woman kidnapped while walking dog in Mexico is released by captors: FBI https://t.co/TRXznaxz8Q
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 17, 2023
“Our relief and joy at the safe return of Monica is profound. The FBI investigation is far from over, but we can now work this case knowing an innocent victim is reunited with her family.” The FBI published two footage of her abduction in April.
FBI agents said that one of the recordings “depicts the kidnappers and their vehicles during the kidnapping.” Several masked men approached Monica and bundled her into a gray Volkswagen Jetta. The suspects, according to the FBI, “drive away in three separate automobiles, one of which is a Volkswagen Jetta.
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The footage shows Monica’s dog running free on the sidewalk. A member of her family eventually found and brought back her dog. At the time, police believed that four men were involved in the kidnapping, with one of them acting as the driver of a white Chevrolet Suburban.
“The U.S. Department of State and our embassies and consulates abroad have no greater responsibility than the protection of U.S. citizens overseas,” a State Department spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital in connection with De Leon’s disappearance. “The welfare and safety of U.S. citizens abroad is one of the highest priorities of the Department of State.”
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