Mother’s Search For Runaway Daughter Comes To An End

EL PASO, TX – A local mother was reunited with her daughter Tuesday after eight days full of fear and frustration.

Leticia Ortiz frantically searched for her daughter, 15-year-old Kassandra Ramirez, formore than aweek. The teenager ran away from her home last Monday.

“They found her, they found my daughter,” said an excited Ortiz, just as she was about to sit down for an interview with ABC-7’s Ken Molestina. She finally received the call she so desperately wanted to hear and the search for her daughter came to an end.

Police found the teenager in central El Paso, hours after Ortiz was in the same area speaking to the same police officers that eventually found her.

Counselors with the Runaway Center of El Paso tell ABC-7 most teen runaways are between the ages of 14 and16. According to them,children who run away from home usually leave for only two or three days. It is uncommon for a teen to be gone for as long Ramirez was and return home, they say.

“They leave the house, don’t have a plan and do not come up with solutions,” said Victor Moreno, with the Runaway Center of El Paso, explaining why most runaways eventually go back home.

Officials at the El Paso Runaway Center estimate hundreds of children in El Paso run away each year. According to them, the best thing any parent can do if their child runs away is keep in close contact with the child’s friends. In many occasions, they are the people runaways will go see first, they said.

Ortiz hopes her story serves as inspiration for any parent who might find themselves in the same situation. “There is hope. Your kids are out there somewhere and you need to find them … there is hope – you will find them.”

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Written and reported for broadcast by Ken Molestina

Written for the web by Joe Villasana