Boy abandoned in Juarez reunited with father

The 4-year-old boy who was allegedly abandoned in Juarez by his mother, Ruby Esmeralda Gonzalez, has been reunited with his father.

Four months and 8 days after being found alone, disheveled and hungry in downtown Juarez, the youngster was returned to El Paso late this week.

In early February a parking attendant in downtown Juarez called municipal police after finding the 4 year old sitting along on a stack of wood late at night. When officers arrived they noticed the boy understood and spoke English. On further examination investigators noticed bruising on the child’s head, legs and buttocks.

The boy ,whose name is believed to be Luis according to police officers, was taken before a judge who placed the boy in a children’s shelter.

The boy’s mother called El Paso police after they distributed his photo asking the public if anyone knew who he was.

It was then that Gonzalez claimed her son had been kidnapped. Investigators were able to determine she was lying and had abandoned the child in Juarez.

Gonzalez is being held at the El Paso County jail on charges of abandoning and endangering a child, filing a false report to police and injury to a child.

Chihuahua State police say the boy’s father had to take a DNA test in Juarez to prove he was the child’s father before the child was returned to him.

The Diario de Juarez says investigators with the Mexican Attorney General’s office and members of the U.S. Consulate in Juarez returned the boy to El Paso on Friday where he now lives with his father.