California girl missing since July found during Nevada traffic stop, stepfather arrested

A California teenager who vanished final summer season was discovered over the weekend and her stepfather has been arrested.

Katuana Nateya Whisenant, 14, was discovered Saturday throughout a site visitors cease in Nevada, Richard Griffin, chief of the Crescent Metropolis Police Division in Northern California mentioned in a press release. Whisenant’s stepfather, Santos Flores-Roman, 39, of Santa Rosa, had an energetic arrest warrant and was taken into custody, he mentioned. 

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Whisenant was discovered unhurt and wholesome, Griffin instructed Fox affiliate KTVU-TV. Roman is charged on suspicion of preserving a baby from their mother and father, The Press Democrat reported.

“It’s like little one abduction however totally different, as a result of she voluntarily ran away,” the chief defined to the information station. 

Whisenant ran away from her Crescent Metropolis house in July 2021 to Santa Rosa the place Roman had moved. Since she is a Yurok Indian, the native tribal police contacted the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which concerned the FBI within the investigation.

“We had final positioned him in Chico based mostly on his license plate,” mentioned Griffin. “Then, out of the blue we get this name that they discovered her. We had an arrest warrant out on him.”

“Since I’m a dad or mum myself, I may think about what it will be like for my daughter to be gone that lengthy. I used to be glad to have the ability to make that decision to the mother and father,” he mentioned. “It was the best-case state of affairs.”