LOS ANGELES (AP) – A California mother was reunited Thursday with her abducted son, laying eyes on him and wrapping her arms around him for the first time in 21 years.
Maria Mancia had been left with just a single photo of her son since his father took him in 1995. The boy she last saw when he was just 18 months old is now a man.
Steve Hernandez, 22, was found living in Puebla, Mexico, and on Thursday morning was brought to the U.S. to meet his mother for an emotional reunion.
The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Child Abduction Unit had been looking for Hernandez through the years, searching for him in several states. Investigators then received a strong tip in February that he was in Mexico. The father, Valentin Hernandez, is missing and believed to be dead, authorities said.
Investigator Karen Cragg, who led the search, said they had to approach Steve Hernandez delicately.