In a surprising development, a 40-year-old California woman has been arrested on false imprisonment charges unrelated to her daughter’s disappearance. The 9-year-old girl remains missing amid an active multi-state investigation.
Search for Missing Girl Still Underway
Authorities say the missing child, reported absent by her school on October 14, had last been seen in early October along the Utah-Colorado border.
Surveillance footage released by investigators shows the girl and her mother at a California rental car facility on October 7, both wearing wigs — leading officials to believe the pair may have been attempting to evade detection.
In addition, investigators allege the car’s licence plate was altered during travel across state lines in early October.
Mother Arrested on Separate Charges
The girl’s mother was taken into custody on November 7 in California under suspicion of false imprisonment in a case not tied to the missing-child investigation.
While she has not been officially named a suspect in her daughter’s disappearance, authorities say she has refused to cooperate with the ongoing probe. Law enforcement has withheld full details of the arrest, citing the sensitivity of the child-search investigation.
Investigators Appeal for Public Assistance
The investigation remains active, with the local sheriff’s office urging anyone with information about the girl’s whereabouts or her mother’s movements between October 7 and October 9 to come forward.
Though the arrest of the mother is unconnected to the disappearance case, officials emphasise it does not lessen the urgency of the search for the missing child.
