Mexican authorities arrested a San Diego woman who allegedly kidnapped her daughter in Spring Valley and fled to Mexico.
According to the San Diego County Sheriff's office, the 45-year-old woman did not have legal custody of her six-year-old daughter Jolyn Gutiérrez. On February 22, Gutierrez picked up her daughter from Kempton Elementary School in Spring Valley and fled to Mexico despite not having custody.
According to detectives, school staff reported seeing Wendy Gutierrez walking away with Joylyn.
Detectives interviewed a witness who claimed to have seen the woman and girl in Tijuana.
The sheriff's office reported that the United States Marshals Services worked alongside Mexican authorities to locate Joylyn and Wendy Gutiérrez on April 13.
Joylyn was unharmed.
Officers from both sides of the border met at the San Ysidro port of entry.
Wendy Gutierrez is booked into Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Center in Santee, the women's jail, on felony charges of kidnapping and kidnapping a child.
San Diego County Sheriff's Homicide Detectives coordinated with the County Child Welfare Services, who reunited Jolyn Gutierrez with her maternal grandparents. The Homicide Unit investigates missing person cases that go unsolved after ten days.
