A Connecticut father is being reunited with his daughter, who was kidnapped by his ex-wife and taken to Mexico in 1999.
“It was a moment of joy,” Carlos Reyes-Couvertier said at a Wednesday press conference in New Haven when asked how he felt after authorities told him they’d located Andrea Michelle Reyes after more than 25 years.
He last saw the little girl as she was nearing her second birthday.
According to Reyes-Couvertier, he and his daughter haven’t communicated in person, though they have spoken by phone. A private, in-person reunion is anticipated.
Reyes was taken from her father’s life in October 1999 when the toddler’s mom, Rosa Tenorio, abducted the child from his New Haven home and took her to Puebla, roughly 70 miles southeast of Mexico City. He and Tenorio were separated at the time and she did not have legal custody of their daughter, according to authorities.
Reyes, now 27, has reportedly lived in Mexico ever since.
Reyes-Couvertier, a second-grade school teacher in New Haven, said he traveled to Mexico multiple times to try to locate his daughter, but was unsuccessful. She was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, but the case eventually went cold.
In 2023, the case was reopened by New Haven police and with the help of the FBI, they were able to track down Reyes through interviews, search warrants and social media. Her identity was confirmed through a DNA test.
The FBI had issued an arrest warrant for Tenorio, which is still active but only valid in the U.S., according to New Haven police. She’s believed to still be in Mexico.
“We have some sense of happiness, but the chapter is not closed yet,” Reyes-Couvertier told reporters.
