The girl provided key information that led to the arrest of her mother’s live-in boyfriend, according to authorities in Alabama. Tallapoosa County Sheriff Jimmy Abbett described the child as “a hero who survived the incident and came forward with the information he gave us to charge him.” Officials said she was discovered by a driver who was crossing a country road when he saw the child, stopped and then called emergency services. She was assaulted and given alcohol to put her in a stupor, authorities alleged in court documents, but had fled the mobile home after chewing through the ties used to hold her down to a bed. Her alleged abductor, Jose Paulino Pascual-Reyes, 37, has been charged with kidnapping and multiple counts of murder in the deaths of the mother, 29-year-old Sandra Vazquez Ceja, and the brother, who the court heard was younger. 14. “They were boyfriend and girlfriend,” Mr Abbett said of the accused and Ms Ceja. “They actually lived there all together.” Authorities claim the girl was captured on July 24, around the time her mother and brother were killed. The sheriff declined to comment on whether the girl knew the fate of her mother and brother while he was still a hostage. Their remains were found inside the property. Pascual-Reyes, from Mexico, was arrested Monday night while working at a construction site in Auburn, Alabama, more than 20 miles from the trailer. He was in the US illegally after being previously deported and then returned without proper documentation. The sheriff said it was unclear when he had re-entered the U.S., but that the group had been living in the trailer since February. Ms. Ceja and her two children entered the U.S. from Mexico in 2017 and had sought asylum, though their claims had not yet been decided, the sheriff added.
