Francine Black greets her daughter Chioma Gray, whom she hadn't seen for almost four years, after she arrived from Mexico on Wednesday evening.

She's escorted to LAX from Mexico City


The last time Chioma Gray’s family had seen her was on Dec. 13, 2007.

According to witnesses, the former Buena High School student, who was 15 at the time, was hustled into a stolen car that day driven by Andrew Joshua Tafoya, then 20, who had been released from jail the night before.

Gray, 19, was reunited with her family Wednesday night amid tears and hugs.

Francine Black embraced her daughter in the Tom Bradley terminal of Los Angeles international airport and cried, “My baby, my baby.”

Later, her brother Paul Gray, 21, broke into sobs as he held his sister.

“Don’t ever leave us,” he said. “Don’t ever leave us.”

Chuck Hookstra, a private investigator and former Oxnard assistant police chief, hired by Gray’s mother, Francine Black, said U.S. marshals were escorting Gray and Tafoya back to California. Tafoya was not present.

There is an open child-stealing case against Tafoya, said Tony Wold, the supervising attorney or the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office sexual assault unit.

Along with Gray’s family, Hookstra and Los Angeles-based attorney M. Cristina Armenta, two Ventura-based defense attorneys waited apart from the family for the teen’s return.

Attorneys Tim Quinn and Philip Dunn declined to comment on their presence. After initially greeting her family amid a scrum of television cameras, Gray went to speak quietly with Dunn.

Black said her daughter had changed.

She said she thought Gray had Stockholm syndrome, a phenomenon in which those who are held against their will identify with their captors.

Gray, who did not make a comment to the press, cried as she hugged her relatives.

Tafoya called Black on Sept. 1 and told her daughter was in trouble and could she come get her, Black said, adding that she asked for a location to no avail.

At one point, the U.S. marshals were contacted, though it was unclear by whom, and arrangements were made to bring the pair back to the U.S., Armenta said.

The U.S. marshal’s office in Los Angeles did not return a call for comment.

“It’s been totally insane,” she said while waiting for Gray’s arrival. “It’s been the longest day of my life. I did not sleep ... I’m just so happy to know she’s alive.”

The teen’s father, Desmond “Poppy” Gray said the years since Gray disappeared had been a terrible time.

Paul Gray likened the period to a roller coaster without breaks.

He and older sister Uchenna Okehi, 25, said they had become a lot less trusting in the intervening years.

Gray’s younger brother, Oluwa Gray, 15, described his sister’s absence like an unbelievable movie.

The family said they did not give up hope and credited their faith in God.

Gray and Tofoya were captured on a screening camera at the Mexican border on Dec. 13, 2007, that showed the license plate of the stolen car. Tafoya, a former football player at St. Bonaventure High School and Ventura College, had just finished serving a seven-month sentence for having unlawful sex with a minor, Chioma, who was 14 at the time.

At one point, federal authorities told them that a woman’s body found charred beyond recognition in Tijuana was their daughter.

In 2010, Hookstra found the stolen car parked in a compound with flat tires near Acapulco, a resort city in southern Mexico.

He also found they had lived in a small vacation spot, where Tafoya taught snorkeling and Gray worked as a waitress. Hookstra said he talked to neighbors and uncovered information that Tafoya received help from his family.

He also found where the two lived. They apparently worked at a small vacation spot — he taught snorkeling, and she was a waitress. Hookstra said he talked to neighbors and uncovered information that Tafoya received help from his family.

In January, Chioma’s mother filed a federal lawsuit against Tafoya, his father and other members of his family. The suit alleged custodial interference, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and aiding and abetting in the interference of custodial relations. The suit was dismissed in may after Tafoya did not respond to it.

Armenta filed a second suit this August in Los Angeles County Superior Court against Tafoya and his parents alleging custodial interference, intentional infliction of emotional distress, aiding and abetting interference with custodial relations.

The suit seeks punitive and compensatory damages along with court fees.

In 2007, federal prosecutors charged Tafoya with fleeing the country to avoid prosecution of a local charge of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. The case was dismissed at prosecutors request in February. Prosecutorial discretion was cited.

The “fleeing to avoid prosecution” charge is brought when there is a state charge and they are dismissed when the state charge is dropped. Local court records did not show an open charge of unlawful sex with a minor.

Gray’s family fought against the dismissal of the federal case.

“We are less than pleased than the with the prosecutor’s decision and will ask them again to prosecute,” Armenta said.

At the time of the federal case, the FBI assisted with the search.

Armenta said Black felt very strongly that her daughter was kidnapped but most important was Gray’s reunion with her family that had been delayed several times Wednesday, with Gray and Tafoya missing at least one flight.

“Everyone is eager to find out the circumstances surrounding her abduction,” Armenta said.

Gray’s father said he’d like the upcoming days to have “a lot of happiness, a lot of joy, a lot of tears and just jubilation.”

By Teresa Rocheste

Source: vcstar.com