SHAFTER - A daughter reaches up and easily wraps her arms around her mother's shoulders. The last time, she could only reach her hips. Yamile Aguilar was just four years old when she was kidnapped and taken to Mexico. Nearly eight years later, almost a teenager, Yamile hugs the mother who never gave up looking for her.
The reunion was captured on video by Maria Ochoa, the mother's pastor at Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal. Ochoa and her husband went to the Mexican border to bring Yamile home.
"We wanted to capture the moment, because for almost eight years we saw Luzalana crying, praying, and waiting," said Ochoa.
For eight years, Luz Espinoza wondered if her daughters still remembered her. Shafter police and the FBI believe Espinoza's then-boyfriend, Hugo Garcia Aguilar, kidnapped his daughter Yamile and her older sister, Viridiana Urias, then 16. The three had been living in Oaxaca, Mexico. While Espinoza worried her daughters had forgotten her, they in fact, were secretly contacting her for years.
"I cannot say how many years, but she had been complaining that people were calling her and just hang up," said Ochoa. "They didn't say anything, but stayed quiet and just hang up."
At the urging of another church member, Ochoa said Espinoza started talking to the mystery caller as if she were her oldest child, Viridiana.
"Finally, she just said it, 'It's me. I'm your daughter," said Ochoa.
"We're glad she never forgot the number."
That phone call ignited a six-month escape plan for the girls. Viridiana and Yamile flew to Mexico City when Aguilar left for work. They took several different buses to the American border. Viridiana, however, is not an American citizen and had to stay behind while her younger sister entered Ochoa's truck to cross the border.
"We drove to Shafter and she [Yamile] saw the store, the market, and she says, 'That's where I got lost."
Ochoa said Yamile doesn't know the whole story of her abduction and relatives do not want to push her for details. Ochoa said mother and daughter prefer to spend this time getting to know each other again.
"Looking at that smile, that big hug, that moment I just wanted to prepare my camera because I want to see that," said Ochoa. "We saw her crying, now we want to see her laughing, happy."
Law enforcement was not made aware of the escape or reunion until Thursday. Shafter police said they're providing the family with help.
17 News spoke briefly with the mother, Luz Espinoza, who said she fears for her oldest daughter's safety and did not want to disclose Viridiana's location for fear her abductor would find her again.
Espinoza said she has already received threatening phone calls from the girls' alleged abductor, Hugo Garcia Aguilar.
The reunion was captured on video by Maria Ochoa, the mother's pastor at Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal. Ochoa and her husband went to the Mexican border to bring Yamile home.
"We wanted to capture the moment, because for almost eight years we saw Luzalana crying, praying, and waiting," said Ochoa.
For eight years, Luz Espinoza wondered if her daughters still remembered her. Shafter police and the FBI believe Espinoza's then-boyfriend, Hugo Garcia Aguilar, kidnapped his daughter Yamile and her older sister, Viridiana Urias, then 16. The three had been living in Oaxaca, Mexico. While Espinoza worried her daughters had forgotten her, they in fact, were secretly contacting her for years.
"I cannot say how many years, but she had been complaining that people were calling her and just hang up," said Ochoa. "They didn't say anything, but stayed quiet and just hang up."
At the urging of another church member, Ochoa said Espinoza started talking to the mystery caller as if she were her oldest child, Viridiana.
"Finally, she just said it, 'It's me. I'm your daughter," said Ochoa.
"We're glad she never forgot the number."
That phone call ignited a six-month escape plan for the girls. Viridiana and Yamile flew to Mexico City when Aguilar left for work. They took several different buses to the American border. Viridiana, however, is not an American citizen and had to stay behind while her younger sister entered Ochoa's truck to cross the border.
"We drove to Shafter and she [Yamile] saw the store, the market, and she says, 'That's where I got lost."
Ochoa said Yamile doesn't know the whole story of her abduction and relatives do not want to push her for details. Ochoa said mother and daughter prefer to spend this time getting to know each other again.
"Looking at that smile, that big hug, that moment I just wanted to prepare my camera because I want to see that," said Ochoa. "We saw her crying, now we want to see her laughing, happy."
Law enforcement was not made aware of the escape or reunion until Thursday. Shafter police said they're providing the family with help.
17 News spoke briefly with the mother, Luz Espinoza, who said she fears for her oldest daughter's safety and did not want to disclose Viridiana's location for fear her abductor would find her again.
Espinoza said she has already received threatening phone calls from the girls' alleged abductor, Hugo Garcia Aguilar.