GLENDALE, Ariz — It's an anniversary no parent should ever have to live through.
Nearly three years ago on Sept. 15, 2019, Alicia Navarro went missing from her Glendale home. She was only 14 years old.
Her mother, Jessica Nunez, said Alicia left a note before disappearing that read:
I ran away. I will be back, I swear. I'm sorry.
"I'm still waiting for her to fulfill her promise," Nunez said.
Her daughter, who is on the autism spectrum, took her phone and laptop. Her mother said Alicia stacked up chairs in the backyard and hopped over the fence.
However, Nunez doesn't believe her daughter ran away but instead believes she was lured by someone online.
“I would never imagine that she will be willing to do something like this,” Nunez said.
Nunez has been relentless in her search. She is passing out flyers, buying billboards and hiring private investigators to help find her daughter.
"I have a lot of people working very hard on my daughter's case," she said. "Still, I have no idea where she is, there's no trace of her.”
Despite all the time and pain, Nunez refuses to give up.
“I can't turn back," she said. “I love my daughter very much."
Over the years she has started to share her daughter's story with other parents to warn them about the dangers of social media for children.
"To learn if it happened to me, it could happen to anyone," she said.
All while never giving up hope. “Since the beginning, I never stopped."
She believes one day Alicia will be found and they can be reunited once again.
EN ESPAÑOL: ‘No puedo perder la esperanza’: Madre continúa en busca de su hija desparecida desde hace 3 años
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