Routine Traffic Stop Finds Missing 13 Year Old Girl

Routine Traffic Stop Finds Missing 13 Year Old Girl

young girl is found hiding under a blanket during a routine traffic stop behind the wheel is a 32-year-old man who claims he just met her days earlier in Las Vegas but when police start peeling back the story they find lies fake names and the culmination of a shocking multi-state investigation you said she’s 19 i did the math i I didn’t know the following report is based on official police records and the footage has never been seen before until now please note that all persons charged with a crime are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law just as the sun is coming up in Navajo County Arizona a sheriff’s deputy notices a black SUV headed eastbound on Interstate 40 with several items hanging from the rearview mirror when he pulls up behind the vehicle the driver instantly takes the next exit at which point the deputy makes the stop only to find that the driver is not alone how you doing good i’m Smith i’m with the Navo County Sheriff’s Office the reason I pulled you over you have all those things in hanging from your rearview mirror that’s an obstruction obstruction of view from the roadway oh I’m sorry i apologize who’s hiding under the blanket huh well can I have you put the blanket down just so I know that there’s not a gun or nothing on that no there’s nothing there you all right yeah you ready just thinking okay is there anyone else in the car hiding no just two two dogs two dogs okay can I get your driver’s license your registration and your insurance can I have have her keep this blanket down i don’t know if there’s like a weapon or anything underneath there i promise she’s just passed out just passed out yeah it’s just it’s okay can I get her ID she What’s her name daisy daisy daisy what and birthday uh 2007 2007 daisy Garcia Guzman okay all right can I have you come on back i’ll give you a written warning the driver Raul Alexis Ariano Romero is patted down and taken to sit in the deputy’s front seat but it’s the identity of his female passenger that will turn this routine traffic stop into a morning of mystery you’re not going to lock me anytime you got a handle how’s your day going so far pretty good not too bad a little tired but not too bad gotcha where you coming from i’m originally from Puerto Rico actually or where are you coming from oh right now uh from So I traveled to Las Vegas mhm um and I’m on my way back home to New Mexico gotcha so you don’t live in Alabama anymore no I don’t that’s not how you get to New Mexico it’s Oh well I had to kind of stop a little bit cuz it’s starting to get tired so I thought I could find somewhere here but I guess there’s nothing here thought that was possibly a gas station that doesn’t look like one yeah you just passed like a dozen of them actually oh I did for real i feel very weird being in your car right now i’m not going to lie why is that would you rather stand out in the cold i mean I could have just stayed in the car it’s just kind of weird i’ve never been invited into a Consider it your first time where’s Daisy from alabama or New Mexico i think she’s from New Mexico if I remember correctly yes she’s your girlfriend no she’s not who is she just a friend like a really close friend nothing like that how old is she 19 the deputy has noticed Raul’s nervousness writing in his report that his hands were shaking as he handed over his license he decides to dig a little deeper into Raul’s story so she’s 19 right mhm obviously she’s an adult mhm you said she didn’t have an ID on her mm-m what do you mean by that that I don’t think she has one i don’t think she’s ever gotten one yet not even an ID not that I know of i mean she hasn’t showed me or talked to me about one so I really don’t know how long ago did you meet her about two days ago something like that where’d you meet her at vegas just taking her home no kind of not really like that um she just said that she’s never been to New Mexico and I told her I’m like “Well it’s really flat really flat land so thought we’d go and see it together.” I thought you said she was your girlfriend i never said she was okay must have been a misunderstanding no I No I never said she was i just met her that’s way too soon just been kind of getting to know her I guess with Rahul’s answers not quite lining up the deputy calls for backup so what what are you planning on doing with her nothing just uh she wanted to go to New Mexico so she asked for a drive that’s why I think she’s like a drifter or something or nomad we got a problem with human smuggling going on i don’t know what that means you don’t know what human smuggling is english isn’t my first language so you speak very good English i I know i know i I know I do but smuggling sounds like I was not born yesterday you know what human smuggling human trafficking is human trafficking yes okay there’s a little bit of a difference so human smuggling would be uh hiding an individual that’s not from this country bringing them across and taking them somewhere to another state gotcha like you met a female two days ago you’re taking her to another state i got you but you don’t really know any about anything about her yeah I see what you mean do I really look like the smuggling type anybody can be a smuggler it’s valid we’ve got grandmas we got grandmas we got Oh no i can tell you that uh as soon as I get behind you you jump off the interstate and you go to a dead end road saying that you’re going to New Mexico doesn’t help oh that’s fair well I mean I was I’m not from here to get to the bottom of things the deputy turns to the girl for answers do you have an ID on you Daisy and what’s your last name okay what are you doing with him just going to When did you meet him oh a long time ago a long time ago okay as a K-9 unit arrives on scene the police gather Daisy and Raul together so the drug dog can sniff the vehicle the deputy takes the opportunity to again ask a question he’s gotten two different answers to how old are you Daisy i’m 17 you’re 17 i thought you were 19 2007 you didn’t well maybe I did the mask with that odd excuse hanging in the air the K9 deputy comes back with news that adds yet another wrinkle to this traffic stop all right y’all so my K9’s trained to detect four oders okay cocaine methamphetamine heroin and fentanyl you need to keep a positive word to the vehicle having said that have you guys been in contact with any of those drugs uh like with any No no weed but he is alert to weed man okay well that’s no one’s smoked any meth no friends in Vegas messing around with anything no and I didn’t really have anybody in the car much so okay i came all over the vehicle in the state of Arizona gives us probable cause to search the vehicle okay so we are going to be searching the vehicle you guys are saying we’re not going to find anything no tutors no paraphernalia nothing like that nothing okay as they prepare to search the car Daisy and Raul are separated once more daisy can you come here real quick maybe at most can I search you real quick but nothing like crazy or anything like that you got nothing on you i’m going to have you sit in the front seat of my car okay before anybody goes in here without me in there I got to put your handcuffs okay so you don’t grab any of my stuff just go ahead and put them behind your back wait why are you She’s just detained right now cuz I’m not going to be in here to watch her she’s just going to sit in my vehicle i don’t need anyone going through my computer oh okay as they begin the search the deputies discuss the growing discrepancies in the pair’s stories so he she’s hiding under this and like I pull it up she looks young he says she’s 19 and they met 2 days ago she says they met a long time ago and that she’s 17 okay and they met in Vegas and he’s taking her to home to New Mexico or OPR have him in Idaho and he said he only went to Vegas interesting he’s got knives all over the place i definitely CCH she has no luggage in the car oh there’s the weed but at the moment the deputies are more interested in finding out the truth behind Daisy and Ro’s situation than what they found in the SUV now that you’re not next to him have you seen him use any drugs over the past couple days no sir no and how old are you same okay so did you give him a fake ID no sir you give him a fake name and date of birth here so why does the date of birth that he ran come back to someone who’s 19 you don’t know okay how long have you known him multiple years multiple years okay and how old is he i’m not sure not sure do you know his full name alexis okay um is that your boyfriend or No just a friend what kind of like family okay uh I’m going to ask you a personal question um it’s up to you if you want to answer have you guys had any kind of sexual contact or that no okay the cops note that a fake tattoo on Daisy’s neck is wearing off giving them more reason to suspect that she might be younger than she’s letting on meanwhile the other deputy turns up the heat on Raul can you relay exactly what happened this weekend what do you mean with her and your travel plans and everything like that why because it’s not adding up i’ve talked to her talked to you i’m getting two different stories i just want to figure out what actually happened so that we can go on from there okay what did she say i’m not going to tell you that well I mean I don’t I I feel weird answering i I just told you what I I told you what happened so you met her 2 days ago yes you went to Vegas you met her two days ago yes well two Yes you said she’s 19 she’s 17 i did the math wrong i I don’t know and what are your plans with her cuz it doesn’t make sense that you’re going to take her to New Mexico but you’re not going to take her home i travel no I am taken her back i travel a lot so I just going to New Mexico for a little bit i’m going to see my mom my dog just died one of my dog just died or my mom’s dog just died well what are you going to do with her you said you’re not taking her to your mom not like to stay not like that no she’s going to get a hotel I’m guessing i really don’t know with what money uh I didn’t really think about that to be honest i guess with mine anyways at this point I feel like I need a lawyer because I’m I’m feeling a little harassed i’m not going to lie you’re not being harassed you’re detained at this point okay you’re going to go in the back of one of these cars seems a little sketchy so I’m saying you’ll be fine started off with You’ll be fine sure i’m not from here i don’t know how this place works and I know some places I can tell you that if you’re taking a 17-year-old girl across state lines and you don’t know any of that information you go to Vegas you pick her up everything that I’ve seen so far obviously you’re detained okay the deputy will soon discover the truth behind Daisy’s identity but it will take some work to get past what he believes is possibly Ro’s coaching all right Daisy so I’ve got a bunch of questions because this isn’t really making sense to me okay are you from California no sir where are you from um right where I was born i forgot what it’s called just be honest with me please because we will figure out everything okay just please be honest with me so that it’s not any more confusing than it needs to be can I get your real name we’re going to get a fingerprint scanner here we’re going to get a fingerprint scanner here do I have to do it what do I have to do it um yeah we’re going to get your identity okay so I’m going to need your full name here’s the thing Daisy or whatever your name is you’re not in trouble right now we are the police we’re here to help you we’re not here to get him in trouble but you’re 17 years old i cannot let you go with him from here on okay so we need to figure out who you are and where we can help you go what’s your name daisy no tell me your real name daisy okay how do you spell it if you Here’s the thing if you lie about your name you’re going to jail and we will figure it out we’ve got facial recognition and the fingerprint scanner okay so I’m going to give you this is your last chance to give me a truthful identification you’re going to get have to give me a true name and a date of birth otherwise you go to jail okay at last the girl admits to the deputy that she’s not a 17-year-old nomad but rather a 13-year-old from the opposite side of the country you can cancel the facial wreck and fingerprint scanner located the 101 she’s a missing juvenile out of Alabama daisy’s real name turns out to be Deetsi Pizarro listed as missing on a bulletin from the Marshall County Alabama Sheriff’s Office on April 19th 11 days earlier it’s far from the last twist in this rapidly intensifying case what grade are you in eight how long ago did you run away okay and what are you doing with him what are you doing with him i’m just traveling the alert out of Alabama about Deetsi also lists a person of interest none other than 32-year-old Raul Alexis Ariano Romero right now you’re detained because you lied about who she was okay i lied about who she was you’ve known her longer than 2 days you’ve been traveling with her for longer than that you lived in Alabama right uh yes okay when did you leave Alabama uh while a while ago how long is a while ago man like a while like years months months like months months months you’re talking about maybe 8 months okay almost a year 2021 does that look like her i don’t know hey I got a question for you yes sir is that you no sir that’s his wife his wife okay it’s his wife so has she been with you ever since you left Alabama no okay so when did you pick her up uh like 2 or 3 days ago i know see dude this is going to work a whole lot easier if you quit lying to me okay I know you’re lying to me bro we already know that you’ve been with her for longer than two days so are you going to tell me how honestly how long you’ve been with her wait what makes you think that you know that I’ve been with her i’m done with talking with you sit in that car i’ve already talked to her i got all the information that I need but when the deputies get on the phone with authorities in Alabama they learn that there’s still much more to uncover in this disturbing case it looks like it says she left around um like in the morning while the family was asleep um it looks like it was from 7:28 2024 she was reported missing it turns out that this is actually the second time Raul has been accused of taking the girl on an unauthorized road trip and the deputy gets on the phone with authorities in Massachusetts to learn more about a pending case from last year so we had a kidnapping case here in Massachusetts back in I believe it was in July he drove all the way over here and picked this child up who was here she She was here on vac on vacation with her mom her biological mom uhhuh um he came here and picked her up and took her out of state lines we were able through uh with help with the state police we were able to um find him out in like Virginia somewhere and he was arrested he was in prison for some time um his case is actually coming up soon we I was just on the phone with the DA i I was not aware that she was on the run again with him um I’m glad you guys found her thank you guys um we’ll I’ll be in touch give me um give me some a little bit of time i’ll be I’m going to be in touch with her parents as well as the DA’s office here and um I’ll call you guys back raul is transported to the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office for questioning while Deetsi is taken to the Family Advocacy Center in Xolo to be given a forensic interview i know it may seem like it but you’re still not in trouble okay we’re not charging you with anything they’re probably going to have to arrange for a way to get you back home and I don’t know what your relationship is with your parents but maybe get you in contact with them if that’s what you want in her interview Deetsi says she met Raul 2 years ago through her older brother they began communicating through online games like Fortnite and Call of Duty where she told him that she wanted to take a trip to Vegas he picked her up outside her house and they stayed the night in Tennessee and Montana before finally arriving at a hotel in Henderson Nevada she insists that they slept in separate beds and had no intimate contact and while some items of interest were found in Ro’s vehicle he’s detained right now because he’s in the prison he’s got condoms in the center console he’s talking to her still no charges regarding a physical relationship have been filed meanwhile at the sheriff’s office Raul is less than cooperative with the detectives we’ve been talking to we’ve been getting all all the information she has so we talked to her and now we want your side of the story i want to hear I want to hear from you right what what’s going on so um can you can you start where at the beginning honestly I have nothing to say what What do you mean by that exactly that the straightforward meaning of nothing to say i don’t feel comfortable enough talking to you guys um especially after all of this this was just a stop because I had stuff hanging on my um my mirror like you know the mirror to look to the back and then it went for all of a sudden it turned into like they were checking to see if my car had drugs and it got completely blown blown out of proportion so I don’t feel confident enough for any of you guys to be honest with Rahul unwilling to talk the detective reveals what comes next i don’t know if they told you there but there was a warrant for your arrest for kidnapping nationwide extradition so you will be booked into the Naval County Jail that she went to earlier for that warrant okay raul Alexis Ariano Romero was transported back to Alabama the next day where he was charged with interference with custody ariano Romero’s case remains open and ongoing

In today’s body camera video, we’re covering the case of Raul Alexis Arellano-Romero.

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