Courtesy of Sophie Sonnenfeld

The New Haven Police Department recently solved the long-cold missing person case of Andrea Reyes, who was abducted from the city as a toddler in 1999.

City detectives, assisted by DNA testing company Othram, found that Reyes, now 27, is living in Puebla, Mexico. Reyes and her father have been in contact for the first time since her kidnapping, according to an NHPD press release.

“This case reflects the hard work of our officers and detectives,” NHPD Chief Karl Jacobson said in the press release. “While cases may have investigative leads exhausted at the time, no cold case is ever truly closed. We remain committed to resolving every cold case and this is a perfect example of that effort.”

The NHPD began investigating Reyes’ case in October 1999 after reports that she had been taken from New Haven by her mother, Rosa Tenorio. Reyes’ father — whose name has not been revealed and who “requests that his anonymity be respected,” according to the press release — had full custody of his daughter.

City police worked closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, issuing a felony arrest warrant for Tenorio, who was suspected to have taken her daughter to Mexico. Reyes’ father headed to Mexico several times to search for his daughter in person but did not get in contact with Reyes or Tenorio.

In 2023, NHPD Detective Kealyn Nivakoff — a member of the Special Victims Unit specializing in missing persons cases — was reviewing cold cases and decided to reinvestigate Reyes’ disappearance. NHPD communications officer Christian Bruckhart told the News that Nivakoff proactively began reinvestigating ones with leads she felt she could follow up on.

Nivakoff used interviews, search warrants and social media to determine Reyes’ current whereabouts in Puebla, per the press release. She also collaborated with Othram to confirm the relationship between Reyes and her father, who both provided Othram with DNA samples upon request. Bruckhart and FBI New Haven spokesperson Anthony Constanza confirmed that the FBI helped the NHPD in the reinvestigation.

Tenorio’s federal arrest warrant is still active, although it is only valid within the United States and NHPD officers suspect she is still living in Mexico. Bruckhart explained that if she is identified in the United States, NHPD officers can extradite her to Connecticut.

“There’s like a Dante’s ‘Inferno’ of levels of how far we’re willing to go to get somebody,” Bruckhart said, explaining the department’s extradition process. “Something where, like, you’ve abducted a child, we’ll go anywhere in the country to go pick them up.”

Reyes’ identification marks the seventh case in Connecticut where officials used Othram technology to identify an individual.