A New Mexico boy who vanished during a custody dispute has been reunited with his father three years after his disappearance.
Andrew Escobar was 11 years old when he went missing from Rio Rancho in July 2023, according to KRQE News and WBAL. His father, Juan Escobar, and stepmother, Monique Escobar, eventually quit their jobs so they could devote themselves full-time to finding him.
The search involved multiple federal agencies, including the U.S. Marshals, but despite the massive effort, Andrew remained missing for nearly three years.
That changed on Wednesday, July 1, when authorities called Juan with the news he had desperately waited to hear: Andrew, now 14, had finally been found.
Juan said the unexpected call left him in “shock and disbelief.”
“Right away, he was like, ‘Hey, Mr. Escobar, I just want you to know we have your son,’” Juan told ABC affiliate KOAT 7. “And I mean, it took me like five, ten seconds to process it.”
Authorities allege that Andrew’s mother, Miriam Felix, took him in 2023 amid a custody dispute with his father.
Felix was reportedly traveling with Andrew from Mexico into the United States when she unknowingly triggered an alert notifying border authorities that she was accompanied by a missing person, KOAT 7 reported.
“That’s when they detained them both,” Juan said.
Felix is currently being held in an El Paso jail while awaiting extradition to New Mexico.
Andrew reportedly told authorities that he had traveled through several countries during the three years he was missing, including Austria, Albania and, most recently, Turkey. Juan also said his son’s passport contains a stamp from Amsterdam.
Although Andrew was found physically well, his father said the family is deeply concerned about the emotional and psychological toll the ordeal may have taken on him.
“We’re concerned about his mental health,” Juan said, according to WBAL. “Physically, he’s well, but he’s just been through so much the last three years emotionally and mentally.”
Throughout Andrew’s disappearance, Juan continued celebrating his son’s birthdays and refused to give up hope that they would one day be reunited.
Earlier this year, he told KRQE News that he and Andrew had been “best friends” before the boy vanished.
“We would always do everything together,” Juan said. “We loved to make videos together of what we were doing and just joke around a lot. He was always joking around.”
Darlene Gomez, an attorney who employs Juan and has helped represent the family during the search, said the immediate focus is now on giving Andrew time and space to recover.
“I think for this family, there is a lot of unknowns,” Gomez told KOAT 7. “It’s the family getting to know one another again and to work at different paces.”
