Abduction of 2 girls could bring charges
Crime: Officials say 8-year-old found in Miami, OK, was unintended part of plot
Cross-country abduction of 2 girls could bring charges

From Staff and Wire Reports

Published: July 10, 2008

MIAMI, OK — A cross-country search for a 12-year-old girl and her biological mother ended Wednesday when the pair were taken into police custody in Tennessee, a Miami police detective said Wednesday.

Miami police Detective Chris Leamon said Estephanie Flores and her mother, Ines Pineda Zavala, 38, of Monrovia, Calif., were found on a Greyhound bus in Chattanooga, Tenn. Zavala was arrested and awaits an extradition hearing. Estephanie was placed into protective custody.

Authorities believe the mother and daughter were traveling with 8-year-old Robin Lemus, who they say may have been an unintended part of the California woman's plot to remove her daughter from a Southern California foster home.

Robin was found unharmed Tuesday in her foster parents' stolen Lexus, Miami Police Chief Gary Anderson said.

Robin remains in protective custody after she was found in a hot car at a McDonald's parking lot in Miami.

"I spent time with her (Robin),” Leamon said. "She is in great spirits and looking forward to going back home.”

Robin, wearing a yellow tank top, black shorts and pink slippers, had been in the car about three hours in 95-degree heat. The front window of the car had been rolled down and the keys were still in the ignition. The 1998 Lexus belongs to Martha Santoyo and had been reported stolen.

Robin told police officers she, her foster sister and Zavala slept in the vehicle before the mother and daughter got out about 9 a.m., leaving her alone and without any food or water.

Authorities think Flores stole her foster parents' car and drove Robin to meet Zavala and an unidentified 18-year-old man at an unknown location.

At that point, Zavala took the car and the girls and left California, police think.

Zavala is suspected of orchestrating the girls' escape Monday from their foster parents' home in San Dimas, a suburb east of Los Angeles, said Lt. Michael Rodriguez of the Los Angeles County sheriff's office.

Rodriguez said Zavala is a suspect, but the sheriff's office would not confirm whether an arrest warrant was issued.

Rodriguez said he did not know why Robin was abandoned.

"I think they probably thought, ‘Uh oh, they're on to us and we've got this young lady here who wasn't part of the plan.' ... That's just my guess,” Rodriguez said.

Felicio Lemus, Robin's biological father, said he received a text message before the girls went missing, complaining that their foster mom was being mean.

Robin was later identified as a runaway child from California, rather than a missing child, according to a Miami police report.

Rodriguez said Zavala could be charged with child abduction, kidnapping, child abandonment and child endangerment.

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