Having your child taken from you is one of every parent's worst nightmares. And yet, that's exactly what Lester Mejia lived through for six agonizing hours back in February 2020. The dad from Apopka, Florida, watched in horror as his 3-year-old daughter Madeline was abducted right from his car in the driveway.
Luckily, she was returned safely the same day, but this story could have turned out much differently had it not been for the father's quick thinking.
It was around 6 a.m., when Mejia began loading his toddler into the back seat of his car.
Before pulling out, the busy dad realized he'd left something behind in the house: his keys, WFTV 9 reported at the time.
Realizing he wouldn't get very far without them, Mejia ran back into the house to retrieve them. It was a split-second decision that proved to be fateful.
Mejia left his daughter alone in the car for mere seconds as he ran inside to grab his keys, and that was all the time someone needed to snatch her.
Mejia told authorities he came running when he heard his daughter scream, but when he got outside, it was already too late.
Helpless, he watched as a black Honda with Texas plates started speeding away — with his 3-year-old inside the car.
The panicked father did all he could think to do in the moment: He hopped in the car, and raced after the black Honda.
In his haste to chase after the abductor, Mejia had left behind his cellphone, which meant he couldn't call 911.
Instead, the worried dad followed the car until it reached Interstate 75 and then made the decision to turn back home to retrieve his phone, so he could contact police.
Once he did, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement issued an Amber Alert for the vehicle.
With more eyes on the road searching for the car, it didn't take troopers long to spot it on Interstate 10 in Tallahassee. In fact, department officials told WFTV that agents actually noticed the suspect’s vehicle by air during a helicopter patrol, and radioed troopers on the ground.
The vehicle was stopped around noon, which was when multiple suspects were apprehended and the little girl was safely rescued.
According to police, three men and one woman were taken into custody on kidnapping charges.
Two of them have since been identified as Kevin Olmeda-Velis, 19, and Tania Fortin-Duarte, 18, according to Metro. The other two suspects have not yet been named.
As for Madeline, Lt. Kim Montes told WFTV that the little girl was “scared” after being through a "very traumatic" experience. Thankfully, she was soon reunited with her father and the rest of her family, who are eternally grateful for her safe return.
When reporters caught up with the father, he could not contain his joy.
“It was anguish not knowing what was happening to my daughter,” Mejia said. “I’m happy for my baby coming back.”
The same day, Apopka Police Chief Michael McKinley also made a statement, commenting on how shocking the entire incident must have been for the father.
“Obviously he didn’t think this was the morning someone was going to grab Madeline," McKinley said. "We don’t all think about that."
If it seems like we're hearing a lot about missing children lately, they've certainly been making headlines.
Yet sadly, many of the recent news stories that have gripped the nation haven't ended so happily.
Around the same time as Madeline's kidnapping, newborn, Andrew Caballiero, of Miami, also went missing. The dad, Ernesto Caballiero, was later found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but the infant was nowhere to be found.
A few months before, 2-year-old Nalani Johnson of Pennsylvania also went missing. She later turned up dead in a nearby park.
In the case of Madeline, her father's response — and the police department's dedication to finding her — are what ultimately brought a happy ending to what could have been a tragic tale.
It turns out, Mejia wasn't completely truthful with authorities though.
During their investigation, law enforcement authorities learned that Mejia had actually lied about some of the details surrounding hid daughter's kidnapping, in the hopes of getting officials to act more urgently.
One of the kidnappers, Tania Fortin-Duarte, is Madeline's mother, who had taken her unlawfully. Olmeda-Velis is reportedly Fortin-Duarte's boyfriend. Not only that, but Mejia himself wasn't actually home during the incident. A family member was watching his daughter while he was at work, and called to alert him that the child had been taken. In this case, bending the truth may have kept his daughter from an unsafe situation.
