Missing Toddler Returned to Mother

An 11-month-old boy was united with his mother Wednesday, more than 24 hours after he was allegedly snatched away by an overnight female guest at the family’s Compton home.

The boy, Rafael Torres, was rescued after a downtown bus driver and passengers recognized the baby and the alleged abductor from police descriptions disseminated by the media.

The woman, Graciela Montenegro Del Castillo Juarez, 22, and the baby were spotted by Essie Bergeron, a Dash bus driver, when she got on board at Union Station, said Los Angeles police spokesman Ed Funes.

Carrying two bags, Juarez boarded the Central City bus although she apparently wanted to go to Santa Clarita, Funes said. “She seemed to be disoriented and acted in a strange manner,” Funes said.

The driver radioed her dispatcher, who notified police.

Responding Los Angeles police officers seized the woman and child at 14th Street and Grand Avenue and took them to Central station, Funes said. Once there, the boy’s mother, Carla Torres, identified her son.

Juarez was arrested and taken to the Compton Police Department. The motive for taking the child while the mother slept is unknown, said Compton Police Sgt. Rick Petty.

An emotional Torres told reporters Tuesday, when she reported the boy missing, that her uncle had brought the suspect, whom he met at a bar, to their home because the woman had nowhere to stay.