Missing 8-year-old Hanford girl found, mom taken into custody

Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Missing 8-year-old Hanford girl found, mom taken into custody
A missing 8-year-old girl from Hanford has been found safe and her mom has been taken into custody.

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The tumultuous 24-hour search for Evangelina or Eva Sanchez ended with a happy meal Tuesday afternoon.

"They fed her lunch. A Happy Meal from McDonald's and she was glad to have that. But overall her demeanor has been very positive towards our staff and the other staff that have had to deal with her," said Kings County Sheriff David Robinson.

Sheriff Robinson says Eva was found at a crowded home in Fresno, with her mother hiding in a back bedroom.

Earlier in the day, Felicia Flores took off with her daughter from a Northwest Fresno Walmart parking lot.

Her boyfriend, identified as Jose Gonzalez was arrested there by Fresno Police for stealing items from the store after a caller had reported a suspicious van.

Robinson says Gonzalez is the man who forcibly took Eva from the Hanford home on Monday morning.

Robinson says Gonzalez, seen here being walked into the Kings County Sheriff's Office, will be charged with kidnapping Eva, her mother with child neglect and endangerment.

"Her actions absolutely dictate that she is unfit to be a mother and unfit to care for this child. We will do everything we can to work with child protective services to make sure that Eva is placed in a safe and clean environment," said Sheriff Robinson.

"But yeah she's my little partner. We always go every place together. We never leave each other, nothing," said Guadalupe Garcia.

Guadalupe Garcia says she's known Eva since she was an infant. She cares for her when Flores is not anywhere to be found. And was doing so up until Monday, when Gonzalez came into her house, pushed her out of the way, and carried Eva away on his shoulders.

"Nobody's ever taken care of her. You know they've always bounced back and forth from a place, they never have a stable home, the most stable is when she's with me," said Garcia.