Missing 3-Year-Old Boy Found Unhurt in Tijuana

A 3-year-old boy reported missing from his Van Nuys home was found unharmed Friday in Tijuana after he apparently wandered around the border city’s airport by himself for a night, authorities said.

The boy’s baby-sitter, who allegedly took the boy after a dispute with his mother, was taken into custody on suspicion of kidnaping, Los Angeles police said. Police began to search for Hector Vasquez at 7 p.m. Thursday when his mother, Rosa Lopez, discovered that he was missing from their home in the 14700 block of Delano Street, police said.

After a search of the neighborhood failed to find the boy, police interviewed the boy’s live-in baby-sitter, Alicia Lopez, 22, who is not related. After admitting that she had taken the boy to Tijuana, the baby-sitter agreed to accompany detectives to that city’s airport, where she had abandoned the boy.