AMBER NICKLAS - 14 Months (2003) - Norwalk CA - Found in Phoenix AZ after 7 years

A girl abducted as a toddler in California has
been found in good condition in Phoenix almost seven years later,
authorities say.
Amber Nicklas was just 14-months-old when her teenage aunt abducted
her from a restaurant in Norwalk, Calif. in September 2003.
"The 13-year-old handed off the baby to possibly another family
member, possibly the baby's mother," says Norwalk Sheriff's Dept. Capt. Patrick Maxwell.
At the time, Amber was living with foster parents.
Investigators searched a home in Phoenix Wednesday and found Amber,
who's eight now, hidden in a bathroom.
"These individuals were trying to hide this child in the bathroom
shower. They put her underneath some clothing articles and towels," says
Phoenix Police Sgt. Trent Crump.
But a neighbor says the police got it wrong. "No, no," the neighbor
says. "The police are lying. She can't go to the bathroom on her own, so
her mother took her in the bathroom and they assumed that she was trying to hide her."
Authorities says they used photographs, a footprint and DNA to
positively identify the child, whose name and birthdate had been changed.
Police say while she's in good condition, Amber is scared and confused.
They add that detectives brought her back to California, where she's
in the custody of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.

A girl abducted by three aunts from her foster
parents nearly seven years ago, when she was an infant, is back in
California after she was found safe in Phoenix, authorities said.

The girl returned to Norwalk
Wednesday night and was placed in the custody of the Los Angeles County
Department of Children and Family Services, Los Angeles County sheriff's
Lt. Bill Evans said.

Detectives from the Phoenix Police
Department's missing persons unit, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's
Department and the FBI located the 7-year-old girl at a Phoenix house
earlier Wednesday.

A woman was trying to hide the child
in a bathroom shower under a pile of clothes and towels when
investigators searched the home under a court order, authorities said.

The girl appeared to be in good
physical condition, Evans said. Her name was not released.

Police said three biological aunts -
all juveniles at the time - abducted the girl when she was less than a
year old, during a "noncustodial visitation" at a Norwalk restaurant.
The child was in the custody of foster parents at the time.

The foster parents were distracted
by two of the aunts and the third aunt got away with the child, Evans
said.

Two of the aunts were later
arrested, and the third hasn't been located, authorities said.

The girl apparently was not related
to the Phoenix family with whom she was living, Evans said. The
investigation is ongoing, and no arrests have been made.

The girl had been kept out of
schools and her name and birth date had been changed, authorities said.
Footprints, photographs and DNA swabs were taken of the girl to confirm
her identity.

Poor baby :( People just dont understand the effects this kind of stuff has on children. 6 years no schooling!? There was obviously a reason the mother didnt have custody of her in the first place. Ugh

A Phoenix family that raised a missing California girl in their Gypsy
traditions said they never knew the child had been kidnapped more than
six years ago and they hope to eventually get her back from authorities.

The child's biological grandmother turned the girl over to them in
2003, they said Friday through attorney John Blischak. They took custody
of the baby after the woman explained the baby's biological mother was
addicted to drugs and unable to care for her, Blischak said.The Phoenix couple claimed they learned the child's true identity
earlier this week, after police served a court order in the
missing-person case.
Police took Amber Nicklas, 7, from the family on Wednesday, after Los
Angeles County Sheriff's Department investigators tracked the girl to a
house near Thomas Road and 16th Street in Phoenix, where the people she
knows as parents run a psychic palm-reader business.
The girl was taken from the family and placed into the California
child-welfare system.
Shirley Frank, the woman Amber knows as her mother, and other family
members could face criminal charges if the investigation determines they
had knowledge of the girl's kidnapping, according to police. The girl's
biological family is also under investigation.
"She's absolutely traumatized that her baby was taken away from her,"
Blischak said of Frank.
Amber's then-teenaged aunts, one who was 13 at the time, took her
from foster parents during a supervised visit in 2003 at a Chuck E.
Cheese in Southern California, when Amber was less than a year old,
detectives said.
Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies said their investigation will
determine how the baby went from the foster parents, to the aunts, and
eventually to the Phoenix home. Deputies said Amber's relatives were
acquainted with some of the family that raised her in Phoenix, though
they did not identify suspects. No arrests have been made.
Police characterized the palm-reader home as a clean and safe place
for Amber to grow up. They said there were no immediate signs of abuse.
Amber never learned to read, and authorities said the Phoenix family
kept her from school. Blischak said Gypsy families share a code of
taking care of their own: they maintain their own law and court systems,
and educate their children outside of mainstream schools.
Bill John, who acted as the girl's grandfather in Phoenix, said the
family knew her as "Sandra" until police revealed her true identity by
comparing her footprint to a print on her birth certificate.
John said the family will likely petition authorities to give them
back the girl.
"It's going to be hard, but we'll try," John said. "After several
years, it's difficult. The bond between a mother and child is
unbreakable."
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Capt. Patrick Maxwell said
Friday that detectives would discuss the case next week before
presenting the investigation to prosecutors.
Maxwell said he doubted Amber would be reunited with relatives, who
child-welfare officials may consider a danger to the girl.
Phoenix police Sgt. Trent Crump said local investigators were
prepared to charge the Phoenix family with felony custodial interference
but held off to allow Los Angeles detectives to complete their probe.

A 7-year-old girl who was snatched from California as a toddler and
raised in Arizona is a typical young child who loves YouTube and
pop-music star Justin Bieber, the man who raised her said Monday.Peter
Gutierrez of Phoenix said he and his wife, Shirley Frank, loved the
girl and took excellent care of her.Authorities last week took
Amber Nicklas from the home of Gutierrez and Frank, the only parents she
ever knew, and placed her in an undisclosed California foster home
until officials determine a permanent placement."We believe she
was sent from God, because we love children," Gutierrez told The
Associated Press in an interview. "We are not bad people. We are not bad
parents."Gutierrez said he hopes to someday get legal custody of
the girl, whom he calls Sandra. It was unclear late Monday if that's an
option. Gutierrez said his family wasn't involved in the girl's
abduction and has done nothing wrong. He added it is not uncommon in
their Gypsy culture for families to take care of children born to other
couples.The couple have not been charged with a crime, though
authorities say charges are possible."We are guilty of loving a
child," Gutierrez said during the sometimes tearful interview at his
lawyer's office in Phoenix. "That's how I feel in my heart, and it
hurts. I want my baby back."Gutierrez and his father, Bill John,
described how the girl came to live in Arizona. They said Amber's
biological grandmother brought her to Phoenix, said her name was Sandra,
and asked the couple to watch her for a short time while the
grandmother looked for work.It's a typical arrangement in their
Gypsy culture, they said — parents frequently take care of other Gypsy
children and they never leave them in the care of non-Gypsy families.A
week became a month, then two months, and the woman never came back for
her, John said. About eight months later, the grandmother called and
told Frank she'd have to keep the baby because the girl had been
abducted.The family's attorney, John Blischak, clarified that the
family didn't know it was a criminal abduction, but assumed that she'd
been legally taken from a biological mother who was addicted to drugs.Gutierrez
and John said the family never knew the biological aunts who allegedly
orchestrated Amber's abduction from her foster parents at a Chuck E.
Cheese restaurant outside Los Angeles on Sept. 21, 2003.Los
Angeles County sheriff's Capt. Patrick Maxwell said the motive for the
abduction remains under investigation. Authorities haven't been able to
contact the original foster parents, and the whereabouts of the girl's
biological mother and father are also unclear.John said his
family played no role in the abduction."We had nothing to do with
taking her out of California. Nothing," he said.But authorities
allege the couple kept Amber out of school in an attempt to hide her.
And when police arrived at their home, the purported mother tried to
hide the girl in a bathroom shower under a pile of clothes and towels,
investigators said.While the home was clean and Amber seemed
healthy, authorities said, she cannot read because of her lack of
schooling. Blischak said the girl was kept out of school because the
family didn't have the necessary paperwork to enroll her.Gutierrez
said the girl was "bright for her age," and he tried to teach her
numbers and the ABCs.The family disputed the police account,
saying they cooperated fully with officers and never tried to conceal
Amber in a bathroom.The girl was scared but quiet, Gutierrez
said, adding she didn't cry and she cooperated when officers asked to
take her footprint."She sat by me and she clung to her Barney,"
he said. "That's her security toy she's had all her life."In Los
Angeles, an investigator said Monday the girl has learned her true name
and was being given therapy to cope with the trauma of leaving the only
family she remembers."She actually likes the name Amber," Maxwell
said.There were no other details on how the girl was acclimating
after being taken last week from the central Phoenix home she'd lived
in most of her life, which doubled as a palm-reading business. County
child welfare officials have provided her with a therapist, Maxwell
said.Gutierrez and Frank also have two biological children, a
20-year-old son and 4-month-old daughter."No matter what these
people were in Arizona, to this little girl, they were the only family
she knew," Maxwell said. "In her eyes, she was taken from her mother and
father, and a brother and a sister."We do feel bad about that,
but we have to remove her from that house to make sure that nothing else
was going on," he said. "They had a missing child for almost 7 years,
and we have to look at the full circumstances."Investigators were
trying to determine how Amber wound up in Arizona. They were expected
to present a case to prosecutors by early next week, Maxwell said.While
the two biological aunts already have served time for Amber's
abduction, others possibly involved in the crime could face charges
ranging from kidnapping to child concealment and conspiracy, Maxwell
said.Arizona officials could consider filing charges against the
Phoenix couple for failing to put the girl in school, Maxwell said.