KARLA TORRES - 13 yo (2008) - Winter Haven FL

WINTER HAVEN | Winter Haven detectives last month found a teenage
girl who's been missing for two years after she ran away with a
33-year-old neighbor.Karla Torres, who was 13 at the time, was
found after someone spotted her picture on a missing children's
bulletin board at a Walmart in Harrodsburg, Ky.Karla was staying in
Harrodsburg with Jose Martinez, who lived next door to her parents'
Winter Haven home."Someone recognized her living there as a Karen Martinez,"
said Winter Haven Detective Amity McGee.


This is the first time that a runaway child has been missing for this long,
said McGee. In other runaway cases, Winter Haven police have been able
to find the children quickly, she said.Karla was reported
missing Jan. 8, 2008 from her home on Avenue P Southwest. McGee said
several of Karla's friends at Denison Middle School, where she attended
school, said she ran away with Martinez because she was pregnant.
"When they (Harrodsburg authorities) recovered her,
she had a 1-year-old child," McGee said.McGee
said her agency always knew Karla, now 15, was safe in Kentucky, but
could never locate her. Following her disappearance, Karla called her
parents every Sunday afternoon. As a part of the investigation, McGee
said she sat at the parents' home while the calls were made. The calls
stopped after Martinez's brother, who lived next door to Karla's
parents, warned Martinez about McGee's presence.The police
department traced Martinez's cell phone and several family members'
phones and was able to pinpoint his location at a migrant housing
complex in Harrodsburg. Every time McGee contacted local law
enforcement to search the complex, officers were unable to find the
pair, McGee said.McGee also kept in contact with the National
Center for Missing & Exploited Children so flyers could circulate
in the Harrodsburg area. Flyers were also circulated in Washington
because investigators thought the two would probably go there next to
pick apples once tobacco season in Kentucky was over.Martinez
has not been arrested by Kentucky police because Karla is claiming that
she was being abused by her mother, Thelma Himenez, and father, Carlos
Torres.But the family's pastor, the Rev. Juan Medero of
Pentecostal Church of God, I.M. in Eloise, said he never saw any signs
that Karla was being mistreated."This is a very close family,"
said Medero, who is speaking on behalf of Karla's parents. "They did
everything to give Karla the best."Medero said Martinez
brainwashed Karla into making statements against her parents. Medero
said Karla's parents traveled to Kentucky to pick her up and were sad
when they were told they couldn't bring her back to Polk County. They
will have to return to Kentucky at a later date to answer to the abuse
allegations, he said."They are willing to do whatever it takes to bring
her back home," Medero said.Officials
with the Child Advocacy Center are investigating the abuse claims and
until they complete their interviews, Karla and Martinez won't be able
to return to Polk, McGee said. Paternity of Karla's child also has to
be established.Karla told Kentucky officials that Martinez is
the father of her baby. Once Child Advocacy officials finish their
review, McGee said Winter Haven investigators will be able to file
charges against Martinez for interfering with custody of a child,
taking a child over state lines and sexual battery.Martinez has
outstanding warrants for traffic violations in Polk County, but
Kentucky law enforcement officials won't extradite him on those charges.WALMART BULLETIN BOARD BREAKS CASE
If it wasn't for the Wal-Mart bulletin board, McGee said she would still be looking for Karla.In
1996, Wal-Mart formed a partnership with the Center for Missing &
Exploited children to display posters that identified missing children.
The children are also featured on monitors at the cash registers.Between
January 1996 and January 2008, Wal-Mart has featured 9,767 on the
boards. As of January 2008, 8,042 of those children had been found and
193 of those children were found because of the bulletin board,
according to Wal-Mart's Web site.