CHIOMA GRAY - 16 yo (2007) - Ventura CA

Chioma Gray has been missing for two years, after she was last seen on
the morning of Dec. 13, 2007. Tuesday is Chioma Gray's 18th birthday.
Gray was last seen when Gray's father dropped the Buena
High School student at the school. School video
surveillance shows 20-year-old Andrew Tafoya arriving at the school at
around the same time in a stolen Toyota sedan. Tafoya had been released
from jail the day before. He was serving time for unlawful sex with a
minor; the minor was Chioma Gray, who was 14 at the time.
Ventura Police suspect Gray left with Tafoya voluntarily. A
friend of Gray's said Tafoya wanted to go to Mexico with Gray. A camera
at the Mexican border reportedly recorded the license plate of the car
Tafoya had been driving. The FBI has declared Tafoya wanted for
child stealing, unlawful flight to avoid prosecution and auto theft.
"Every day is an experience that's like living in the pits of Hell,"
said Francine Black, Chioma's mother. "And not being able to see her,
hold her or touch her is extremely life-changing." Black said
Chioma did not go willingly, but police disagree. "This was
really her, we felt, her going on her own with somebody she knew, and
leaving," said Ventura Police Sgt. Jack Richards. "Not an abduction or
kidnapping." Since Chioma has gone missing, her mother has not
been interviewed by police or the FBI. In a conversation with an FBI
investigator, she was told her daughter was dead. Chioma was a
4.0 student at the time of her disappearance. She would have graduated
high school in a few weeks. Francine Black is now getting help
from former assistant police chief of Oxnard; Chuck Hookstra. They
established an anonymous tip line. That number is (805) 844-5045. The
number is not associated with law enforcement.

Franciene Black knows what she wants for Mother’s Day: to see her
daughter Chioma again.
Hoping to bring her back, Black and her friends are holding a
candlelight vigil at her Oxnard home in hopes of bringing the now 18
year-old home to see her family. Black, who is being helped by retired
Oxnard Police Assistant Chief Charles Hookstra,
are also working with the group “Peas in Their Pod,” a nationwide
organization based in Georgia that specializes in finding missing
African American children.
It’s been almost three years since her family last saw Chioma. The
former Buena High School student was last seen after her father dropped
her off for school.
Andrew Joshua Tafoya, then a 20 year-old, who’d just been released
from jail the night before picked her up in his car before she got into
the building.
Tafoya, a former football player at St Bonaventura High School and
Ventura College, had been in jail serving a seven-months sentence for
having unlawful sex with Chioma, who was 14 at the time. Police and the
FBI believe Tafoya took Chioma to Mexico.
Her mother set up a tip line 844-5045. Those tips can be left anonymously.
The Mother’s Day vigil for Chioma will be from 7:30 to 8 p.m. at 440 Doris Ave. in Oxnard.

He should have served more than 7 months for his crime. If he had to serve a few years instead of months Chioma would have got over him and moved on in her life. He was somehow able to keep her in his power while he was in jail and just pick up where he left off.

• 
  
  
• 
  
  
• 
  
  
• 
  
  

Girl taken in '07 is returned


She's escorted to LAX from Mexico City

• 
  
  
  By Teresa Rochester
  
• Posted October 5, 2011 at 6:26 p.m., updated October 5, 2011 at 11:48 p.m
  

The last time Chioma Gray's family had seen her was on Dec. 13, 2007.According to witnesses, the former Buena High School student, who was
15 at the time, was hustled into a stolen car that day driven by Andrew
Joshua Tafoya, then 20, who had been released from jail the night
before.Gray, 19, was reunited with her family Wednesday night amid tears and hugs.










Francine Black embraced her daughter in the Tom Bradley terminal of
Los Angeles International Airport and cried, "My baby, my baby."Later, her brother Paul Gray, 21, broke into sobs as he held his sister."Don't ever leave us," he said. "Don't ever leave us."Chuck Hookstra, a private investigator and former Oxnard assistant
police chief, hired by Chioma Gray's mother, Francine Black, said U.S.
marshals were escorting Chioma Gray and Tafoya back to California.Ventura detectives met Tafoya and Chioma Gray at the airport, the

Ventura Police Department reported. Police said Tafoya was taken to the

Ventura police station and then to

Ventura County jail, where he was booked on an outstanding felony warrant.Police said detectives briefly spoke with Chioma Gray at the airport
and found her to be in good health, in good spirits and rational.There is an open child-stealing case against Tafoya, said Tony Wold,
the supervising attorney or the Ventura County District Attorney's
Office sexual assault unit.Along with Chioma Gray's family, Hookstra and Los Angeles-based
attorney M. Cristina Armenta, two Ventura-based defense attorneys waited
at the airport apart from the family for the teen's return.Attorneys Tim Quinn and Philip Dunn declined to comment on their
presence. After initially greeting her family amid a scrum of television
cameras, Chioma Gray went to speak quietly with Dunn. Black said her daughter had changed.She said she thought Chioma Gray had Stockholm syndrome, a phenomenon
in which those who are held against their will identify with their
captors.Chioma Gray, who did not make a comment to the press, cried as she hugged her relatives.Tafoya called Black on Sept. 1 and told her daughter was in trouble
and could she come get her, Black said, adding that she asked for a
location to no avail.At one point, the U.S. marshals were contacted, though it was unclear
by whom, and arrangements were made to bring the pair back to the U.S.,
Armenta said. The U.S. marshal's office in Los Angeles did not return a call for comment."It's been totally insane," she said while waiting for Chioma Gray's
arrival. "It's been the longest day of my life. I did not sleep ... I'm
just so happy to know she's alive."The teen's father, Desmond "Poppy" Gray, said the years since Chioma Gray disappeared had been a terrible time.Paul Gray likened the period to a roller coaster without breaks.He and older sister Uchenna Okehi, 25, said they had become a lot less trusting in the intervening years.Chioma Gray's younger brother, Oluwa Gray, 15, described his sister's absence like an unbelievable movie.The family said they did not give up hope and credited their faith in God.Chioma Gray and Tofoya were captured on a screening camera at the
Mexican border on Dec. 13, 2007, that showed the license plate of the
stolen car. Tafoya, a former football player at St. Bonaventure High
School and Ventura College, had just finished serving a seven-month
sentence for having unlawful sex with a minor.At one point, federal authorities told them that a woman's body found charred beyond recognition in Tijuana was their daughter.In 2010, Hookstra found the stolen car parked in a compound with flat tires near Acapulco, a resort city in southern Mexico.

He also found they had lived in a small vacation spot, where Tafoya
taught snorkeling and Chioma Gray worked as a waitress. Hookstra said he
talked to neighbors and uncovered information that Tafoya received help
from his family.

He also found where the two lived. They apparently worked at a small
vacation spot — he taught snorkeling, and she was a waitress. Hookstra
said he talked to neighbors and uncovered information that Tafoya
received help from his family.

In January, Chioma Gray's mother filed a federal lawsuit against
Tafoya, his father and other members of his family. The suit alleged
custodial interference, intentional infliction of emotional distress,
and aiding and abetting in the interference of custodial relations. The
suit was dismissed in may after Tafoya did not respond to it.

Armenta filed a second suit this August in Los Angeles County
Superior Court against Tafoya and his parents alleging custodial
interference, intentional infliction of emotional distress, aiding and
abetting interference with custodial relations.

The suit seeks punitive and compensatory damages along with court fees.

In 2007, federal prosecutors charged Tafoya with fleeing the country
to avoid prosecution of a local charge of unlawful sexual intercourse
with a minor. The case was dismissed at prosecutors request in February.
Prosecutorial discretion was cited.

The "fleeing to avoid prosecution" charge is brought when there is a
state charge and they are dismissed when the state charge is dropped.
Local court records did not show an open charge of unlawful sex with a
minor.

Chioma Gray's family fought against the dismissal of the federal case.

"We are less than pleased than the with the prosecutor's decision and will ask them again to prosecute," Armenta said.At the time of the federal case, the FBI assisted with the search.

Armenta said Black felt very strongly that her daughter was kidnapped
but most important was Chioma Gray's reunion with her family that had
been delayed several times Wednesday, with her and Tafoya missing at
least one flight.

"Everyone is eager to find out the circumstances surrounding her abduction," Armenta said.

Chioma Gray's father said he'd like the upcoming days to have "a lot
of happiness, a lot of joy, a lot of tears and just jubilation."



Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/oct/05/family-prepares-to-reunite-with-chioma-gray-teen/#ixzz1a0CnF15A

- vcstar.com