Abducted girl reunited with her mother
Published: August 5, 2005
Sunday evening at Carmen Bauer’s home in Villa Mobile Home Park appeared normal as Uncle Carlos watched the kids while Carmen talked on the phone with her mother.
The kids, Lydia Bethany-Rose Rupp and her brother Daniel, were playing on the floor with Silly Putty and paint.
Still, one can’t help but notice the overanxious and somewhat hyperactive Lydia, who spoke loudly and darted from room to room.
“The FBI said she would be like this,” said Carmen of Lydia, who had survived a horrific ordeal.
“It’s a nightmare I never wanted to experience. Now I have to help her get through this,” said Carmen.
She is talking about the alleged abduction of her daughter Lydia on July 22 by a convicted sex offender, Fernando P. Aguerro, who had been her boyfriend/roommate at the time.
Last Friday, workers at a low-income shelter in Ensenada, Mexico recognized Lydia and her alleged abductor and reported it to Mexican law enforcement.
Mexican officials dispersed Lyon County flyers through the State of Baja, Mexico, after they were translated by the California Highway Patrol, which helped result in the apprehension of Aguerro, as that’s how the people recognized the pair.
After receiving information from the California Highway Patrol Mexican Liaison Unit, the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office began working with the FBI, CHP and the Baja State Police to get Lydia returned back to her mother and home in Fernley.
On Saturday morning at 4 a.m., Carmen, along with LCSO Captain Page, traveled to Tijuana, Mexico to pick up Lydia.
Carmen recalled, “The FBI picked us up and we went to the police department.”
At the police department the reunion would take place but Carmen reported there were many delays. “We had to wait. They kept telling me five more minutes,” she recalled.
Then she saw her 8-year-old daughter and hugged her. She said, “I told her I loved her and I missed her.”
Carmen said Lydia in turn told her “she loved me and she missed me.”
After that get-together, mother and daughter were taken to a hotel in San Diego, where they stayed one night.
According to the Reno-Gazette Journal, Page reported Mexican officials have indicated they may sentence Aguerro on charges of kidnapping and he may serve 38 years in the Mexican prison system. If he is extradited back to the U.S., he may be charged with kidnapping and sexual assault.
“In Mexico they (FBI) talk to her (Lydia) and she told them what happened with him and her,” said Carmen. She added Lydia had told F.B.I. officials that Aguerro “had been doing some stuff with her for the last few months while I was at work.”
When asked if Aguerro sexually assaulted Lydia, Carmen indicated that her daughter underwent tests in San Diego, which indicated that she had been.
“I was very emotional when I found out,” said Carmen.
She added Page had indicated he would set up counseling for both she and Lydia. Carmen indicated she is eager to begin the healing process and she is aware it will take time.
Prior to leaving for Tijuana last Saturday, Carmen remarked that it was her mother’s intuition that indicated Lydia would be found. “I had that hope and faith,” she said.
Throughout the ordeal her faith in God has kept her focused on an optimistic outcome. “I have trust in God,” she said, and once she received news that Lydia had been found, she said, “It’s a miracle. People were praying that the system in Mexico would work.”
“I’m a spiritual person. Through all this my faith grew. The more I realized it was out of my hands and in Gods. I put my trust in God and prayed,” said Carmen.
She met Aguerro in mid-March and she said she had no idea about his past. “There was no indication,” she said.
As for her daughter, she said “She loved him as a father. He treated her good. He earned her trust and gave her gifts. She trusted him and believed in him.”
Carmen added Lydia’s father, Micah Rupp, lives and works in Reno.
She recalled before the charged abduction she and Aguerro had an argument about the attention he gave to Lydia.
“I asked him why he had to be with my little girl all the time. He said he loved her like a daddy and there was nothing wrong with it.”
Carmen said Aguerro showered her daughter with gifts and was more affectionate to Lydia. She added the week before he took Lydia, he brought Carmen flowers, which was the only gift he gave her throughout their relationship.
She noted although they agreed to embark on a romantic relationship, they were more like roommates. “There was no sex or kissing.”
Carmen said both were Christians and wanted to wait until they were married. Further, Aguerro slept in the living room of her mobile home.
Through counseling, Carmen is hoping her daughter, who liked to dance and watch TV, will find some peace.
Previously Lydia told her mother of her future aspirations, which included becoming a police officer or joining the military or becoming a lawyer.
“I told her she can be anything she wants as long as she goes to school and gets a college degree,” said Carmen.
She noted although it appears the ordeal is over, now she and her family must go through a whole new trial of healing.
“I hope people continue to pray. I hope they pray for us as we go through counseling,” said Carmen.
Page indicated to the RJG that he would like to see Aguerro convicted in the state of Nevada but there is no word of when or whether extradition proceedings would take place.
In a press release, the LCSO said, “The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the numerous people that provided information in this investigation.”
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