Why haven’t you heard of Francisco Andrade Vega?
Francisco Javier Andrade Vega is the name of an eleven year old boy that was abducted from Baja California in 2000 by a convicted child molester. He remained missing until this year, when he was found safe in Chicago. He had no identity papers when picked up by police, but he gave them his name and he was found in the FBI’s database of cases.
Let me repeat this. He was found safe. After nine years. Missing from a non-family abduction. And there has been almost no press about this. The articles I have found that gave the above details are Mexican papers; I can find no English sources. If I didn’t know Spanish those articles would be unaccessable. And I live in Chicago. And I have heard nothing.
I rarely go on tangents about missing children publicity. I have accepted that there is a heirarchy, and that most of the cases I get involved with – family abductions, people who just vanish, older non-family abductions – are not ones that burn up the pages. And not all of it is based on race. However, in this case I can make no other conclusion but being based on race. He was abducted for nine years, and it would have been easy for his abductor to kill him once he stopped being useful. He would then have become one of the many unidentified individuals that litter the police records. But none of this happened. Him being found safe is as close to a miracle as was Shawn Hornbeck’s case.
So, I ask, why haven’t you heard of him? Why hasn’t almost anyone?
Meaghan said,
March 10, 2009 @ 7:12 pm
Amen.
Linda said,
August 1, 2009 @ 12:03 pm
So true, and so sad. This truly is a miracle, but not a word in the press… Shameful!
Heather said,
October 18, 2019 @ 4:13 pm
I just came across his name in court papers sentencing him to just over 36 months in prison on a drug charge. If it IS him, I hope he gets the help he deserves and probably needs very much!
Zed said,
October 19, 2019 @ 7:15 am
He should have been returned to Mexico when found and reunited with his undoubtedly delighted family. Nine years gone with a stranger and taken abroad, but found alive and well is nearly unheard of. If sent back to his homeland he could have gotten on with his life in peace and out his ordeal in the United States behind him.
forthelost said,
October 19, 2019 @ 9:39 am
He did return to Mexico and got reunited with his family.
Zed said,
October 20, 2019 @ 4:09 am
Then why is he back here and wasting his life becoming just another incarcerated minority male in America? Seems a great waste of life and potential. A lot of children abducted by strangers never make it home….
Bea said,
October 22, 2019 @ 5:33 am
And those who do make it home, those who were not abducted by a very loving and supportive parent or family member and given a decent life, return damaged. Frankly some victims of family or non-stranger abductions grow up to lead trouble lives. I’ve run across news articles or mugshots for more than one now grown kid who was found safe and now lives again in the USA. Who knows what this guy went through while gone for 9 years with a pedophile far away from his homeland? As long as this Mexican guy was here initially, he practically grew up in the United States and certainly learned to survive any way he could whether by legal means or otherwise. In other words, he’s probably messed up psychologically and never going to live as fulfilling and productive life he could have if not initially abducted. Give him a break Zed.
Tony Smith said,
August 29, 2021 @ 2:51 pm
Zed, the failire to report about this remarkable occurrence is racist. Your lousy attempt to justify it is racist too
Aileen said,
November 14, 2021 @ 5:27 am
While I find his story so interesting, maybe it’s best that his name isn’t everywhere as he was a child that was abducted by a child molester, so he’s clearly a victim of sexual assalt, and they have the right to have their identities hidden.
Francisco said,
March 20, 2022 @ 3:03 pm
Buenas tardes. Espero q lean esto soy ese niño afectado o q fue afectado en su momento si sufrí Golpes violaciones pero dios es grande y es mejor perdonar y dejar ir el pasado Hay muchas personas que no vuelven Creo que es. Obra de dios si dios dice que no te toca no te toca tres veces trato de matarme y se arrepintio por que. Nose la verdad…….. q tengan feliz dia