SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Two years after disappearing, a teenager has returned home, and police have charged an elementary school teacher with hiding him from his parents.
The Rancho Cordova Police Department said in a news release that the 15-year-old was reported missing from his home on June 9, 2020. Despite an extensive search, police were unable to find the teenager.
On March 22, 2022, nearly two full years after his disappearance, police said the teenager “inexplicably returned home.”
Police said that after a “thorough investigation” they arrested Holga Castillo Olivares on charges of detention of a minor with the intent to conceal from parents and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Police identified Olivares as an employee at Alice Birney Waldorf-Inspired K-8 school.
Investigators told KOVR that Olivares was a second-grade teacher at the school at the time.
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Family of the missing teen said the child had been staying at a former friend’s home for two years, KCRA reported. Olivares was identified as the mother of that friend by the family.
In a statement to KOVR, administrators for the Alice Birney Waldorf-Inspired K-8 school confirmed that Olivares was a school employee and that she was on administrative leave, and said: “The charges filed are for acts unrelated to the employee’s assigned duties. The employee has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of a District investigation.”
The district told KCRA that Olivares was arrested at the school after students had been dismissed for the day.