FBI offers $20,000 reward in unsolved 2003 kidnapping of American boy in Mexico
The FBI has offered a $20,000 reward for information about the disappearance of an American boy who was kidnapped 20 years ago in Mexico City.
Joshua Keshaba Sierra Garcia was in Mexico to be baptized when he was taken at around 11 a.m. on the morning of Aug. 12, 2003, officials said. Garcia, born in Los Angeles on Dec. 29, 2001, was months shy of his second birthday at the time.
His 14-year-old babysitter was murdered during the kidnapping, the FBI said. The slain babysitter was Garcia's cousin, according to the California Office of the Attorney General.
One kidnapper was arrested after a series of ransom calls and a money drop, officials said. The kidnapper is serving a lengthy prison sentence in Mexico.
Garcia has never been found. The FBI on Friday released an age-progressed image to show what Garcia might look like today.
"While many investigative steps have been taken to find Joshua over the years in both the United States and in Mexico, we have not given up hope that we can find him and determine what happened to him 20 years ago," Donald Alway, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office, said. "I'm hopeful that the reward offer, a new photograph, as well additional investigative techniques, will bring someone forward with that piece of information that will lead to Joshua and help us solve this case for his family."
Garcia had black hair and brown eyes at the time of his kidnapping. He was 3 feet tall and weighed about 25 pounds. The boy was last seen wearing a gray sweatshirt, blue shorts and sandals.
The FBI reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to a recovery will apply regardless of whether Garcia is "alive or deceased."