Missing Romeoville Teens Found

Two Romeoville teens who had been reported missing since Friday night were found at about 8 p.m. Monday on Gavin Avenue.

Dama Calderon said her daughter, Ann-Marie Valdez, 13, and her boyfriend, Irving Vargas, 14, were just walking down the street when she drove up to them.

“She did not attempt to run away when she saw me,” Calderon said of Ann-Marie. “They both just got in the car when I asked them to. They were very calm.”

Calderon said one of Ann-Marie’s friends, Kimberly Martinez, had posted on Facebook last night that she would help the family find her – and just a few minutes later, Kimberly posted that she had spotted the runaway teen on Gavin Avenue.

“I called the police right away and told them I had the kids in my vehicle, Calderon said. “A police officer met us and put Irving in the back of his squad car. We met them at the police station and they took the kids and their moms into separate rooms so they could try to get the story.”

Calderon said it appears that just as she had suspected, Ann-Marie and Irving had run away because they feared being separated. She said Irving’s family had planned to send him to another state for the summer.

But life on the run began to wear thin as the days wore on for the young teens.

“She told me that in the beginning, she wasn’t scared,” Calderon said. “But they didn’t have regular meals to eat – just chips, snacks and water. Ann-Marie started getting insect bites all over and was uncomfortable. She realized it wasn’t right.”

Calderon said the pair “was staying here and there” over the past few days, sometimes in abandoned houses.

But Ann-Marie told her mom that when she and Irving were spotted walking on Gavin Avenue last night, they had already decided to go back to their families.

“She realized yesterday that she needed to come home,” Calderon said.

Since neither teen had a cell phone, the pair had been incommunicado since Friday night when they left Ann-Marie’s home. Calderone said the teens were unaware that the police and numerous family and community members had been out looking for them.

“Ann-Marie is glad to be home and she has apologized profusely,” Calderon said.  “When family members began coming over last night, she realized how worried everyone had been.  She said she didn’t realize how much everyone cares about her.”