‘RELIEF AND JOY’

California Woman Released 8 Months After Being Kidnapped in Mexico

Monica de Leon Barba vanished last November while walking her dog home from work.

A California woman who was kidnapped in Mexico last year has been found safe and is on her way back to the United States after being released by her captors, the FBI said Saturday. Monica De Leon Barba, 40, was found “safe” after being released on Friday night, according to the bureau. She had been held in captivity since being abducted while walking her dog home from work in Tepatitlán, Jalisco on Nov. 29, 2022. The FBI has made no arrests in the case, and agents are working with Mexican authorities to identify suspects. Few other details on the matter were immediately available. The bureau first acknowledged it was investigating De Leon Barba’s disappearance in March, when it announced a $40,000 reward for information leading to her location. “Our relief and joy at the safe return of Monica is profound,” Robert Tripp, special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Francisco Field Office, said in a statement. “The FBI investigation is far from over, but we can now work this case knowing an innocent victim is reunited with her family.”