An age-enhanced photo of a boy who was kidnapped 20 years ago was released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Aug. 11, in hopes that he would be found.
According to authorities, Joshua Keshaba Sierra Garcia, 1, of Los Angeles was taken by relatives to Mexico City, Mexico, so he could be baptized. However, on Aug. 12, 2003, his 14-year-old babysitter was murdered, and Joshua was kidnapped.
The black-haired, brown-eyed boy was 3 feet tall, between 25 and 28 pounds, with pierced ears, and was last seen wearing a grey sweatshirt, blue shorts, and sandals.
According to the FBI, his family received a series of ransom calls following his disappearance, and a money drop led to one kidnapper’s arrest, by Mexican law enforcement, but Joshua was never found. The kidnapper is currently serving a prison sentence in Mexico.
The FBI is offering a $20,000 reward for information that would lead to the recovery of Joshua, whether alive or deceased.
“We have not given up hope that we can find him and determine what happened to him twenty years ago,” Donald Alway, assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said in the press release. “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.”
FBI and Mexican law enforcement agencies are working jointly on the investigation.
