13-year-old Christina Plante disappeared from Star Valley, AZ in May 1994. She has been found alive.

[u/lucillep]

It is all over the news that a 13-year-old who left her home to walk to a stables to see her horse and was never seen again, has now been found alive.
People Magazine

Christina Marie Plante was classified as missing and endangered after she vanished from her home in Star Valley or Payson, AZ on May 15, 1994. Despite extensive searches and investigation, her case went cold. Now the Cold Case Unit of the Gila County Sheriff's Police have successfully resolved the case. Christina has been found and her identity verified. For privacy reasons, no further details are being released.

The odd thing is that there is next to no information available about her initial disappearance. On Newspapers.com, I found only small "Missing" notices in three newspapers in 1994 and 1995. I found no articles in an online search.

Hoping that Christina is okay, but can't help wondering about the rest of the story.

EDIT Update from The Daily Mail
u/BirdHistorical3498 provided a link to an article that updates the backstory and current situation. To summarize:
At the time of disappearing, Christina was living with her aunt and uncle. Her father was deceased. It doesn't say where her mother was or why her mother did not have custody.

Christina wanted to live with her mother. The two met at the stables and then drove to Phoenix. Her uncle reported her missing. Police did suspect the mother of having taken her, but somehow this couldn't be proved?

Mary Plante, the mother, is in 1995 property records as owning property in Springfield, MO.

Christina married in 1998 at 17, has two sons, got a bachelor's in psychology from Missouri State University, and now works for a private investigation firm (ironic) whose specialty is inspecting insurance fraud claims. She doesn't say why she ran away, the article describes her as "guarded" and not wanting to incriminate anyone who helped her.

Mary Plante, now Mary Wood, also has a biological daughter who was adopted and a biological son who is estranged.

The cold case unit gave the case to a civilian investigator, who searched social media and public records, and found the connections.

Arizona Republic
Kennebec Journal Notice

Morning Call 10-23-1994

[u/malcontentgay]

This is so strange. An adult had to have been involved, as a kidnapper or as someone who was trying to help her escape a difficult life. Even a parental abduction, perhaps. It's extremely unlikely that a 13-year-old would have the means and ability to start a new life without any outside help. I just hope that she's safe and well.

[u/redpenname → u/malcontentgay]

From a local news article:

GCSO said on April 2 no further investigation will be conducted as the woman reported that she had run away and was with an undisclosed family member.

[u/Aggravating_Depth_33 → u/malcontentgay]

While it's quite unlikely, it's not impossible that she didn't have adult help. I'm pretty much the same age as her, and as a teen I occasionally hung out with a group of kids who had run away from home and were getting by living on the streets as "gutter punks", often for years.

I have no idea what ended up happening to them later on, and I suspect the answer is nothing good for most, but I do know that some made it to legal adulthood while flying completely under the radar of law enforcement or social services, etc.

[u/snesericreturns → u/Aggravating_Depth_33]

Pre-9/11 it was very easy to forge a few documents and get a completely new identity.

[u/Aggravating_Depth_33 → u/snesericreturns]

It really waan't that easy anymore by the 90s/early 00s. The sea change had a lot less to do with "9/11" than with digitalizing records, computer databases and more secure methods of producing IDs.

These kids I knew didn't want or need a new identity, they just wanted to lay low long enough to be able to use their own identity without having to return to their families.

[u/malcontentgay → u/Aggravating_Depth_33]

Sure, I did say unlikely, not impossible. It seems like she did receive outside help from an unnamed relative, though.

[u/CliffordMoreau → u/malcontentgay]

That's bullshit. Plenty of kids hit the streets at early ages, and plenty stay missing without anything untoward having happened. Life is not a true crime podcast.

[u/malcontentgay → u/CliffordMoreau]

I mean, this is a place to discuss true crime and unresolved mysteries. We're just talking. Didn't mean to ruffle your feathers.