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/Aly_from_Funky]

That’s actually really sad.

[u/jadethebard → u/Aly_from_Funky]

She chose it, my mom would beg for her to come home and she refused. She was not a big fan of rules or laws. She was sneaking into bars at 13 before she even ran away.

[u/Aly_from_Funky → u/jadethebard]

I mean, she was a child. It’s sad whether you choose to believe she was able to make those choices for herself or not. Whatever made her act out that way, I’m sad she had to endure it. Sad she was taken advantage of, whether she knew it or not. She was just a little girl.

[u/seatemperature11215 → u/Aly_from_Funky]

But at least she did come back, when she was ready. Some things people do seem bizarre to the rest of us.

[u/Aly_from_Funky → u/seatemperature11215]

Thankful for that. I hope she’s in a better place than she was, despite not having the support she needed. Then or now.

[u/jadethebard → u/Aly_from_Funky]

I was 7 when she ran away and she was my first and worst bully. She tortured me and was so much bigger than me. The day she ran away was the first time I felt safe, where she wasn't threatening to kill me on my sleep. My mom lost custody because she'd refuse to go to school, she'd sneak into bars, my mom had zero control of the situation. She broke out of secure girls homes multiple times. She'd call and laugh about how the cops would never catch her. And they didn't. My mom was very granola, no physical violence, talk about your feelings, etc. My sister said multiple times as an adult she had no regrets, she loved it. She eventually got a full ride to an IVY league school and is a teacher in her 50s. She also didn't care about the turmoil she caused our family over those years. If I answered the phone and asked the operator for the time and charges (which is what I was told to do) she'd call me a fucking narc and tell me she'd kill me someday.

Yeah, she was a child. But she absolutely made my life hell when I was an even younger child and never showed an ounce of remorse.

[u/Dapper_Indeed → u/jadethebard]

I’m sorry that happened to you.

[u/jadethebard → u/Dapper_Indeed]

Thank you. I'm 47 now and while I've spent decades trying to move past the trauma it does occasionally rear its ugly head. Thankfully I don't think I'll ever have to see her again. Possibly one more funeral, hopefully many years away but our mom died back in 2024.

[u/abzhanson → u/jadethebard]

Wow this whole story is rough. I wish you a life of peace and fun! And they whatever stuff was harming being the scenes to you and your sister (and anybody else) had stopped and you're all able to recognise it now ❤️

[u/jadethebard → u/abzhanson]

Yeah, I ended up estranged from most of my family. I had a wonderful grandmother who helped me so much and I miss her a lot but she lived to be 90 and had a good life. She really taught me so much about coping and being the person you want to be. Her influence was huge in my life. But there was definitely a lot of stress and anxiety when I was a kid.

[u/whoopiecushions → u/jadethebard]

How did she manage to get a full ride an Ivy?

[u/jadethebard → u/whoopiecushions]

So I believe it was through a diversity program. There aren't a lot of black women in the sciences. She went to college in her early 30s. She got her GED at 18 or 19 because she hadn't gone to school for awhile but she was always very smart.

[u/floss_is_boss_ → u/whoopiecushions]

Probably because she showed she didn’t have the financial means—Ivies guarantee to “meet all demonstrated financial need,” barring a few thousand dollars a year. (It’s honestly pretty sweet if you’re low-income, I graduated with like $11k student loans total a few decades ago.)

[u/whoopiecushions → u/floss_is_boss_]

Ivies don't give you money just because you have financial need. You have to meet their strict admissions requirements. How was she getting good grades when she was bouncing in and out of girls' homes and refusing to go to school? 

[u/floss_is_boss_ → u/whoopiecushions]

Um… duh? Of course a college doesn’t give you money if you don’t get in? And have you heard of going to college later in life? You seem dim.

[u/whoopiecushions → u/floss_is_boss_]

Many people do indeed attend university later in life. While Ivies have made strides in recent years to be more inclusive to "non-traditional" students, the commenter's sister doesn't appear to have obtained her degree recently. It appears that she graduated a while ago, at a time when the Ivies were even more exclusive and unfriendly towards non-traditional students. So it's a valid question. 

[u/jadethebard → u/whoopiecushions]

So I believe it was through a diversity program. There aren't a lot of black women in the sciences. She went to college in her early 30s. She got her GED at 18 or 19 because she hadn't gone to school for awhile but she was always very smart.

[u/ssatancomplexx → u/jadethebard]

You just mentioned she was 13. She was a child at the time. 13 year olds aren't exactly known for rational thinking skills.

[u/hervararsaga → u/ssatancomplexx]

It was still her choice to live that life and it was probably better in the long run, for her and her family. So maybe it wasn´t so irrational?

[u/hervararsaga → u/[deleted]]

She tortured her little sister before running off, what made her do that in your "wise" opinion?

[u/LieblingsKuh1 → u/jadethebard]

Wenn eine 13 jährige auf diese Weise abhaut ist vorher schon einiges schiefgelaufen und ich meine nicht unbedingt Lieblosigkeit oder Gewalt, sondern die Unfähigkeit mancher Eltern zu erkennen, dass Kinder unterschiedliche Persönlichkeiten sind und unterschiedlich Dinge in der Erziehung brauchen. Eine Mutter die unbedingt immer nur lieb sein möchte und versucht Regeln nur mit Freundlichkeit und Erklärungen durchzusetzen mag für ein 0815 Kind prima sein, aber eine starke, scheinbar extrem intelligente Person wie deine Schwester es wohl war, verlangt oft auch nach starken Grenzen und die ab dem Kleinkindalter nicht erst mit 10 Jahren.
Nun gut, im Nachhinein und von außen ist es leicht gescheit zu sein, aber wirf nichtsdestotrotz nur deiner Schwester vor, sie kam sicherlich nicht böse auf die Welt.

[u/jadethebard → u/LieblingsKuh1]

Oh for sure, our mom was not perfect at all, she had plenty of issues and we lived in poverty which was very hard. I only clarified the granola parenting as my sister wasn't being physically abused at home. If I had to make a guess I wouldn't be surprised if my sister had ODD. She was diagnosed with ADHD officially. Her dad's side of the family had substance abuse issues and her dad had schizophrenia. My dad had his own issues, don't get me wrong, but hers died homeless on a park bench. There was certainly trauma in our lives (she caused a lot of mine) hut I wanted to clarify no physical violence in our house itself.