California police and the FBI are searching for Kaya Centeno, whose siblings described years of abuse by their adoptive parents, authorities said.
A child abuse investigation has revealed a little girl disappeared at least eight years ago and hasn't been seen since, California authorities said. The strange saga began this summer with detectives in Mexico, who were responding to child abuse allegations involving a 15-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl. The siblings said they had an older sister, Kayla Centeno, who had gone missing eight to 10 years ago, and had “not been heard from or seen since,” authorities said.
Kaya would be 18 now.
The children said they had been living with extended family in Mexico for about 18 months after being sent there from their Rohnert Park, California home by their adoptive parents, Gina and Jose Centeno.
Mexican authorities contacted officials in California in August and the teens were brought to Sonoma County, where they were interviewed by Rohnert Park detectives.
“After interviewing the children, there were allegations of emotional, sexual and physical abuse that had occurred over an eight to ten year period of time,” police said in a statement.
"During an interview a reference was made about their older 'sister' Kaya that used to live with them in Rohnert Park. The children said Kaya went missing from their Rohnert Park home approximately eight to 10 years ago and she has not been heard from or seen since," the statement said.
Detectives searched the home where the children had lived and found “evidence to corroborate the victim’s statements about the abuse," police said. Gina Centeno, 50, and her husband, Jose Centeno, 53, were arrested on felony charges including aggravated kidnapping and abuse. The kidnapping charges stem from the children being sent to Mexico, police said.
Both are being held without bail at the Sonoma County Jail, according to online records. A plea hearing for the couple is scheduled for Oct. 5.
Kaya had been enrolled at the John Reed School in Rohnert Park before being removed in the second grade, during the 2010-2011 school year, to be home schooled, police said.
All three siblings were adopted by the Centenos in 2008, authorities said.
Anyone with information about Kayla is asked to call the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety at 707-584-2612.
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