MISSING CHILDREN RETURN HOME SAFE.Byline: Josh Kleinbaum Staff Writer PACOIMA - As soon as Ameer Hack spotted his mom at the door of the van, his eyes lit up. ``Mommy, Mommy!'' the 4-year-old cried as his mother, Lucrecia Castillo, wrapped her arms around him. Tears streamed down Castillo's face at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, when she saw her two children - Ameer and Elaine, 8 - for the first time since early Sunday. They were reunited in the parking lot of the LAPD's Foothill Community Police Station, ending a bizarre three-day stretch that began when the children disappeared with their baby sitter and neighbor, Bertha Galvan, 60, and ended when Galvan and the kids walked into a California Highway Patrol highway patrol n. A state law enforcement organization whose police officers patrol the public highways. station 115 miles away. Police were trying to decipher Galvan's explanation for the ordeal - that she missed her exit on the Golden State Freeway The Golden State Freeway is a north-south freeway running through Kern County and Los Angeles County, California. Originally built as U.S. Highway 99, it was re-signed as Interstate 5 in 1964. and kept driving north until she ran out of gas. ``There are still more questions than answers,'' Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. police Capt. Jerry Szymanski said. ``How did a person drive an extra 100 miles? That's a good question. We don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. yet.'' It was 1:30 a.m. Sunday when Castillo asked Galvan to drive the children to Galvan's Tujunga residence from a house in South Los Angeles South Los Angeles is the official name for a large geographic and cultural area lying to the southwest and southeast of downtown Los Angeles, California. The area was formerly called South Central Los Angeles, and is still sometimes called South Central. . Castillo was visiting friends there and wanted to stay longer. She told Galvan she would pick the kids up in the morning. When she arrived at Galvan's house at 7 a.m., though, nobody was home. Tuesday, Galvan told police she had been driving the children home and missed her exit on Interstate 5. Confused, she kept driving north until she ran out of gas in a McDonalds parking lot in Buttonwillow, near Bakersfield. She told police she and the children had stayed inside the car for the previous two days. Tuesday morning, a passerby recognized the car from news reports about the missing children. The stranger bought them breakfast at McDonalds and gave them money for gas, then led them to the closest California Highway Patrol station. ``CHP CHP Chapter CHP Combined Heat and Power CHP California Highway Patrol CHP Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (Turkish: Republican People's Party) CHP Chemical Hygiene Plan (OSHA) CHP Community Health Plan immediately recognized them from everything that we've given them and everything that's been on the news,'' LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. Detective David Escoto said. Galvan and the children did not suffer any injuries, Escoto said. Just an hour before the three arrived at the CHP station, Castillo spoke to reporters, pleading in Spanish for help finding her children. She broke down in tears and was helped out of the room at the LAPD's Foothill station. She would not speak to reporters after being reunited with the kids. ``She's very depressed,'' said Jose Garcia Jose Garcia / José García is a common name that can refer to:
Los Angeles Police Department "LAPD" and "L.A.P.D." redirect here. For other uses, see LAPD (disambiguation).  This article or section is written like an . detectives interviewed the children
and Galvan on Tuesday afternoon, but Galvan had not been charged with a
crime, Szymanski said.
Josh Kleinbaum, (818) 713-3669 josh.kleinbaum(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Lucrecia Castillo embraces her children, 4-year-old Ameer Hack, left, and 8-year-old Elaine, after being reunited at the LAPD Foothill station in Pacoima on Tuesday. John Lazar/Staff Photographer |
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