Father of 4-Year-Old Girl Abducted by His Ex in 2002 Doesn't Lose Hope of Finding Her for 12 Years

A dad was beyond devastated when his toddler disappeared into thin air, but he never gave up the search. However, if he did find her, how would she react?

In 2013, there were bordering on 50,000 missing children in the state of Texas alone. These included runaways and custodial kidnappings.

Luckily, a significant number of these kids found their way home. This is what one father begged for when searching for over a decade after his little girl, Sabrina Allen. She was abducted in 2002 at only four years old.

THE SUBTLE HINTS

Before Houston, Texas native Greg Allen's baby was taken away, the dad said there were signs that it may happen. However, he, unfortunately, didn't realize it back then.

His ex-wife Dara Allen would whisper negative things about Greg in Sabrina's ear, including accusations of abuse. The mom would also threaten to take their child away from her father to Mexico.

A TRAGIC FAREWELL

Sadly, this threat was not an empty one. Dara abducted Sabrina and fled to Mexico. Before this occurred, and when taking his daughter to her mother's house, Greg recollected:

"I dropped her off and kissed her goodbye, and she said: 'Daddy don't ever forget me'"

Although they notified the police, law enforcement was too late. An innocent 4-year-old, obsessed with Scooby-Doo and Snow White, had now disappeared. Her dad feared he would never see her again.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN

From there onwards, Dara and Sabrina began traveling throughout Mexico, changing their identities and the way they looked to disguise themselves.

It was alleged that the mom even went as far as to get plastic surgery to conceal who she was.

A DAD'S NEVER-ENDING LOVE

However, this father was not about to give up on his daughter, taking time off work to look for her in Mexico.

He stayed with a host family, learning Spanish while spending his afternoons doing all he could to locate Sabrina.

A BREAKTHROUGH

Eventually, he learned that his baby stayed 30 minutes away from him at a school and under a pseudo name. This was after a teacher contacted him via email with her suspicions. Greg said:

"Her teacher told me when she got there Sabrina didn’t speak Spanish, and she would sit on the teacher's lap and cry."

Unfortunately, the mother managed to get away with their daughter, and the educator was fired after Dara told the director that her ex-spouse was abusive.

ANOTHER ALMOST?

Eventually, everyone could breathe a sigh of relief when the abductor and Sabrina were found. In 2014, Mexican federal police, U.S Marshalls, and F.B.I agents stormed into a flat they resided in and flew them back home to Houston.

The mother was then charged in 2016 with aggravated kidnapping and interfering in child custody, adding up to eight years of prison time.

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THE EFFECTS OF MANIPULATION

By the time his daughter had been found, she was a teenager, and Greg was ecstatic to see her. Sadly, the teen wasn't sure if she wanted to interact with her dad due to the mother's brainwashing. The father said he understood, expressing:

“Sabrina has been under an intense campaign to hate me for 12 years. She was effectively a prisoner... She has been told that I didn’t want her and that I committed suicide.”

However, his lover Mariana spent time with Greg's daughter, slowly helping her feel more comfortable until she eventually reunited with her father.

NEVER CEASE

When asked what other parents going through the same situation should do, he told them never to stop looking. The father said:

"You just gotta keep trying. You gotta go do whatever you can do. You just gotta be creative, get the word out...just don't give up."

It is, after all, a wise move to heed this man's advice when after 12 long years, he got to hold his baby in his arms again. If that's not a tearjerker, then nothing is.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org.