Bring Anna Home

A Little Girl was Abducted

Anna Curley, now ten years old, has been abducted. She is currently being held by her maternal aunt, Marlene Urquizo Franco, and grandmother Bertha Soto Franco, in a remote region of Peru. Anna’s abduction is being supported by other members of her maternal family residing in the United States. Anna and her father have not been allowed to speak or communicate since May 2022; they have not seen each other since September, 2021. Her abductors have not provided any details about Anna’s health, welfare, or schooling; nor have they shared any photos or information about her hobbies and interests.

Parental or Family Child Abduction is a form of Child Abuse

Decades of research across multiple fields have illustrated the serious and harmful effects that family or parental abductions can have on child victims. Parental child abduction—defined as the taking, retaining, or concealing of a child by a parent in violation of another parent's custody rights—has profound, long-lasting negative impacts on children and families. It is increasingly viewed by experts as a form of child abuse, often causing severe emotional, psychological, and developmental harm, with 50% of abducted children experiencing significant mental health issues. Abduction can have long-term effects on Anna (including Alienation, resentment, and attachment disorder) that will stay with her the rest of her life.

Anna has Rights

Anna is a US citizen; she was born in the United States to a US-citizen-father. The Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court has awarded full legal and physical custody of Anna to her father, ruling that he is a fit parent. Anna’s father is a retired US Air Force veteran. Anna’s mother is deceased as of December 2024. Nevertheless, Anna’s aunt, Marlene Urquizo Franco, has refused to allow Anna to return to the United States, and filed for custody in Peruvian courts -- without informing Anna’s father. Marlene is raising Anna as her own child, effectively as a surrogate for the children she never had. Efforts of the local Fairfax County Police, FBI, and US Department of State have been unsuccessful in bringing Anna home. The authorities in Peru have not been helpful.

Stolen Child and Stolen Childhood

Anna has been stolen from her father, and Anna’s father has been stolen from her. Anna is being denied her right to grow up in the United States and to know her father, paternal grandmother, and other relatives. She is being denied all the myriad opportunities to see, travel, experience, and learn things that her father and his family wanted desperately to give her. Most importantly, Anna will never know her father's love first-hand. That is wrong.

No one -- not aunts, not grandmothers, NOBODY -- has the right to take a child away from her only surviving parent to raise as their own.

Anna's aunt, Marlene Urquizo Franco, has two sisters who live in the United States with their own husbands and children. They staunchly support Anna’s abduction by Marlene, despite neither of them having elected to send their own children to be raised in Peru.

These women -- and their spouses -- do not seem to know the difference between right and wrong. Although the aunts in the US are naturalized US citizens, is questionable where their allegiance lies, as they evidently have little or no regard for the laws of the United States. Anna's grandmother and aunts travel freely between Peru and the United States.

Perpetrators and Accomplices

Grandmother: Bertha Franco Soto of Andahuaylas, Peru

Aunt: Marlene Urquizo Franco of Andahuaylas, Peru

Aunt: Janeth McPeak of Stafford, VA

Aunt: Monica Dobson of Middletown, DE

If you see Anna in the United States, contact the FBI

202-278-2000