Teacher Arrested in Teen's 2-Year Disappearance

A Sacramento-area teenager who disappeared in 2020 and "inexplicably" returned home almost two years later may have been living at a teacher's home the entire time, police say. Holga Castillo Olivares, 61, has been arrested in the connection with the disappearance of Michael Ramirez, who was 15 when he was reported missing, CBS reports. Olivares, who teaches second grade, is the mother of one of Ramirez's friends, his relatives say. Ramirez was reported missing in June 2020, weeks after he was last seen at his Rancho Cordova home. Relatives say the teen, now 17, returned on March 11 this year.

According to jail records, Olivares faces a felony charge of detention of a minor with the intent to conceal from a parent and a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, the Sacramento Bee reports. The Sacramento City Unified School District said "the charges filed are for acts unrelated to the employee's assigned duties" and Olivares is on administrative leave while the district investigates the allegations, KCRA reports. Katte Smith, the boy's guardian, says he left home after an argument with family members. "He felt like the grass was greener on the other side," Smith says, per SFGate. 'We felt so robbed of all this time with him. You can’t just hide someone’s kid and think that’s OK."

(More California stories.)