Kidnapped Minnesota girl found in Tennessee; abductor arrested in Kentucky

Saturday, January 5th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

JACKSON, Tenn. (AP) _ A 12-year-old girl kidnapped in Minnesota in November was found in an apartment complex on Saturday, police said. Her alleged abductor was captured hours later in Kentucky.

Johania Funes was unharmed, said Ken Moore, an FBI spokesman in Jackson, Tenn.

Raymundo Barrios Roblero was captured at a friend's house in Carroll County, Ky., by the FBI, the Carroll County Sheriff's Department and the Kentucky State Police, Moore told the Jackson TV station, WBBJ.

Funes was reported missing by her mother Nov. 26 after failing to show up for school. Her family initially believed she ran away but she had been seen talking at a school bus stop with a man the family knew.

FBI agents began looking for Roblero, and he was charged last month with kidnapping and false imprisonment.

Earlier this week, the FBI in Minneapolis received a tip Roblero was in the Jackson area and notified agents there.

The girl's mother, Ilsa Escobar, returned from the store Saturday afternoon to find Minneapolis police waiting with news her daughter had been found. She spoke to her daughter that evening.

``She said she is OK,'' the mother said. ``She was scared and wants to be back with her family.

``I feel like my heart has been lifted.''

Funes has been placed in the custody of the state Department of Children Services until she can be reunited with her family.