A Miami-Dade judge ordered 21-year-old Kimberly Burgoa Lopez held without bond Monday, a day after North Miami Police said she kidnapped 5-year-old Jada Velazquez.
"It was the worst 12 hours any mother, grandmother, any family can have something like that go on,” said Jada’s grandmother, who only gave her first name of Linda, told NBC 6 South Florida.
According to police, the girl's mother dropped her off at a party at her uncle's house at 1900 Sans Souci Blvd. Lopez arrived with a mutual friend and took a liking to the child, family members said.
She left the apartment with Jada in the early morning hours, apparently to go buy a pizza, police said.
Just before 4 a.m., Lopez asked a stranger to give them a ride to her home in the trailer park at NE 113th Street and Biscayne Boulevard, saying that she and the girl were being chased, according to the arrest report.
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At her home, Lopez was introducing the girl as her own daughter, neighbors told police. Lopez does have a 3-year-old daughter herself but doesn’t live with her, according to the arrest report.
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The Department of Children and Families confirmed that Lopez does have at least one child herself and has been investigated by DCF before, but the agency wouldn’t say for what.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cristina Miranda ordered Lopez held without bond Monday. She faces charges of kidnapping, false imprisonment, luring or enticing a child and interference with custody, according to online jail records.
The arrest report said while Jada was crying while she was being kidnapped. Her grandmother said she wanted to call home.
"She had a phone number of mine that she knows. She's very smart,” the grandmother said. “And she was telling the lady, please call my grandma. Give me the phone. Let me call them."
As the family got back to normal, Jada’s grandmother emphasized an important lesson to her.
"I explained to her you never go with strangers and all of that. I always tell her,” she said.
