SAN ANTONIO – An AMBER Alert for a missing 2-year-old girl Sunday evening left a Northwest Side community heartbroken after she was found unresponsive and later pronounced dead.
Amongst the people grieving the death of Aryana Trevino Martinez are her neighbors, Anna Marie Ramirez and Uriel Ramirez, 22.
Anna Marie Ramirez told KSAT her son, Uriel Ramirez, found Martinez unresponsive in an overgrown, water-filled creek area. A San Antonio Police Department investigator on scene told KSAT the toddler was located near Belle Ellen, a road in the Dreamhill Estates neighborhood.
Watch the full interview with Anna Marie Ramirez below:
On Sunday night, the Texas Department of Public Safety issued an AMBER Alert for Martinez. She was last seen at 7:45 p.m. that day in the 4000 block of Allegheny Drive.
Anna Marie Ramirez said she told her son, “We need to be a part of this and help.” Their first thought was to search down a nearby creek.
She said she eventually had to stop her search for Martinez because of how difficult it was to maneuver through the tall weeds in the area.
Uriel Ramirez continued. His search lasted about 15 minutes, according to his mother.
Anna Marie Ramirez said her son took higher ground by standing on top of a rock to look over the weeds.
“I just kept saying, ‘Please don’t be there. Please don’t be there. Please don’t be there,’” she recalled her son saying.
As soon as he looked over, he found Martinez.
“I can’t even put it into words,” Uriel Ramirez told KSAT. “She’s like an angel and something led me straight to her, like a direct shot. My brain was just — that’s where she is.”
Anna Marie Ramirez said her son “jumped in the creek, not knowing how deep it was, and just picked (Martinez) up and just ran out of the water with her.”
She saw her son running back with Martinez in his arms yelling, “I found her.”
“He told me that he felt a pull to go look there,” Anna Marie Ramirez said. “He’s lived here all his life, so that’s the first thing he thought.”
First responders conducted CPR on Martinez before an ambulance arrived, Anna Marie Ramirez said.
At 12:10 a.m. Monday, the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office pronounced Martinez dead. Her cause and manner of death are still pending.
The AMBER Alert issued for Martinez was canceled around 3 a.m. Monday, according to SAPD and DPS.
A swarm of neighbors from Glenoaks Park and Dreamhill Estates attempted to find Martinez as early as 9 p.m. Sunday, Anna Marie Ramirez said. In addition to neighboring families, first responders helped by searching on the ground and in the air via helicopter.
Though it’s unclear how Martinez ended up in the water, police say she was captured on video walking alone in an alley before her death.
Authorities are seeking additional video to rule out whether Martinez was with anyone else.
“I think we all should pray for the family,” Anna Marie Ramirez said. “I know it’s going to be a long journey for them.”
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