Federal authorities have convened a grand jury to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a 14-year-old Connecticut girl who was last seen at her cousin’s Bronx apartment in July.
FBI agents have searched the apartment of a 19-year-old East Harlem man who is on probation for crimes related to the girl, Chanztity Vidal, of Greenwich. The G-men have also scoured the apartment of her Bronx cousin, The Post has learned.
“I’m tired of hurting,” said Chanztity’s mom, Lourdes Roman. “All I’m pleading for is to bring my daughter back. I want my daughter back alive and safe.”
Roman is convinced her daughter was abducted, because she has not heard from her in more than a month. She said Chanztity ran away several times before but always returned within a day.
But on July 8, Chanztity got into a car with a girlfriend who supposedly was taking her to get her nails done in Port Chester in Westchester. Instead, Chanztity went to the Bronx apartment of her cousin Luis Garcia.
Garcia, 24, said yesterday that Chanztity left his Clifford Place apartment later that same day. “I thought she was going back home,” he recalled.
After Chanztity disappeared, the Greenwich Police Department asked the FBI office in New Haven to get involved. A federal grand jury in Bridgeport was convened shortly afterward to probe the case.
Three weeks ago, FBI agents showed up at the East Harlem pad of Reinaldo Tito Zapata, 19, and asked for permission to search his apartment, as well as the basement and roof of his East 115th Street building.
Zapata told The Post he let them do so, but agents busted him afterward for failing to report to his Connecticut probation officer as required. Zapata is on probation in connection with his June 2005 arrest for risk of injury to a minor – Chanztity – after allegedly being alone with her in her home without her mom’s permission.
“She told me she was older,” said Zapata. He insisted he had nothing to do with Chanztity’s disappearance and does not know where she is.
“She’s causing trouble for a lot of people,” said Zapata, who is free on bail. “I’m stressed out. I feel like I’m trapped in my own home. I hope they find her.”
(p. 25 in sports extra)