SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Family and community members gathered to remember two-year-old Aryana Trevino Martinez on a warm Tuesday evening near Belle Ellen Drive in the Alamo City. The event took place near the site where searchers found the missing toddler unresponsive in a brushy area on Sunday night. No cause of death has been released by authorities.
Breitbart Texas attended Tuesday’s vigil organized by Last Chance Ministries and Eagles Flight Advocacy and Outreach, both philanthropic community organizations serving the San Antonio region. Several motorcycle groups, including the Alamo Chapter of Guardians of the Children, were among hundreds of residents who gathered near a makeshift memorial erected close to the site where searchers foundAryana’s body.
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Speakers honored the little girl and led the attendees in prayer. A local minister offered words of comfort to the family of the toddler, describing the difficulty in accepting the death of a child who was so young.
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As reported by Breitbart Texas, family members reported Aryana missing around 8:00 p.m. on Sunday and, within a few hours, she was found unresponsive near a small creek surrounded by heavy brush and tall grass. Despite life-saving efforts by law enforcement officers, the child was declared deceased shortly afterward.
Authorities had issued a statewide Amber Alert for the missing girl and reported that she was last seen wearing a black top and leopard-print pants. A massive search was immediately organized, including police officers, aircraft, and family members and neighbors. The alert was discontinued within hours of the tragic discovery of the toddler.
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In a report by KSAT12, Anna Marie Ramirez describes how her 22-year-old son, Uriel, found the missing girl after she encouraged him to help with the search. In a videotaped interview, Ramirez told KSAT12, “It was around 11:30, and I ran in and told my son, we need to be a part of this and help, and immediately said, okay, let’s go down the creek. And so, when we went down to the creek, it was just him and I.”
Ramirez told KSAT12 the brush along the creek was taller than she was and kept her from proceeding. Her son continued without her and moments later found Aryana in the brushy area. “He found her in fifteen minutes; it took about 15 minutes to find her,” Ramirez added. Ramirez says her son found her in the creek and carried her out.
Ramirez says her son told her about his thoughts at the time of the search, telling KSAT12, “Please don’t be there, please don’t be there, please don’t be there, and as soon as he looked, he said he saw a body.”
The distance from where the child went missing was estimated by authorities to be 500 yards. Investigators say surveillance video showed the child walking alone in an alley near the site from where she disappeared. One volunteer searcher named Adrian, interviewed by the local news outlet KABB Fox 29, says he couldn’t get into the alleyways near the site of Aryana’s discovery because the grass had become so overgrown. Adrian expressed confusion about how the child was able to get to the site where she was found unresponsive.
Authorities remain tight-lipped about the ongoing investigations but say the family is cooperating.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Before his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.