Arizona teen vanished at 13… now we’ve found her at 45: Astonishing story of her secret life revealed for the first time

The Arizona woman who went missing and was found alive 32 years ago is married with three children and now lives in Missouri, the Daily Mail can reveal.

Christina Plante has been photographed for the first time in three decades after she was discovered in the city of Springfield, 1,800 miles from where she disappeared as a 13-year-old girl.

She built a completely new life, married as a teenager and had three sons before earning a degree in psychology and finding a job at a private research firm.

But Plante made clear that he did not want to talk about why he left the small community of Star Valley, 100 miles northeast of Phoenix, shortly after noon on a Sunday in May 1994.

‘He’s not very cooperative with us. He didn’t even say who he met or how he got out of town, Chief Deputy Jim Lahti of the Gila County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona told the Daily Mail.

‘He admitted he ran away ‘He didn’t want to be there and contacted another unnamed family member.’

Plante, 45, was similarly tight-lipped when the Daily Mail asked about her disappearance when we visited the five-bedroom home she now shares with husband Shawn Hollon, 49.

Known as Tina Plante as a child, this photo was widely distributed when she went missing in 1994 while police were desperately searching for her.

“She’s processing everything,” her husband of 28 years said of how she feels about being found.

Hollon, a software engineering manager, said he shared his story with her before they married in 1998.

But he refused to reveal details, saying: ‘I think you’ll have to talk to him about it.’

Christina, known as Tina, was 13 when her uncle, Gary Plante, reported her missing. His disappearance sparked a massive search and missing person investigation.

Police initially feared he might have been kidnapped by his mother, who did not have legal custody.

But this was never confirmed, and as all leads dried up, Plante’s disappearance became yet another unsolved missing person’s case gathering dust on the shelf.

That was until a new Cold Case unit, led by Capt. Jamie Garrett, re-examined the file with the help of modern technology and social media, Lahti said.

He told the Daily Mail: ‘Captain Garrett handed the case over to one of our civilian investigators. They began searching the internet, checking social media, and filed several public records requests.

Four years after Christina disappeared from Arizona, she married Shawn Hollon when she was just 17 years old.

Christina Hollon still doesn’t want the full story of why and how she disappeared to be known

Christina’s husband, Shawn Hollon, said he told her about his past before they married in 1998.

Christina and her husband have three sons. They live in this house in Springfield, Missouri

‘That’s pretty much how they put it together.

‘It was just literally pulling it off the shelf, dusting it off and saying, ‘Here, take a look and see if you can find this person.’

Captain Garrett, who contacted Plante to confirm her identity, said he was ‘stunned’ when the missing woman said she left of her own accord.

‘And I said, ‘Oh my God.’ “Okay, so you ran away,” Garrett told NewsNation’s Jesse Weber Live.

‘I told him, ‘You know, we were under the impression that someone had kidnapped you.’ “This was considered a crime,” he said.

“I think he wasn’t happy with where he was living and who he was living with, and he ran away,” the ending case investigator said.

Plante was ‘surprised’ to be contacted after covering his tracks for so long. Lahti added that he would not say anything that could potentially incriminate anyone who helped him.

‘But he was very, very protected and wanted to remain as secret as possible.’

Former Gila County sheriff’s deputy Terry Hudgens, who led the initial search, told NBC Plante’s disappearance stemmed from a “custody battle” between her mother and father.

He said his father had custody of Plante, but he wanted to live with his mother.

Allegedly, the mother and daughter met at a barn where her horse was kept and then disappeared to Phoenix Airport.

The sheriff in Gila County, Arizona, sent out missing person bulletins in 1995 saying Tina had gone to the barn but never returned.

Sheriff closed the case after Tina was found

Husband Shawn tells Daily Mail Tina is ‘processing’ the fact she was discovered by cops

When asked about Hudgens’ story, Lahti said, “That’s part of it,” but added that the teenager’s father had died and she was living with her aunt and uncle at the time.

His aunt and uncle could not be reached for comment.

Plante fled to Missouri and was just 17 when she married Shawn Hollon, who was 21 at the time, according to a newspaper article published in the Springfield News-Leader on March 20, 1998.

She and Hollon were photographed cutting their wedding cake in a throwback social media photo she shared on March 19, 2023, to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.

In the caption next to the photo, he wrote: ’25 years ago today. 3 adult children. Many happy memories. Here’s 25 more.’

Property records show the Hollons bought their first newly built three-bedroom home in Springfield in June 1999 for $86,450.

They welcomed their first child, Michael, in August 1999, followed by their second son, Nathan, in 2002, and their third son, Matthew, in 2005.

In May 2010, the couple sought a larger home for their expanding brood and purchased their current home in Springfield for $156,689.

He left tiny Star Valley, Arizona, for a new life 1,100 miles away in Missouri.

Chief Deputy Jim Lahti (left) said Tina was ‘uncooperative’ after Capt. Jamie Garrett found her

Plante appears to have built a successful personal and professional life since escaping Arizona.

In photos shared on social media, she is seen snorkeling with her husband in Cancun, Mexico, and celebrating a son’s graduation with her family.

She earned a degree in psychology from Missouri State University in 2020 and serves as a team supervisor at Worldwide Resources, a Springfield-based private investigation firm that specializes in investigating insurance claims fraud.

Plante appears on Missouri property records in March 1999, but her mother, Mary, appears to have been living there as early as August 1995, and records show she was in a two-bedroom home in Springfield.

Mary Plante later married Dan Wood, who died in December 2006 at the age of 62.

In December 2024, Plante became her mother’s court-appointed guardian and conservator following her Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis. S.He currently lives in a nursing home.

Plante is described in court documents as Wood’s ‘only biological child’… [she] have been in constant contact over the last twenty years.’

The documents state that her other biological daughter was adopted as a child, while her biological son had been estranged from Wood for many years.

Even though Plante was determined to keep his secrets, cops still counted the case as a win, Lahti said.

‘With all the unknowns and the shroud he wants to keep around him, it’s good to be able to say: ‘Here is someone we initially thought had been kidnapped by a stranger and we had no idea if he was still alive.’

‘We can now say that they are alive, living a normal life, appearing happy and doing well.’