Whitsunday mum Tahnee Shanks is missing in Mexico after daughter found ‘dumped’ at Cancun church
The Qld grandmother and uncle of a two-year-old girl ‘dumped’ at a Cancun church have been reunited. The family remains ‘deeply concerned’ as the search for her missing parents continues.
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Mackay man Ben Shanks and his mother Leanne have been reunited with two-year-old Adelynn after she was “dumped” at a church in Mexico.
It comes as Mexican police have revealed the frantic moments before former Whitsunday woman Tahnee Shanks and her estranged partner Jorge Luis Aguirre Astudillo disappeared in Cancun more than a week ago.
The Australian embassy ensured the little girl had an emergency passport ready to return her to Australia and the trio is in Cancun waiting for the tick of approval to get her back.
“We ask for privacy while we focus on caring for Adelynn,” the family said.
“Our immediate goal is to get Addy, her uncle and grandmother home safely as soon as possible.
“With several hurdles and red tape, this may take some time.
“We remain deeply concerned for the safety and whereabouts of Adelynn’s mother Tahnee.
“We would like to thank the kind and generous people from all over the world who have reached out to us and offered their support and assistance.”
Ella Stower, who says she grew up with Tahnee in Conway Beach, set up a GoFundMe page to raise $20,000 and almost the entire amount was raised within two days.
The family remains unsure how long they will need to stay in Mexico navigating the process and the fundraising total has since risen to $50,000 to cover costs.
They have now raised more than $31,000 which they say will go a long way to helping ensure they can get Adelynn home safely.
The search for Adelynn’s mother continues but the Shanks family holding grave fears for her safety.
“She’s never off social media and she would never leave that girl. That’s the scariest thing,” Ben Shanks said.
“She was with Jorge in the days before and now they’re both missing.
“She was so close to coming home. Addy’s got her citizenship and she was just waiting on a passport.
“Plane tickets were paid for. She was getting the passport on June 7 and coming home in late June.”
Mexico’s National System for Integral Family Development, the government agency holding Adelynn, said she was given to her grandmother once their family connection was officially established.
The organisation confirmed receiving Ms Shanks’ birth certificate before her mother and brother left Australia.
‘Smelled like baby soap’: Rescuers describe finding missing toddler in Mexico
Toddler Adelynn had no shoes but “smelled like baby soap” when she was “dumped” at a church in Mexico.
Carlos Gutierrez described a normal Monday night outside the Chapel of the San Archangel on May 2 when Whitsunday woman Tahnee Shanks’s daughter “appeared”.
“It was early, 8pm, there were still people on the street, the church mass had just finished. An ordinary night in Cancun,” he said in Spanish.
“The girl was in perfect condition, only she had no shoes.
“She had a small flashlight in her hand that she was playing with.”
Mr Gutierrez said she did not seem to have been lost for days or wandering around for a long time.
“She was very well,” he said.
“In fact, she still smelled like baby soap, as if she had just been bathed.
“She did not answer the questions we asked, we later assumed that it was perhaps because she did not speak Spanish completely.”
Tahnee, 32, had been living in Mexico for about nine years. She had recently broken up with her partner Jorge Luis Aguirre Astudillo who was the father of their daughter Adelynn, who turned two in November.
Dan Shanks, her brother, has been awake since Tuesday night when he learned his niece had been left outside a church and his sister was missing.
“To be honest, I think she’s already gone,” he said on Wednesday night, but nothing has changed.
He said Tahnee was on the verge of heading back to Australia next month with her daughter following a relationship breakdown with Adelynn’s father Jorge.
The Conway Beach man, who says he is exhausted after dealing with Mexican and Australian authorities this week, says he still fears the worst.
But he said on Friday communication improved exponentially once the embassy became involved.
“Most of correspondence is coming through the Australian embassy now so the police are liaising with them,” he said.
“Because, initially, we had to get someone in to translate – there’s bugger all people in the station over there who speak English. And it was really hard.
“Once we got this set up the way we have now, it’s as good as it can be.”
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said the department was providing consular assistance to Tahnee’s family but would not comment further on the situation.
“Owing to our privacy obligations we will not provide further comment,” the spokesman said.
Wilbert Alonzo Canto’s Facebook posts about Adelynn appearing at the church went viral on Monday across the Yucatán Peninsula and Riviera Maya in Mexico where Tahnee was living.
Mr Canto said he went to a religious ceremony for his grandmother, to mark three years since “she left this world”, about 7pm that night.
He said as they left the church, they were shocked to run into baby Adelynn.
“Behind the baby, a man came and asked us if the baby was ours,” he said in Spanish.
“He told us he had been following her because he saw her alone and running without shoes.
“At that moment, my reaction was to hold the baby and not let her go the whole time I had her.
“The man who was following her told us ‘I am going to ask the street behind to see if she belongs to someone or if they know her and the man left’.
“From there, my cousin and I went with the baby to ask if anyone in the houses knew her because apparently she came to the church alone. But no one knew her.”
Mr Canto said they then phoned 911 to report the abandoned baby and the authorities arrived about 30 minutes later.
“When the police arrived, they asked us to explain how things happened.”
Mr Canto said the Attention to Victims of Family and Gender Violence group, which is in charge of the children found on the street, took the little girl.
“This group … moved the baby to a safe house where they keep the baby in perfect condition until a family member arrives for the baby,” he said.
“On Tuesday morning, after my Facebook post about the baby went viral the day before, posts about the baby’s parents appeared as missing for three days.
“Seeing the photos of the parents, we realised the father (could be) the same man who was behind the baby the day we found her at church.
“My whole family and I were in shock to see the (maybe) same man in the photos was the same as the one following (the baby) the night we found her at the church.”
Mr Canto said he was on Thursday summoned to the prosecutor’s office to take statements.
He said he had hope and faith the situation would work out well but he was very worried about Adelynn and her missing mother but he said the girl seemed well when he was looking after her.
“The girl arrived in perfect condition, obviously with the same clothes she had been wearing since they disappeared, but clean,” he said.
“She came running to the church like another common child running around the house.
“The girl at no time was she scared or cried or anything, she was calm while she was with me and my family.
“Never in my life have I been through a situation like this.
“We have not been able to see the baby since Monday at the safe house.
“They do not allow us to see her since we are not relatives of the baby we only know that she is fine
“I was carrying the baby as the authorities arrived. The baby was calm at all times.”
More than $31,000 has been raised to help Tahnee’s family travel to Mexico to search for her and bring her two-year-old daughter Adelynn home.
Ben Shanks and his mother Leanne were due to fly to over on Friday, with embassy support expected once they arrive.
Ella Stower, who says she grew up with Tahnee in Conway Beach, set up a GoFundMe page to raise $20,000 and almost the entire amount has been raised within two days.
Dan Starks has offered a $5000 reward for Tahnee’s safe return after his niece was “dumped” at a parish late at night.
The Shanks hope they might also raise more money for a bigger reward.
‘Find my sister’: Fears for mum missing in Mexico after daughter ‘dumped’ at church
INITIAL May 5, 8am: The brother of a Whitsunday woman missing in Mexico has offered a $5000 reward for her safe return after his niece was “dumped” at a parish late at night.
Dan Shanks said his sister Tahnee Shanks, 32, had been living in Mexico with her estranged partner Jorge Aguirre Astudillo and their daughter Adelynn, who turned two in November.
The Conway Beach man, who says he has been awake for two days straight dealing with Mexican and Australian authorities alongside his other siblings and parents, says he fears the worst.
“To be honest, I think she’s already gone,” he said.
Posts about Tahnee’s disappearance have gone viral across the Yucatán Peninsula and Riviera Maya in Mexico where she was living.
Dan and his wife Angela say their last contact with the young mum was 12.40pm on Sunday, Australian time, which would have been Saturday in Mexico.
“Has anyone seen my sister? She has gone missing and her daughter was dumped outside a church in Cancun,” Dan wrote in a Cancun Facebook group.
Dan said he was trying to contact Tahnee’s former boyfriend.
“He drives a white Toyota Tundra. Any help would be appreciated.”
The Shanks family believe Carlos Gutierrez called authorities after finding Adelynn alone near the Chapel of the San Archangel.
Once photos of the toddler circulated on social networks in Mexico, Tahnee’s brothers received the late-night phone calls that would send shockwaves through the family.
Tahnee was on the verge of heading back to Australia next month following a relationship breakdown with Adelynn’s father Jorge.
“We’re pretty confident Addy’s safe, it’s just Tahnee we’re worried about now, it doesn’t look good,” brother Ben, who lives in Mackay, said.
“She’s never off social media and she would never leave that girl. That’s the scariest thing.
“We know Tahnee wouldn’t leave that girl on her own.
“She was with Jorge in the days before and now they’re both missing.
“Addy was found walking the streets of Cancun by herself.
“She was so close to coming home. Addy’s got her citizenship and she was just waiting on a passport.
“Plane tickets were paid for. She was getting the passport on June 7 and coming home late June.”
Tahnee gave birth to Adelynn in November 2019 while her mother Leanne was visiting from Brisbane.
Her sister Leela visited shortly after their mother but Covid would soon shake the world and Tahnee had not been home since 2018 when her brother Chris committed suicide.
Ben and Leanne will fly out to Mexico on Friday.
He said he had filed a report with Mackay Police and he believed they were working with Interpol and Mexican police to find Tahnee.
“I just don’t know what to do,” Ben said.
“Social media is all the information we have.
“We are so lucky a few good people in Mexico are doing all this stuff for us – going to all the hospitals in the area, and going to last known apparent sightings of Tahnee.
“When I get there, I’ll send mum back with Addy and I’ll stay there.
“I’ve just got to find my sister, hey.
“I’m going to meet up with one of the guys we’ve been speaking to who will help with translation and running us around.”
Dan said the family had minimal information coming from the Cancun police.
“The only thing we have a lead on is that someone saw her not far from the church,” he said.
“They say she was with three men and two other women, all Mexicans with one white girl with red hair.
“They say she was severely drugged to the eyeballs and couldn’t keep her eyes open.
“That’s the only reason she wouldn’t have Addy with her, is that something has gone wrong.
“The only other option is that she’s dead.”
Ben said a post about Addy had been shared to a Facebook page akin to the Mackay Crime Watch Page and someone sent it to one of Tahnee’s friends after recognising his niece.
“He rang at 9pm (Tuesday night). Addy was wearing the same clothes she had been wearing in an Instagram thing Tahnee posted the day before,” he said.
“When we told the people who had her, she answered to her name.
“We’ve had some feet on the ground there, we’ve been lucky so many people have been willing to help.
“We have lawyers and social workers all trying to help us.”
Ben described his sister, an October baby, as an outgoing, independent woman who was the youngest of the five siblings.
“She’s travelled since she was 18 and she’s just always been doing her own thing,” he said.
Dan said his sister had been living in Merida after leaving Cancun “because it was getting too dangerous”.
Cancun was this year named as one of the most dangerous cities in the world in a list The Citizen Council For Public Security and Criminal Justice put together.
“Cancun had 337 murders in 2021 and 2022 has already started with some horrifying numbers leading to its homicide rate of 36.81 per 100,000,” an article in the Cancun Sun reads.
“The global average is around 6 per 100,000.
“There is danger in the city due largely to the presence of organised crime.”
“She likes to keep everyone thinking everything is OK,” he said.
“But about four months ago she came out and told us they broke up.
Dan said he understood Tahnee and Jorge went on a short trip away as she had sent his wife Angela photos at El Cuyo on the weekend, saying they were next heading on a three-hour drive to Tulum.
Then all communication ceased until they learned their niece was alone in Cancun – 130km from the last planned destination Tahnee had mentioned.
“They’re on a little holiday – everything seemed fine, I spoke to Tahnee on Sunday at lunchtime,” he said.
“She sent photos of the beaches they were visiting and next minute nothing from her.”
Dan said witnesses who found Addy say a man was near the girl and said ‘hey mate, you better watch your daughter, she might get run over’.
“Carlos said ‘that’s not my daughter and the bloke said ‘oh no she must be lost then’,” Dan said.
“His mother and wife came out of the church and saw the man wander off.
“They looked after Adelynn until the proper authorities took her away safely.”
The toddler is now is in the care of Mexico’s child protection agency DIF which cares for foreign children or children with dual citizenship if found without a parent or guardian.
Photos of Addy at the church went viral on Mexican social media and when friends realised it was Tahnee’s child, Carlos and his family saw photos of her with Jorge.
“They saw Tahnee’s page and saw the guy she was with could be the one who dumped the kid at the church and left,” Dan said.
Ms Shanks, in a travel blog post about the Whitsundays, describes herself as a beginner freelance writer, Aussie world traveller, vegetarian and animal lover.
“Back in Australia, I was an assistant nurse looking after the elderly, it was such a rewarding career however I still felt there was something missing,” the former Airlie Beach woman said.
“The travel bug bit me in 2010 taking me on my first 18-month journey through Asia and parts of Europe volunteering and couch surfing my way across the country before returning back home where I saved for two years.
“My second round-the-world trip took me to the Americas.
“So far I have been to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, the U.S. and now Mexico.
“Cancun has been my home for over a year, I fell in love.”
Dos Teresa, sharing one of the posts about Tahnee’s disappearance, said she had been told her mother’s friend was heading to Mexico to find out what was happening.
“We are all so shocked and are hoping that she is found safe and reunited with her two-year-old daughter very soon,” she wrote.
“Please share in the hopes that is brought to the attention of our Australian Consulate in Mexico and the Australian Government in helping the family during this very distressing time.”
Susan Garnett described Tahnee as “a dedicated mother” who would “never abandon her daughter”.
“Something serious had to happen for the little girl to find herself alone,” she said in a Facebook post.
Laura Jane said she had been good friends with Tahnee for years.
“We are all very worried about her safety here in Australia,” she wrote on Facebook.
“She would never leave her baby ever. Something has happened to my friend.”
Ally Manic said: “My stomach hasn’t stopped churning. I’m really hoping they find Tahn. We all love you over here in Aus babe!
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said the department was providing consular assistance to Tahnee’s family but would not comment further on the situation.
“Owing to our privacy obligations we will not provide further comment,” the spokesman said.
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