Drama that began on 9-11 ends in LV

Friday, June 11, 2004 | 9:32 a.m.

Almost three years after two young girls were taken by their mother from New York through Texas and Mexico, Nevada authorities found the children -- thanks to a tip from the mom -- in Las Vegas and reunited them with their father this week.

Attorney General Brian Sandoval said Thursday that the two girls, 6-year-old Alenis and 7-year-old Ziari Medina, had been missing from their Newburgh, N.Y., home since Sept. 11, 2001, the day that airliners commandeered by terrorists flew into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The mother and father were embroiled in a custody battle after a divorce four years ago, authorities said. The father had temporary custody of the girls.

The children's mother, Marbella Miranda, 29, had been scheduled to go to court on Sept. 11, 2001, and had the girls with her on an authorized visit, child recovery investigator Kelley Reynolds of the Nevada Missing Children Clearinghouse said.

Miranda vanished with the children from New York and did not appear in court, Nevada authorities said.

From there, she went to Texas and then to Mexico, where she stayed until three weeks ago. At that time she came to Las Vegas for medical attention for one of the daughters, Reynolds said.

Nevada authorities would never have known her whereabouts, except that Miranda glanced at a TV public service announcement showing photos of her children, listed as missing, on a Las Vegas Hispanic television station. The phone number of Newburgh's police department was on the screen.

"She called Newburgh police and told them that the girls were safe and with her," Reynolds said.

Reynolds and other investigators tracked down Miranda living in an older neighborhood near the Strip. They recovered the girls on June 4 and took them to Child Haven, where they were checked and found in good health.

The father, Mario Medina, went to Family Court in Las Vegas on Tuesday and recovered the children. He has returned to New York with the children, since he had had temporary custody of them before they were taken from Newburgh, Reynolds said.