The family of a two-year-old Australian girl found alone outside a church in Mexico have revealed they were taunted by trolls in the 60 minutes before officials allowed them to bring the child home.
Two-year-old Adelynn was found outside the chapel in Cancun on May 3 before her mother Tahnee Shanks, 32, and dad Jorge Aguirre Astudillo were both been reported missing.
The young girl’s uncle Ben Shanks and grandmother Leanne had flown from Queensland to Mexico to bring her home, with growing fears someone from Astudillo’s family may come and claim her.
Dan Shanks, another of Adelynn’s uncles, told Daily Mail Australia the family waited anxiously through a evening where their delegation landed, retrieved the child, went to their hotel and back to the plane – all within 60 hectic minutes.
‘Within an hour of landing and getting Addy, Mexican officials offered to fly them home,’ he said.
‘The government agreed it was the best thing for the child that she fly to Australia immediately’.
Adelyn had previously been cared for by Mexican child welfare authorities before her grandmother Leanne (left) and uncle Ben (right) arrived
Two-year-old Adelynn is seen with her grandmother and uncle after landing safely in Australia. She was found wandering barefoot in Mexico
Dan also revealed the family were victims of disgusting trolls who were messaging their social media accounts alleging Adelynn had already been adopted.
‘We were told someone had come and adopted Addy. Then we were told Jorge’s father came to take her out,’ he said.
To their relief, Adelynn was waiting for them at the government building, ready to be taken home to her family in Queensland.
‘The Mexican and Australian officials were great, we want to thank them and everyone that’s helped out. Particularly Tahnee’s friends on the ground, her friends in Mexico have been such a big help particularly with the language barrier,’ her uncle said.
The family were told ‘three eyewitnesses’ saw Astudillo leave his daughter outside the Chapel of the San Archangel.
However, when it came time to make formal statements to police, the three suddenly changed their story and said the man they saw was taller than Astudillo.
‘We’re putting up millions of posters to try and find her. We’re appealing to everyone,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘We’re putting money saved for our renovations towards the reward. $70,000 is a lot of Pesos. Someone might open their mouth.’
Dan said even Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had enquired about Adelynn’s situation.
It was revealed last week that Ms Shanks, from Queensland, had disappeared and her two-year-old daughter Adelynn (pictured together) was found dumped at a church
On Thursday the toddler met other relatives including cousins for the first time in Mackay, Queensland after landing safely in Australia
Adelynn has been living at their family home in Mackay for more than a fortnight now, with Dan saying she’s handling her mother’s absence incredibly well.
‘She’s amazing, she’s the happiest little girl,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘She barely cries, she doesn’t want her own way but she’s got five adults chasing after her making sure she gets her own way.
‘She hasn’t asked where her mum is. That’s what we were scared of. That would be heartbreaking, but she’s been so good.’
The Shanks family say they won’t give up on looking for Tahnee.
A disturbing image of a burnt out van on the side of the road in Mexico has been distributed, with police investigating possible links to Ms Shank’s disappearance.
The Mexican news outlet Por Esto published an image of the smouldering vehicle, which is now reportedly being held as evidence in the case.
Mexican police have also seized a video of a woman being forced into a van and are investigating whether it too is linked to Ms Shanks.
Police are reportedly investigating whether the Australian woman and her missing partner were targeted by criminals in a random attack.
Jorge Aguirre Astudillo has not been seen since May 2 when he was with Australian native Tahnee Shanks, the mother of his two-year-old daughter
Adelynn had previously been cared for by Mexican child welfare authorities before her relatives arrived. She was given an emergency Australian passport.
Dan said his sister, who is from Queensland’s Whitsundays, claimed she was on a vacation with her family in a small fishing village with poor reception but something felt off.
Ms Shanks had been holidaying around the Yucatan peninsula and was set to return to Australia after her relationship broke down with her partner Mr Astudillo.
Mr Shanks also said his sister was due to fly home to Australia on June 22, after splitting from Mr Astudillo, after he reportedly cheated on her.
Quintana Roo’s general attorney Óscar Montes de Oca Rosales said the couple had visited Cancun for a day and then planned to drive back to Merida.
On the way there they turned around and returned to Cancun where they then disappeared and Adelynn was later found by herself.
Mr de Oca Rosales said Astudillo had a domestic violence claim against him from a previous girlfriend, but both he and Ms Shanks were being treated as victims in the investigation into their disappearance.
The Shanks family say they are confident Mexican authorities are doing what they can to find the missing mum.
Tahnee Shanks (pictured middle) was on vacation with her ex-partner (right) and her daughter (left) when she vanished in Mexico, a continent away from any of her family
The last known photos of Ms Shanks and Astudillo show them in Las Coloradas, Yucatán, 93 miles from where their daughter was found in Cancún on Mexico’s tropical southern tip.
Ms Shanks moved eight years ago from Australia to Merida, Mexico. She split from her partner a year after Adelynn was born.
‘She would have been home months ago,’ Dan told the ABC.
‘She thought she could get home easily, but America had shut down visas for Mexican-born people for a period because of Covid. She’s had to go and get an Australian citizenship and passport for Addy to try and divert around that issue.’
Witnesses say they saw a man pass Adelynn to a stranger in front of a church in the 220 Quintana Roo district.
The devoted mum’s social media pages are full of happy snaps of her little girl.
The mother had been traveling the world since she was 18 and describes herself on social media as a ‘Happy Hippy Ginger Ninja meeting around the world one country at a time.’
Australian mother Tahnee Shanks (pictured with her ex-partner Jorge Aguirre Astudillo) has gone missing in Mexico
Before she went overseas, she worked in Australia as an assistant nurse looking after the elderly, which she described as a rewarding career.
‘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,’ the freelance writer wrote on a travel blog for the Whitsundays.
Shanks returned home and saved for two years and then headed back overseas traveling through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and the United States before settling in Mexico.
She is described as having a fair complexion, and has red hair, light brown eyes, 5 feet 4 inches tall, thin build and has a distinctive tattoo along her right thigh.
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