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Mystery Of Missing Toddler Emerges In Miami Courtroom

MIAMI (CBS4) - The mystery of a three-year-old who's been missing for nearly a year surfaced inside a Miami courtroom on Monday.

The state is fighting to keep the father held without bond after his arrest last week inPensacola. He had been the subject of a nearly year-long search after the father disappeared with the little girl last March.

That girl, Angelina Montes, has not been seen since. And no one is saying where she is.

Circuit Judge Bronwyn Miller ruled that there were not enough circumstances to have the father, 22-year-old Samuel Montes, held without bond. She said she would set a bond on Tuesday.

Montes's attorney Michael Grieco expected that the bond would be reasonable, allowing Montes to be able to get out of jail.

Grieco also said it was unfair for Montes to be held without bond in this case.

"I think the state is trying told my client without bond in order to get information," said Grieco. He told CBS4's Peter D'Oench that, "He is entitled to pre-trial release."

Grieco told D'Oench that he thought Angelina was safe and "not in any danger."

In court, Assistant State Attorney Jacci Seskin said that Montes was a flight risk. "He has no ties to the community, no ties to family. He is a ghost."

An affidavit in support of an arrest warrant for Montes stated that Montes and Vamesa Churon were the mother and father of the child that was born in Los Angeles,California.

They had lived in Southwest Miami-Dade until February 28th of 2011 when Churon fled the home due to "physical and emotional abuse."

In court, Detective Marlene Caceras of the Miami-Dade Police Dept. testified that Churon was the victim of domestic violence and she suspected that Samuel Montes could not properly care for the child because she said he "manhandled her" and there was bruising on her body.

Caceras also painted a grim picture of the household, saying that if Churon was sometimes not allowed to leave the home to get food.

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