KENNEWICK, Wash. – It’s almost 21 years since Sofia Juarez went missing from Kennewick, and today would be her 26 birthday. Her disappearance prompted the first-ever Amber Alert in Washington, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Kids.
Commander Aaron Clem of the Kennewick Police Department said he was in a different role when he was one of many who responded to the call, and all these years later, they’ve not given up on the search.
“In her case and cases like that, when you need as many people as possible, then everybody comes and helps,” Clem said. “We don’t make people wait a certain amount of time. If someone believes a loved one is missing, then we’ll take a report.”
According to Clem, KPD officers start missing persons investigations immediately. He said officers want to know everything about the person.
“We want to know who their friends are,” he said. “Who they’ve been communicating with. Phone numbers, cell phone carriers. Do they have a car? Do they not have a car? How often are they usually gone?”
Clem said now, with social media, the possibility of a child going missing increases. He said kids can be contacted on social media and not know who they’re talking to with the potential of being lured away.
Clem said social media can be a positive for law enforcement to assist with searching for a missing person.
“It can also make it a little easier to find them through various methods through social media apps,” said Clem.
Washington State Patrol Trooper Chris Thorson said social media is one of the tools WSP uses to get the word out on a missing person.
“Right now in our database, we have in Yakima County 118 persons missing,” Thorson said. “In Benton County, we have 36, and in Franklin County, we have 38. Those encompass all persons including juveniles, adults and indigenous persons. As far as trends up or down, they’re staying about the same right now. The really cool thing is that the Washington State Legislature in June of 2020 actually passed a law where we’re going to start tracking all missing adults in Washington State.”
Attorney General Bob Ferguson is taking the search one step further.
According to Ferguson’s Office, a task force consisting of 23 members, including tribes across Washington, has been created.
The goal of the task force is to find out the reason for the high rate of disappearances and murders of indigenous women and people.
Clem said KPD works with other law enforcement agencies both locally and federally in an attempt to find those people.
Trooper Thorson said the data from the 2020 state law will be available in a few years.
