SOFIA JUAREZ - 5 yo (2003) -Kennewick WA

Every customer who climbs the steps to enter Art Carpenter's
Hardware on Columbia Drive comes face to face with a tattered and torn
poster showing the smiling face of Sofia Juarez.The words "Endangered" and "Missing" have framed the black and white photograph for seven years.Gary
Carpenter, who owns the Kennewick business started by his father, said
the stained and sun-bleached poster featuring a cherub-faced child will
stay put until the mystery of Sofia's disappearance on Feb. 4, 2003, is
solved.Sofia was one day short of her fifth birthday when she
apparently was abducted that evening while walking a few blocks to a
grocery store from her family home off Washington Street at 15th Avenue.
The missing girl case mobilized hundreds of volunteers who searched widely throughout Kennewick in following days.Walking
shoulder to shoulder, people scanned fields, in canals, under bridges,
even peering behind skirts of mobile homes and in garbage cans, hoping
to find her or at least a clue.But Sofia's disappearance was a complete vanishing.Posters,
like the one Carpenter keeps in plain sight, were distributed widely.
The girl's picture and story found publicity through the National
Center for Missing & Exploited Children and were displayed on a
race car on TV, on several semi-trucks and even an electronic billboard
in New York City's Times Square.But the best efforts of
Kennewick police, aided by FBI agents and seasoned missing persons
investigators brought in from as far away as Arizona, couldn't find
Sofia.Kennewick's detective Wes Gardner is the latest detective to be assigned to the cold case that Carpenter can't forget."It's
frustrating. We get calls and tips. But they are pretty much what we've
already heard," said Gardner, who has been plowing through "a mountain
of paperwork" on the case since April."I'm looking at everything
with a fresh mind," said Gardner. He's revisited key witnesses too,
including the girl's grandmother and sister.Sofia's 26-year-old mother died a year ago of medical complications in California.Gardner
said with not much of anything new to go on, the investigation has to
rely on what others have done before him. Maybe, he said, he will see
some hidden clues buried in those thousands of investigative reports
that will help solve the mystery.But more likely, Sofia's disappearance won't be explained until someone who was involved breaks the long silence."It'll have to come from someone close to what happened. We need to have that person," Gardner said.The detective said Sofia's closest relatives want the mystery solved."They are totally ready and want closure on this," he said.Even
after all these years, posters of the smiling girl, missing four upper
teeth, with a straw hat perched on her head, pique public interest."I talked to a lady a couple of weeks ago who had seen a poster of Sofia. It jogged her memory," Gardner said.Unfortunately, the woman shared information Gardner had heard before.There
are various Sofia legends: that her body was buried near Jump-off Joe
or in a field near Finley, that someone kidnapped her and took her to a
relative in Mexico, or that a van of nondescript color stopped on
Washington Street so someone could pull the girl inside and sped off,
never to be seen again."We really don't have it locked down what really happened. Technically it is a missing person case," Gardner said.Carpenter said customers notice Sofia's poster and comment about it about twice a week.Gardner
said two possibilities are that Sofia's abduction was a crime of
opportunity or it was premeditated. But it does not appear to be a
serial abduction, he said."My hope is whoever abducted her did it for some other reason (than to harm her)," Gardner said.The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children still has Sofia listed on its website.

Four-year-old girls don't walk away and never come back.That's
why Kennewick police Detective Sgt. Randy Maynard believes someone
knows what happened eight years ago today when Sofia Juarez vanished the
day before her fifth birthday.Sofia, who would be 13 Saturday,
left the safety of her Kennewick bedroom, got a dollar from her mother
and set off to follow an adult in the house who was going to a nearby
store.Her mother put Sofia's white Converse shoes on over her
violet socks, heard the door shut and never saw her young daughter
again. Sofia's mother, Maria, died two years ago in Sacramento from
medical complications.
Police were called after the family realized she was missing, and a
massive search was launched for the little girl with the big smile who
was last seen wearing blue overalls and a red, long-sleeved shirt.Since
Feb. 4, 2003, Sofia's story and her picture have been almost everywhere
-- featured on TV on America's Most Wanted, on the side of a NASCAR
race car, in Times Square and on four semi-trucks traveling across the
country.Police have spent thousands of investigative hours
combing through reports, tracking down leads and searching for something
to bring a close to the case."My gut is that she's alive," said
Maynard, who was the patrol sergeant on duty the night Sofia went
missing. "If she's deceased, we'd have found her remains. Maybe that's
hanging onto hope, I don't know."In the first 45 days, the entire
police force was working on the case, and help also came from other law
enforcement agencies, volunteers and other resources from the
Tri-Cities and across the nation.Sofia was the subject of the
state's first Amber Alert, and she still is one of 70 children from
Washington who are listed with the National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children.During the past eight years, there have been at least four detectives assigned as lead detective on the case. The
latest is Detective Wes Gardner, who has been poring through "thousands
and thousands and thousands" of report pages for the past 18 months.Gardner hopes that looking at the case with a fresh set of eyes will help him see something that will lead to an answer."Every
spare moment you get you try to read," Gardner said. "You look at
everything that's been done or needs to be done different."So far I haven't found anything glaring that needs to be done different or wasn't done," he added.Sofia
is listed as a missing and endangered child, and by technical terms,
it's not considered an active case anymore, Maynard said."But we
consider it an active case because we hold it so close to us," Maynard
added. "We almost have a personal interest in it."Through the
years, tips have poured in around the country and Mexico. Many have been
rumors or "urban legends," as Maynard calls them, about what happened
to Sofia.Investigators have chased leads that said Sofia was
abducted by someone she knows and is living in Mexico, or that she was
taken by a stranger and killed or is being held against her will, and
that she was accidentally hit by a van and then buried south of
Kennewick near Hover Park or Jump-off Joe.Gardner said he has
seen nothing in the reports that indicates one way or another whether
Sofia most likely is dead or alive and well.Tips still come in --
though not as frequently -- and they sometimes come in waves with news
reports that come around the anniversary of her disappearance or when
inmates in jail think they know something and try to make a deal.Most
of the tips are some variation of ones that detectives already have
chased, but they still "run it to the ground just like any tip we get,"
Maynard said.Advancement of technology and social media networks also might help investigators find some new clue. For
instance, Gardner said he recently received a tip from someone who
found a Sofia Juarez on Facebook who is living in Long Beach, Calif.,
and who would be about the right age.He's waiting for the Long Beach Police Department's missing person unit to help check out that tip.Working
a cold case that has had no developments is challenging, and Gardner
still has an active case load that gets added to every day."It's frustrating," Gardner admits, "because I want to solve it."Asked if there ever will be a time when investigators stop working on Sofia's case, Maynard's answer is simple and final:"When we find her."Anonymous tips can be made to Tri-Cities Crime Stoppers at 586-8477 or visit www.tricities crimestoppers.org.
Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/02/04/1530171/8-years-later-missing-girls-case.html#ixzz1CzHrCGft

Police not giving up on Sofia Juarez, 9 years after 4-year-old Kennewick girl disappeared

• THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
  
• January 27, 2012 - 9:23 am
  

KENNEWICK, Wash. — On Feb. 4 it will be nine years since 4-year-old Sofia Juarez disappeared in Kennewick.

Police believe she was abducted. There was an Amber alert. Officers searched homes, questioned more than a 1,000 people and chased tips from around the country and Mexico.

The Tri-City Herald reports Sofia was featured on "America's Most Wanted," and her face appeared on a NASCAR race car and on semi-trucks across the nation's highways.

Lattin says Sofia is a young teenager now and might start asking questions
about her past or where she lived when she was younger.

Sgt. Ken Lattin says investigators are frustrated they have no solid leads, but they're not giving up hope of finding her.

Lattin says Sofia is a young teenager now and might start asking questions about her past or where she lived when she was younger.

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/54e85f29939b427ca10d01eaf13a39b5/WA--Missing-Kennewick-Girl/

Published Friday, Jan. 27, 2012

Kennewick police haunted by missing girl

By Paula Horton, Tri-City Herald

Eighty-six kids missing from Washington are listed on a national missing children's website.

The first picture that shows up -- of 8-year-old David William Adams -- also is the oldest. He has been missing from Issaquah since May 3, 1968, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Sofia Juarez's smiling face also is on that site. And even though it's been nearly nine years since the 4-year-old vanished in Kennewick, she has not been forgotten.

"We keep hope that she's still alive," said Kennewick police Sgt. Ken Lattin. "We keep hope that we'll find her." Sofia disappeared Feb. 4, 2003 -- the day before her fifth birthday -- from her east Kennewick home after reportedly getting a dollar from her mother and following an adult in the house who was going to a nearby store.

She was reported missing around 9 p.m. after the adult returned home and Sofia wasn't with him. He said the little girl never met up with him. Other families members thought she was playing in her bedroom and they frantically searched the house and neighborhood while calling police.

"There are some dates you'll never forget -- people talk about when the president got assassinated or when the space shuttle exploded -- this is one of those days for me," Lattin said.

He remembers the entire department -- and hundreds of officers and firefighters from surrounding agencies and community volunteers -- doing a very thorough canvas of Sofia's neighborhood and knocking on doors in a three-mile radius.

Sometimes people might see something that can help solve a case and not realize the relevance, so
officers talked to as many people as they could, Lattin said.

Sofia's disappearance was treated as an abduction from the start, and she was the subject of the state's first Amber Alert.

Her case also was featured on America's Most Wanted, and her face has appeared on the side of a NASCAR race car, in Times Square and on four semi-trucks traveling across the country.

More than a thousand people were interviewed by police, several homes were searched and police have chased tips that have poured in from around the country and in Mexico.

"Still to this day we have no solid leads," Lattin said.

Over the years, new detectives have taken the lead on the case to provide a fresh set of eyes to review the information. Detective Wes Gardner has been the lead investigator on Sofia's case for almost three years, but he hasn't gotten any closer to solving the mystery.

"This case is so frustrating," he said.

Investigators track every tip, even if it's similar to something that already has been checked out -- including the rumors or urban legends that claim Sofia was abducted by someone she knows and is living in Mexico, was taken by a stranger and killed or is being held against her will, and accidentally was hit by a van and then buried south of Kennewick near Hover Park or Jump-off Joe.

Tips still come in about Sofia, but not as many as there used to be, Gardner said.

Last year, Gardner received information from someone who found a Sofia Juarez on Facebook. The girl appeared to be the right age and was living in Long Beach, Calif. He sought help from police in Long Beach and they determined it was a different person.

Sofia will be 14 next week, and Lattin said she might be at the age now when she'll start asking more about her past or where she lived when she was younger.

Sofia is the only open missing child case on record for the police department, but the oldest missing person case is from 1978 when June Howard disappeared.

Sofia's mother, Maria, died three years ago in Sacramento from medical complications, but police say they still are in contact with Sofia's extended family and won't stop looking for the now-teenage girl.

"We're not ever going to forget about Sofia," Lattin said. "She is still important to us."

Anyone with information about Sofia can call Kennewick police at 628-0333, Tri-City Crime Stoppers at 586-8477 or the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 800-843-5678.

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2012/01/27/v-print/1803361/kennewick-police-haunted-by-missing.html

KENNEWICK POLICE NEWS RELEASE -- Four year old Sofia Juarez disappeared from her East Kennewick, Washington home on February 4, 2003, between 8 and 9 pm, the day before her fifth birthday. Sofia's mother, her grandmother, and other family members all believed Sofia had been playing in her bedroom with her brother but when they discovered she was not there a search was quickly conducted through the house and up and down the street, all to no avail. The frightened family contacted the police to report Sofia as missing.

Sofia’s disappearance was treated as an abduction case from the outset and an Amber Alert was issued. Several hundred policemen, firemen and volunteers scoured the neighborhood and conducted door-to-door searches. The searchers probed along the muddied banks of the Columbia River and all areas within a 3 mile radius. Early in the investigation, the FBI was contacted to provide assistance in the search, including the setup of a database to handle tips.
Various media outlets were utilized after Sofia’s disappearance, including a spot on America’s Most Wanted, and a photograph of Sofia was displayed on the side of a NASCAR racing car. However, the intense searches and vast media coverage for Sofia have yet to reveal a solid lead to recover her.

Sofia Juarez has now been missing for nine years, and will be 14-years-old on February 5th, 2012. She is described as a loving and vivacious child. She was described as shy and would not go with a stranger without a fuss. She enjoyed playing with Barbie dolls and putting on makeup. Her favorite food was a Burger King hamburger.

Sofia had long black hair, has brown eyes and a small mole under her left eye. At the time of her disappearance, she was missing her top four teeth and was approximately 3 feet tall and weighed 33 pounds. She was last seen wearing gold hoop earrings, blue coveralls, a red long-sleeved shirt, violet socks and white Converse shoes.

Sofia’s mother passed away in Sacramento, CA on January 10, 2009.

I don't know the circumstances of Sofia's Mom's passing but I am convinced that whatever happened, there was a great deal of heartbreak involved after 5 years of missing her daughter.