| Sofia Lucerno Juarez |
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| DOB : February 5th, 1998 Age : 11 years Height : 3' 0" - 91 cm Weight : 33 lbs - 15 kg Eyes :Brown Hair : Brown Missing since February 4th, 2003 from Kennewick, WA Circumstances : Photo age progressed to age 9. Sofia was last known to be playing with her brother in her bedroom between 8:15 and 9:15 p.m. on February 4, 2003, the day before her fifth birthday. She was wearing blue overalls, a red shirt with long sleeves, violet socks, white Converse shoes, and gold hoop earrings. Sofia left the bedroom and told her mother, Maria Juarez, she was going to the store five blocks away. She would be accompanied by her grandmother's boyfriend, Jose Lopez Torres. Maria gave her a dollar to spend at the store and assumed she caught a ride with Torres. Sofia did not get into the car, however. No one saw her leave the house. When Torres returned from the store at 9:45 p.m. and said Sofia had not gone with him, Maria alerted the authorities. Sofia's disappearance was treated as an abduction from the outset and an Amber Alert was issued. It was canceled after Sofia was not located within 36 hours. Police continue to believe she was abducted. They have contacted her father and say he was cooperative and is not a suspect in the case. Her father has never met her and is uncertain if he is in fact her biological parent. Torres has also been ruled out as a suspect in Sofia's disappearance. A ten-year-old relative of Sofia's who lives in her home says he saw her walking down the driveway at about the time she disappeared, accompanied by a man dressed in a black sweatshirt, black pants, and black shoes. This sighting has not been confirmed. A week after Sofia's disappearance, police announced an interest in a 35-year-old neighbor of Sofia's Kevin L. Ireland, who has a record for minor sex crimes who allegedly made a suspicious comment about Sofia's disappearance over the phone. He voluntarily took a polygraph. Police served a search warrant on the house. They were also interested in the Ireland's car, a white Ford Tempo panel van. A similar van had been spotted a few blocks from Sofia's home at the time she disappeared. Ireland was arrested on a traffic warrant unrelated to Sofia's case a week after her disappearance, and while in jail was charged with telephone harassment in relation to the comments he had made about Sofia. He has pleaded innocent to the harassment charge and being called a person of interest but not a strong suspect in Sofia's case. Authorities, in May 2003, announced that in addition to the panel van they were looking for a mid-nineties full-sized faded orange van with a license plate which had a double J in the number. The van's driver was a while male with a thick blond beard, between 35 and 40 years old. A witness recalled seeing the van in the area around the time of Sofia's disappearance. Police do not know if the van is connected in any way to her case. Extensive searches have produced little of evidentiary value in Sofia's case. Searchers found a pair of overalls and a pair of little girl's shoes, but neither belonged to her. Nothing else was ever located. Sofia is described as a loving and vivacious child. Maria says she is shy and would not go with a stranger without a fuss. Her mother believes that whoever apparently kidnapped Sofia probably knew her. She enjoyed playing with Barbie dolls and putting on makeup at the time of her disappearance. Her favorite food at the time of her 2003 disappearance was hamburgers from the fast food restaurant chain Burger King. Despite a search which extended to Mexico and fairly extensive media coverage, including profiles on the television crime show America's Most Wanted and a photograph of the side of a NASCAR racing car, Sofia remains missing and her case is unsolved. |
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