SOFIA JUAREZ 5, missing Feb 4, 2003 KENNEWICK, WA

[Nut44x4]

SOFIA LUCERNO JUAREZ
http://www.beyondmissing.com/bm?p=Lookup&ID=537

http://www.geocities.com/farmgirl1032001/Sofia_Juarez.html
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.
Date Missing :feb-04-2003
 

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Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, Washington)
 
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
 
February 4, 2008 Monday 
 
STATE AND REGIONAL NEWS 
 
20080204-PK-Another-year-with-no-resolution-in-Sofia-case-0204
 
741 words
 
 
Another year with no resolution in Sofia case
 
Paula Horton, Tri-City Herald, Kennewick, Wash.
 

Feb. 4--When little Sofia Juarez disappeared Feb. 4, 2003, police had many unanswered questions.

Did the girl with long, black hair walk away from her east Kennewick home and get lost or hurt?

Did Sofia, who's fifth birthday was the next day, get abducted?

Did she leave willingly with someone she knew?

Five years later, those questions still are unanswered.

"As a parent, that has got to be the worst feeling in the world, that your child just disappeared and no one knows -- or someone knows but isn't saying -- what happened," said Sgt. Randy Maynard, who led the Kennewick Police Department's crimes against persons section for the past three years.

Sofia, whose 10th birthday is Tuesday, reportedly was given a dollar and permission to go to a convenience store with an adult who lived in the house. When the adult returned about 45 minutes later, he told Sofia's grandmother that he had hadn't seen her.

Maynard was covering a patrol shift that night.

"I remember it was really, really cold and I remember thinking we've got to find this little girl because it was so cold out here," Maynard said. Sofia was last seen wearing blue overalls and a red shirt. "I remember thinking that's not enough to have on to be outside."

Law enforcement officers and community volunteers searched extensively for her in the following days and weeks. Since then, detectives have spent hours investigating the case and they've tracked more than 800 leads all over the country and into Mexico.

Detective Craig Hanson, the lead investigator, has spent about half his time exclusively working the case, which has generated about 9,000 pages of reports, Maynard said.

Sofia's story aired on America's Most Wanted and her picture was on a car during a NASCAR race, several semi-trucks and an electronic billboard in New York City's Time Square.

She is one of 67 children from Washington listed with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. She also was the subject of the state's first Amber Alert.

But detectives are no closer today to solving the case than they were in the first hours after Sofia was reported missing.

"Everything we do is based on information. In the absence of information, it really makes it difficult for us to get our job done," Maynard said. "We might get a little information ... that sounds promising and all of a sudden it goes nowhere. It's incredibly frustrating to us."

Kennewick police continue to actively investigate it as a missing and endangered child case. They've looked into theories that Sofia was abducted by someone she knew and is living in Mexico, and that she was taken by a stranger and either killed or is being held against her will.

Psychics have even contacted them with vague descriptions of where Sofia is, he said. They chase every lead that comes in, even if it's similar to one that didn't pan out earlier.

The most frequent ones are based on an urban legend that Sofia was accidentally run over by a car or van and later buried somewhere south of Kennewick. Variations of the rumor heard third- or fourth-hand are reported and every one is investigated, Maynard said. Police dug up a Prosser-area farm in 2005 based on a tip linked to the urban legend.

"You never know when the one's going to be the right one," Maynard said. "I know every one of us in the Kennewick Police Department can get up in the morning, look in the mirror and know we're doing everything we can to solve this case."

When the investigation stalls, they can remember cases like the one last year where St. Louis police found a teenager who had been missing for more than four years.

"We had such a new sense of hope just realizing that it happens, that it's not beyond the impossible," Maynard said. "I wish that I could tell Maria (Sofia's mother) that we found Sofia, and someday maybe one of us will have that opportunity."

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://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:739289873&start=8

[MsVada]

beautiful young girl.  I forgot how long it has been that she's been missing.

I hope they find her....maybe someone kidnapped her and took her to Alaska

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Mother of Missing Sofia Juarez Dies in Sacramento

Posted: Jan 14, 2009 09:22 PM EST

KENNEWICK, Wash-- Almost six years after Sofia Juarez disappeared, her mother has died never knowing what happened to her little girl.
     
Sofia went missing from her Kennewick home one day before her fifth birthday back in 2003. Sofia's mother Maria Juarez died of health complications last Friday.
     
She recently moved to Sacramento where she began a new life with a boyfriend and a baby boy.

"Maria basically shared a lot of love with her family she was really outgoing and always willing to meet with people and you know the way you looked at her was the way you'd be treated," said Juan Juarez, her brother.

She told her new family about her, she never forgot about her and even to this day she will always have her with her.

"Right now she passed away not knowing whatever happened to her daughter and I mean that's very tough for us, you know letting her go without seeing her daughter one more time," said Juarez.

The Kennewick Police Department has had no new leads in the case, but say they haven't given up hope.

"We want to bring her home to her family and anybody that has good information that can lead us to her being found would be helpful. To date we haven't had any information that has provided us a means of finding her," said Craig Hanson, Kennewick Police Detective.

http://www.kndu.com/global/story.asp?s=9676350

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Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, Washington)
 
January 15, 2009 Thursday 
 
Candlelight walk to honor missing Kennewick girl, mother
 
Jan. 15--Kennewick A candlelight walk is being planned in remembrance of a Kennewick girl missing for nearly six years and her mother who died last week.

The walk will start at 5 p.m. tomorrow at the corner of 15th Avenue and Washington Street, which is roughly the spot where little Sofia Juarez disappeared. It will end at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, 520 S. Garfield St.

Sofia, who will be 11 next month, hasn't been seen since Feb. 4, 2003, the day before her fifth birthday.

Her mother, Maria Juarez, died in California from some sort of medical complications, a family friend said. She was 26.

The Sacramento County Coroner's Office said Juarez died on Jan. 10, but the cause of death is still under investigation. An autopsy has already been performed.

"This is some way to say that even though she's not here with us ... but the family and the community is still waiting for Sofia and hoping the police will bring the people back and find out where she is," said Edith Fox, a family friend planning the candlelight walk.

About 50 friends and family are expected to gather tomorrow. Community members are also invited to attend, Fox said.

Juarez moved to Sacramento about a year ago and had a baby boy six months ago, Fox said.

"Like any mother who lost a girl or part of the family, she's been hoping," Fox said. "She never lost the interest or her hope that her daughter will be found sooner or later."

Kennewick police Detective Craig Hanson, the lead investigator on Sofia's case, said Juarez's death doesn't change the investigation.

"We still have a missing child and we can't account for her whereabouts," Hanson said. "... We have to continue to keep our ear to the ground, listening to information that's viable."
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:912015339&start=8

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Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, Washington)
 
January 16, 2009 Friday 
 
Ashes of missing Kennewick girl's mom to be scattered
 
Jan. 16--KENNEWICK -- Tonight, the mother of a Kennewick girl missing for nearly six years will be at the spot where her daughter disappeared one last time.

Maria Juarez's ashes will be escorted from the corner of 15th Avenue and Washington Street, where little Sofia Juarez was last seen, to St. Joseph's Catholic Church, where she'll be remembered at a funeral Mass.

The candlelight walk starts at 5 p.m.

"We just want to do it so that the community knows even through she's passed away we still have to hope to find Sofia, and we're still going to be looking for Sofia," said Alma Juarez, Maria's sister and Sofia's aunt.

Sofia, who would be 11 next month, disappeared Feb. 4, 2003, the day before her fifth birthday.

Community members are invited to join about 50 friends and relatives in the candlelight walk to the church at 520 Garfield St.

Her 26-year-old mother died Jan. 10 in Sacramento from medical complications, her family said.

An autopsy was performed, but the cause of death is still under investigation, according to the Sacramento County Coroner's Office.

Juarez moved to Sacramento about a year ago. Six months ago she had a baby boy, Rances Ricardo Barlandas, Alma Juarez said.

Although Juarez had moved away and started a new life, she never forgot about her daughter.

"Like any mother who lost a girl or part of the family, she's been hoping," said Edith Fox, Juarez's aunt. "She never lost the interest or her hope that her daughter will be found sooner or later."

Kennewick police also have not lost hope as they continue to actively investigate the case.

Detective Craig Hanson, the lead investigator on Sofia's case, said Maria Juarez's death doesn't change the investigation.

"We still have a missing child and we can't account for her whereabouts," Hanson said. "... We have to continue to keep our ear to the ground, listening to information that's viable."

At the time Sofia went missing, Maria and the girl had lived with Maria's mom on East 15th Avenue for two years. They shared the home with Maria's six siblings and her mom's boyfriend.

The last time Sofia was seen, she reportedly was given a dollar and permission to go to a convenience store with an adult who lived in the house. When the adult returned about 45 minutes later, he told Sofia's grandmother that he hadn't seen her.

Over the years, investigators have tracked hundreds of leads from all over the country and into Mexico. Sofia's story has aired on America's Most Wanted, and her picture was on a car during a NASCAR race, several semi-trucks and even an electronic billboard in New York City's Times Square.

She was the subject of the state's first Amber Alert and is also one of 69 children from Washington listed with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Hanson said he still continues to get tips about Sofia's disappearance, but most of them have been reported repeatedly. One common one is that Sofia was killed, her body was dumped in the hills and then moved several times so it wouldn't be found, he said.

Detectives have also investigated theories that Sofia was abducted by someone she knew and is living in Mexico, and that she was taken by a stranger and either killed or is being held against her will.

Investigators have found no evidence to substantiate any of those tips.

It took just one word to describe how Hanson feels about not being able to close the case after nearly six years: "Frustrating."

Hanson also said it was unfortunate that they'll never be able to tell Juarez they found her daughter.

"It's unfortunate that (Maria Juarez) died at such a young age," he said. "I know in previous contacts, she always showed interest in knowing what's going on and it was always encouraging to me that it wasn't forgotten by her by any means."

Alma Juarez said waiting and not knowing has taken a toll on the whole family.

"It's so hard. We are still in hope that we can find her," the Kennewick woman said. "We just hope that with the news of Maria passing away, whoever has Sofia will have a little heart and let us know where she's at. That way Maria can know her daughter's OK and rest in peace."

Anyone with information about Sofia can call Kennewick police at 628-0333, Tri-Cities Crime Stoppers at 586-8477 or the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 800-843-5678.
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:912204171&start=1

[Nut44x4]

Last updated February 4, 2010 8:34 a.m. PT

4-year-old Kennewick girl missing 7 years
By JOHN TRUMBO
TRI-CITY HERALD

KENNEWICK, Wash. -- 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 Web site.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_wa_remembering_sofia.html