DNA results return for woman in Mexican TikTok video and missing Tri-Cities girl
Kennewick police must refocus their efforts to find a girl who disappeared more than 19 years ago after a lead from a TikTok video turned out to be a bust.
DNA test results returned this month show the woman in the video from Culiacan, Sinaloa, is not Sofia Juarez.
Kennewick police posted the disappointing news on Thursday.
Last year, in an impromptu interview with the social media personality, the Mexican woman said in Spanish that she had been kidnapped when she was a young child.
She also said she didn’t like birthdays — Sofia Juarez disappeared a day before her 5th birthday — and was hoping her grandmother and grandfather would come find her.
“The truth is, I don’t know where I’m from,” she said at the time. The woman said she was 22, but admitted she didn’t know her age for sure.
Viewers were struck by the similarities between the woman and Sofia’s childhood photos and it drew national and international attention. Soon after, Kennewick police received dozens of tips on the missing person’s case.
Police investigators contacted the social media personality about the video, and the woman’s relatives denied she was Sofia and said the woman was being treated at a rehabilitation center in Mexico.
Investigators asked the rehabilitation center if they could arrange a DNA test but were told they would need a court order.
“Police temporarily suspended the investigation so as to not interfere with the female’s treatment,” police said. “After a month, further attempts were made to try and interview the female in the rehabilitation center. Those efforts were unsuccessful.”
With the help of the Mexican consul and the FBI, Kennewick police were able to find the Mexican woman after she was released from the facility. She voluntarily gave them a DNA sample.
Investigators received the results on March 2, and discovered it wasn’t a match to Sofia.
The TikTok lead generated international interest in the case, said Al Wehner, Kennewick’s special investigator. It received coverage in Mexico, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.
A three-part series on Sofia’s disappearance was featured on Univision’s Aqu Y Ahora, the equivalent of CBS’ 60 Minutes. The story was broadcast in Spanish in the U.S., Mexico and parks of Latin America, Wehner said.
And last June, People magazine featured a story on the cold case.
Search for Sofia
Sofia walked out of her home on Feb. 4, 2003, to follow her grandmother’s boyfriend to the grocery store.
The little girl was excited to buy some candy, but the man had already driven away. However, when Sofia didn’t return to the house, her mother thought she had gone with him.
It was only after he returned from the store that the family realized Sofia was missing.
Police immediately treated it as a possible abduction, while also searching the house, vehicles and neighboring properties in her east Kennewick neighborhood.
Her disappearance triggered the first Amber alert in Washington state.
Other leads
In 2021, police revealed new information about a motorist seeing a brief encounter that night between a young girl and a boy estimated to be about 11 to 14 years old.
The boy reportedly approached Sofia on the street and led her away toward a nearby van. He appeared to be laughing, though Sofia was crying, according to the witness.
The encounter happened about 8:30 p.m. Feb. 4, 2003, on the eastern sidewalk along South Washington Street, mid-block between East 14th and 15th avenues.
Police have tried many approaches in their investigation over the years.
One effort involved semi truck trailers featuring Sofia on a missing poster, as part of the Washington State Patrol’s Homeward Bound Program.
They also created a “What Happened to Sofia?” website which posts regular updates, including releasing information about a teen who may have been linked to the disappearance.
Since starting the website in February 2021, police have received 132 tips with the latest one coming on Wednesday, Wehner said.
Detectives believe someone has information about who took her, but has not come forward.
“We continue to do everything we can to generate leads with the ultimate goal of finding Sofia,” Wehner said. “We still continue to receive leads and we’re doing our due diligence in following up on all of them. It’s still a priority case for the Kennewick Police Department.”
This story was originally published March 10, 2022 at 12:40 PM.