Fifteen-year-old Alicia Navarro was last seen at her home in Glendale, Arizona, in the very early morning hours of September 15, 2019. When her parents woke up, she was gone and had left a note for them that read, “I ran away. I will be back. I swear. I’m sorry.” Alicia’s laptop was also gone, but the chargers were left behind in her room. Her mother, Jessica Nuñez, told Dateline in 2020 that she is especially worried because her daughter is on the autism spectrum and is known to be shy or anxious in some social situations. Alicia takes medicine and has a compromised immune system and Jessica has been worried that her daughter’s anxiety may have overwhelmed her amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, Glendale Police Sgt. Randy Stewart told Dateline it was not known if Alicia was lured away or if she left on her own, but they were continuing to search for her and said they could use the public’s help for new information.
The Glendale Police Department is working with the FBI and the Center for Missing and Exploited Children on the case. Officer Tiffany Ngalula, spokesperson for the Glendale Police Department, told Dateline last month that investigators have received and investigated at least 300 tips since 2019, and continue to receive at least four or five tips a week via social media and phone calls. A Facebook page called Finding Alicia Navarro has been created for anyone wanting to discuss the case or provide information that may lead to her whereabouts. Alicia has brown eyes, brown hair. She was 4’5”, weighed 95 lbs, and had braces at the time of her disappearance. She may have been wearing a sweatshirt, a whitewash denim overall skirt and black and white Vans-type sneakers and carrying a silver Apple MacBook Pro laptop. If you have any information on Alicia’s whereabouts, call the Glendale Police at 623-930-3000.
