In 2003 and four-year-old girl, Sofia Juarez went missing after she was kidnapped outside of her home in Kennewick, Washington.
Recently, Police in Washington started investigating a possible lead in a kidnapping case from 18 years ago following a viral TikTok video. In the video, filmed in Culiacan Sinaloa in northwest Mexico, a woman says in Spanish that she is 22 years old and she claims that she may have been kidnapped. She calls out to her family and says that if they are watching they should find her because she does not know where she is from.
The police said that they are aware of this video and they started investigations in order to confirm if what this woman says is true. The TikTok user who has posted this video cooperated with the police and provided all the information that was asked of him.
On May 5th, Kennewick police said that a new credible witness appeared and stated that they saw a girl matching Juarez’s description, crying and being led into a light blue, silver, or gray van from the 70s or 80s by another person, on the day of the crime. Also, police have a detailed description of the person but they are not revealing this information just yet for investigative purposes.
What the police seek for now is for the woman on the viral video to voluntarily provide a DNA sample that will help to identify that she is who she claims to be. There is also an artistic impression of what Sofia would look like now based on a picture of her as a child. According to CNN Sofia’s mother passed away in 2009 but police kept in touch with the other members of the family.
Social media appears to become a very helpful tool when it comes to solving mysteries. Last year a decades-long murder case was solved after the victim’s sister launched a campaign on TikTok. Could this be the future of crime-solving?
Words by: Vasiliki Roussou
