A 15-year-old Colorado Springs girl who walked away from her northeast side neighborhood on foot after an altercation with family has been found safe, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Sophia Sirotkin was last seen near Wolf Lake Drive and Aquamarine Drive around 6:50 p.m. on July 3, wearing a gray long-sleeve shirt over a black T-shirt, black cropped pants, pink socks, white multicolored shoes, a blue hat and white headphones.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation activated a statewide Endangered Missing Alert for Sirotkin on July 4, and on Friday the agency announced in a post on CBI that the alert had been cancelled because she was safely located. The alert described Sirotkin as a white female standing 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighing 160 pounds, with black and pink hair and brown eyes. It also noted she has conditions that affect her judgment, decision-making, emotional regulation, and her ability to assess safe situations.
Her father, Chris Sirotkin, offered the first public confirmation of her condition in a social media post the day after she went missing, writing that she had been found and was being cared for at a local hospital, according to a post shared by the Colorado Springs Gazette. He thanked community members who had helped search for her and kept her in their thoughts while she was missing.
Same Northeast Neighborhood, Second Search in a Year
The area where Sirotkin was last seen, near the 6200 block of Adamants Drive, sits in a residential stretch of northeast Colorado Springs between Briargate Parkway and Research Parkway, close to Powers Boulevard, per the Gazette's post. It is not the first time police have searched for her there. In September 2025, Colorado Springs police asked the public for help finding Sirotkin and another teenage girl after they were reported missing near the same block, having last been seen getting into a vehicle; both girls were located safe at the time, according to a post from KOAA.
Colorado Springs police have handled other endangered youth cases in the same part of the city in recent months. In January, the Colorado Springs Police Department and CBI issued a Missing Indigenous Person Alert for 13-year-old Mya Gil after she disappeared overnight from the 8100 block of Misty Moon Drive, also in northeast Colorado Springs, as Hoodline reported in its story on the overnight search for Mya Gil.
Why an Endangered Alert Instead of an AMBER Alert
CBI's decision to issue an Endangered Missing Alert rather than an AMBER Alert reflects a specific legal threshold. Under state rules, an Endangered Missing Alert is authorized when a missing person faces clear risk, but the case does not meet the stricter legal criteria for an AMBER Alert, which requires verified evidence of an abduction posing immediate danger of death or serious harm, per the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Sirotkin's case, triggered by a family altercation rather than a suspected abduction, fit the endangered-alert framework instead.
Before an alert can go out, local police agencies are required to log missing individuals into the Colorado Crime Information Center and National Crime Information Center databases, the state's clearinghouse protocol for activating alert systems. Once CBI activates an Endangered Missing Alert, the details are distributed to participating radio and television broadcasters statewide, and any vehicle information is routed to the Colorado Department of Transportation for display on highway electronic signs.
CBI, based in Denver, serves as the state's central clearinghouse for missing persons cases, managing not just Endangered Missing Alerts but also Senior Alerts, Developmental Disabilities Alerts, Medina Alerts and Missing Indigenous Person Alerts. The agency's oversight role is also shaped by state law: under Senate Bill 22-150, the Colorado Department of Public Safety must present annual reports to legislative committees analyzing missing person cases, trends and cold-case data across the state.
Anyone who sees Sophia Sirotkin is asked to call 911. The public can also reach the Colorado Springs Police Department directly at 719-444-7000 with information.
