A 13-year-old Coney Island girl has been missing for almost two weeks, and the NYPD is now asking the public for help finding her. Nyla Frazer was last seen at her home on West 31st Street at approximately 9 p.m. on August 2, wearing a black t-shirt, gray sweatpants, and black and blue sneakers, and carrying a blue purse.
Police describe Nyla as Black, 5 feet 3 inches tall, and weighing approximately 112 pounds, with brown eyes and green hair, according to the Brooklyn Eagle. Her disappearance falls under the jurisdiction of the NYPD's 60th Precinct, headquartered at 2951 West 8th Street, which patrols a 3.4-square-mile stretch of southern Brooklyn covering Coney Island, Brighton Beach, West Brighton Beach, and Sea Gate, per NYC.gov.
Nearly two weeks have now passed since Nyla was reported missing, and the case has not been resolved. Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or the Spanish-language line at 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Tips can also be submitted through the Crime Stoppers website or via X at @NYPDTips.
Why an AMBER Alert Wasn't Issued
Nyla's case has not triggered a statewide AMBER Alert, which in New York is legally reserved for confirmed or strongly suspected abductions where police have reasonable cause to believe a child under 18 faces imminent danger of serious physical injury or death, according to the New York State Police. Those strict activation standards exist to prevent public alert fatigue and to reserve emergency broadcast overrides for clear abduction threats, which explains why cases like Nyla's are instead publicized through Crime Stoppers bulletins and social media appeals.
When a missing minor's case doesn't meet that abduction threshold, New York law enforcement agencies have another option: requesting a Missing Child Alert through the state's Missing Persons Clearinghouse for endangered youth under 21, according to the New York State Office of Children and Family Services. That clearinghouse coordinates statewide advisories and distributes cases through law enforcement networks beyond a single precinct's reach.
What the Law Requires When a Teen Vanishes
Federal law required officers to accept a missing person report for Nyla immediately, with no mandatory waiting period, under a provision known as Suzanne's Law, enacted as part of the 2003 PROTECT Act, per the ASU Center for Problem-Oriented Policing. The law was named for Suzanne Lyall, a 19-year-old SUNY Albany student who disappeared in 1998, and it was created specifically to dispel the misconception that families must wait 24 hours before reporting a missing teenager.
Police were also required to enter Nyla's case into the FBI's National Crime Information Center database within two hours of the report, a mandate under 42 U.S.C. § 5779 that applies to missing children under 21, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. That two-hour entry requirement traces back to the National Child Search Assistance Act of 1990 and was later expanded by Suzanne's Law.
The Scale of New York's Missing Youth Cases
Nyla's case is one of thousands New York State law enforcement handles each year. A total of 10,629 children under 18 were reported missing to police statewide in 2025, with 94 percent classified by law enforcement as runaways, according to state Division of Criminal Justice Services data reported by Newsweek. By the end of 2025, 1,079 missing children cases remained open and active statewide even after agencies closed 10,672 youth cases during the year, the outlet reported.
Child advocacy groups treat these prolonged disappearances as urgent regardless of how a case is initially classified. One in seven missing children reported as runaways is estimated to be a likely victim of child sex trafficking, according to National Center for Missing & Exploited Children data cited in the same Newsweek report.
That urgency has driven specialized law enforcement responses elsewhere in the state. A multi-agency operation in Westchester County in February located 44 missing children and teens by re-evaluating cold youth runaway files in partnership with the National Child Protection Task Force, according to the Division of Criminal Justice Services. Under NYPD guidelines, missing person investigations that remain unresolved by local precinct detective squads after several weeks are routinely handed to the specialized NYPD Missing Persons Squad for centralized support, according to CUNY Journalism.
For now, the search for Nyla remains centered on Coney Island, where she was last seen leaving her West 31st Street home nearly two weeks ago. Police continue to ask anyone with information on her whereabouts to come forward.
