Philadelphia police are asking for the public's help finding Linda Flowers, a 70-year-old woman last seen in the 5500 block of Morris Street in Germantown. She stands 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighs about 200 pounds, and investigators say there is currently no description available of what she was wearing when she disappeared.
The timeline of her disappearance has varied slightly depending on the source. According to Newport Dispatch, Flowers was last seen Sunday afternoon, August 9, at 12:50 p.m. But the Philadelphia Police Department's own missing person bulletin, issued Wednesday, lists the same 12:50 p.m. sighting as occurring the following day, Monday, August 10. Both accounts agree on the location and the exact time, differing only on which day she was last seen.
Flowers' case falls under the jurisdiction of the city's 39th Police District, which covers the Germantown neighborhood in the 19144 ZIP code. Investigations into missing person reports originating in that district are handled by the department's Northwest Detective Division, headquartered at 5960 North Broad Street, while day-to-day patrol operations in the area run out of the district station on West Hunting Park Avenue, according to the Philadelphia Police Department.
How Detectives Are Required to Handle the Search
Under Philadelphia Police Department Directive 12.13, which governs missing person investigations, detective supervisors must ensure investigators re-interview the person who reported someone missing within 72 hours and keep in weekly contact with them for at least 30 days. That protocol has also applied in other recent Northwest Philadelphia disappearances Hoodline has covered, including a case involving a Northwest Philly woman reported missing earlier this month.
Anyone with information about Flowers' whereabouts is asked to contact Northwest Detectives at 215-686-3353 or call 911. This is not the first time police have circulated a missing person alert for a Linda Flowers in Philadelphia — a bulletin from February 2022 sought a 66-year-old woman by the same name, an age that would align with the current 70-year-old if it is the same person, though the department's records do not confirm whether the two cases involve the same individual.
No Statewide Silver Alert in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania does not run a standalone Silver Alert program for missing seniors. Instead, the state relies on the Pennsylvania State Police Missing Endangered Person Advisory system, created under Senate Bill 976 in 2010, which pushes warnings out through media outlets and electronic highway signs, according to Keystone Elder Law. It is unclear from available records whether that advisory system has been activated in Flowers' case.
Flowers' disappearance adds to a caseload that has kept Philadelphia detectives busy this year. Hoodline previously reported on the search for West Philly girl missing nearly a week, and on a case out of the same 39th District involving a missing 45-year-old man in January. More than 500 missing person cases remain open across Pennsylvania as of this month, per Missing People in America, part of a national tally that tops 600,000 reports filed each year, most of which the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System says are resolved safely within a year.
Statewide Push for Broader Alert Coverage
The case comes amid a wider legislative debate in Harrisburg over how missing adults, particularly Black women, are publicized. In June, the Pennsylvania House Children & Youth Committee advanced House Bill 434 to establish an Ebony Alert System, citing figures showing Black women and girls make up roughly 18% of missing person cases nationwide despite representing about 7% of the U.S. population, according to the Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus. Police have not said whether any additional public alert has been issued for Flowers beyond the department's own bulletin and tip line.
People with photos, video, or other leads can also reach the department's 24-hour anonymous tip line at 215-686-TIPS (8477). No further details about Flowers' condition or possible circumstances surrounding her disappearance have been released.
