A 13-year-old girl who vanished from her family's home in rural Hudson, Colorado, more than two weeks ago has been found safe. The Weld County Sheriff's Office announced Monday night that Jada Rangel, who had been missing since late July, was safely located.
Rangel was last seen outside her home in Hudson at 5 p.m. on July 26, according to the Weld County Sheriff's Office. She was reported as a runaway juvenile who may have been traveling with another missing teen, 13-year-old Bella Madsen, through the Denver metro area, including Lakewood and Thornton. The department described Rangel as 4 feet 11 inches tall, with black hair featuring pink split dye and dark shadow roots, and noted she has scars on her right outer arm. At the time she disappeared, she was wearing dark blue pajama pants with a Simpsons cartoon print and clouds, a black hoodie, and either black Air Force 1s or black DC shoes.
Sheriff's Office Reveals Stepsister Connection
What began as a case of two teens described only as possible travel companions turned out to be something closer to home. In an August 4 social media update, the sheriff's office clarified that Bella Madsen's legal name is actually Aribelle Madsen, and disclosed that she is Rangel's stepsister — explaining why the two ran away together in the first place.
The department's records show Aribelle Madsen was reported missing from the 23000 block of Weld County Road 10, in the same rural area outside Hudson, at the identical time and date as Rangel: 5 p.m. on July 26. Weld County Road 10 cuts through unincorporated farmland surrounding the small town, a detail that underscores just how quietly the girls slipped away from a community of roughly 1,651 residents.
Search Widened Across the Front Range
As days passed without word, family members turned to regional missing-persons forums to share leads. Relatives posted on Facebook that the two girls had allegedly been spotted on August 1 at a gas station in Evans, Colorado, riding in a vehicle bearing Wyoming license plates. Evans sits just north of Hudson along major highway corridors, and the sighting helped push the search into the wider Denver metro area before Rangel was ultimately found safe.
Hudson's location, about 30 miles northeast of Denver and close to Interstate 76, gives residents fast access to the metro area — a geographic reality that likely shaped how quickly the case spread beyond the small town's borders.
Why No Amber Alert Was Issued
Cases like Rangel's and Madsen's don't trigger the highway signs and blaring phone alerts many people associate with missing children. Under Colorado Bureau of Investigation protocols, AMBER Alerts are reserved strictly for verified child abductions involving an immediate threat of death or serious bodily harm. Runaway cases without evidence of forced abduction instead rely on Endangered Missing Alerts or direct law enforcement bulletins, which is why the sheriff's office turned to Facebook posts and tip lines rather than a statewide alert.
The state logs a significant volume of these cases. As of August 2024, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation recorded 1,278 active missing-persons cases statewide, with nearly half of those individuals still unaccounted for a year later.
National Data Shows High Stakes for Runaways
Rangel's safe return fits into a broader national pattern. According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, runaway cases made up 92% of the 32,167 missing children reports the organization supported in 2025, and roughly 90% of those cases were ultimately resolved. Still, the organization treats every runaway report as an endangered child case, and its research estimates that about 1 in 6 runaway children reported missing are potential victims of child sex trafficking — a risk that explains the urgency behind law enforcement's public appeals even when a minor leaves home voluntarily.
Weld County has confronted the darker end of that risk before. In March, the sheriff's office highlighted its ongoing juvenile protection work after a Florida man was sentenced in Weld County court to 156 years to life for child sexual exploitation and enticement charges, a case Hoodline covered in March. It is a reminder of why detectives treat every runaway report as urgent, even absent evidence of foul play.
The sheriff's office had asked anyone with information on Rangel's or Madsen's whereabouts to contact its tip line at (970) 304-6464, its dispatch line at (970) 350-9600, or email [email protected]. It was not immediately clear from available reporting whether Aribelle Madsen has also been located.
