A 28-year-old Lakeland woman known to her family as Tee has not been seen or heard from since the middle of May, and her family is now asking the public to help find her. Taishaly Soto Quinones was last known to be at a residence in the 1000 block of Kettles Avenue, and her relatives say they are concerned about her welfare.
According to the Lakeland Police Department, detectives are actively looking for information about Soto Quinones's whereabouts. Police describe her as 5 feet 2 inches tall and about 130 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone who has seen her is asked to call the Lakeland Police Department at 863-834-6966.
A Three-Month Silence in Northwest Lakeland
The Kettles Avenue block where Soto Quinones was last known to be sits in northwest Lakeland's 33805 ZIP code, just north of Memorial Boulevard and west of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, an area made up largely of residential single-family homes near the city's central corridors, according to real estate records reviewed by Compass Real Estate. Lakeland is the largest city in Polk County, a sprawling inland jurisdiction of more than 800,000 residents that stretches over 2,000 square miles between Tampa and Orlando, per Wikipedia. That scale means missing person cases like this one can fall under the jurisdiction of either Lakeland Police or the Polk County Sheriff's Office, depending on where a person was last seen.
Florida law offers some insight into how a case like this proceeds administratively, even as the police search continues. Under Florida Statute § 937.0201, missing adults under 26 are automatically classified as missing endangered persons, but because Soto Quinones is 28, her case only receives that elevated clearinghouse status if law enforcement suspects she is in danger or the victim of a crime, according to Online Sunshine. The dossier does not indicate whether Lakeland police have made that determination in her case.
What Florida Law Requires as Time Passes
State law lays out specific obligations for agencies handling long-running missing adult cases. Florida law enforcement agencies must adopt written policies ensuring missing adult reports are investigated promptly, with mandatory monthly case reviews and entries into state and national databases including FCIC, NCIC, and NamUs, per Chapter 937 of the Florida Statutes as detailed by the Florida Senate. Separately, the 2008 Jennifer Kesse and Tiffany Sessions Missing Persons Act requires agencies to collect a DNA sample from a missing individual's personal belongings once someone has been missing for more than 90 days, for entry into national databases, according to the Florida Legislature. Soto Quinones has now been missing for roughly three months, putting her case past that statutory threshold.
State law also protects against cases quietly disappearing from the system. Florida law prohibits agencies from removing a missing person's entry from FCIC or NCIC databases based solely on their age or how long they have been missing, the Florida Senate notes, meaning her case record should remain active regardless of how much time passes. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Missing Endangered Persons Information Clearinghouse serves as the statewide repository for collecting, analyzing, and sharing missing person records with both law enforcement and the public.
Search Tools and How to Help
Lakeland police have technological resources available for search efforts beyond traditional legwork. The department re-established its aerial drone program in 2025, equipping officers with thermal imaging and mapping technology specifically intended to support missing person searches and emergency response, according to FOX 13 Tampa Bay. It is not stated in available information whether drones have been deployed in the search for Soto Quinones specifically.
Anyone with information about her whereabouts can call Lakeland police directly, or submit anonymous tips through Heartland Crime Stoppers at 1-800-226-8477 or via the P3tips mobile app, which serves Polk, Hardee, and Highlands counties and offers potential cash rewards for tips leading to significant developments, according to the City of Lakeland. Her family continues to wait for word on her condition and whereabouts as the search stretches into its fourth month.
