A 17-year-old Lakewood girl has not been seen in nearly three weeks, and police are asking anyone with information to come forward. Adriana Linares Maldonado has been missing since August 1, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which has released a photo of her as the search continues.
The case was first reported by the Tacoma News Tribune, which noted that Lakewood police are actively searching for Linares Maldonado. The paper's reporting describes her as having brown eyes and wavy caramel-brown hair. The News Tribune reached out to the Lakewood Police Department for additional information on the case.
NCMEC's public poster for Linares Maldonado, filed under case number 2097004 and NCIC entry number M779060911, does not include her height or weight, nor does it list where she was last seen. Those gaps leave open questions about the exact circumstances of her disappearance that have not been publicly resolved.
How Washington Law Requires Police to Respond
Under state law, local departments do not have the luxury of a slow start when a child goes missing. Revised Code of Washington § 13.60.020 requires agencies like Lakewood police to file an official missing person report and upload biographical data into the state's computerized network within six hours of being notified, according to the Washington State Legislature. The requirement is meant to prevent the kind of early delays that can hamper multi-agency searches before a case even gets off the ground.
Backup resources also exist at the state level. RCW 13.60.010 mandates that the Washington State Patrol maintain a Missing Children and Endangered Person Clearinghouse along with a 24-hour toll-free hotline, 1-800-543-5678, that links into national missing person systems. Separately, under RCW 13.60.110, the Washington State Patrol runs a Missing and Exploited Children Task Force that can provide case management, technical support, and personnel assistance to local municipal police upon request — a resource Lakewood investigators could tap if the case requires it.
Where the Case Fits Among Washington's Missing Youth
Legislative findings in RCW 13.60.100 note that Washington ranks 12th nationally for active missing juvenile cases, with more than 1,800 children reported missing across the state at any given time. State lawmakers have also introduced Senate Bill 5822, aimed at standardizing missing person alert systems and requiring the Washington State Patrol to issue annual reporting on statewide missing person trends, according to legislative tracking.
Nationally, the numbers are larger still. NCMEC's 2025 impact report, published in May, said the organization assisted law enforcement and families in 32,167 missing children cases, with a 90% recovery rate and 29,013 cases resolved. The same report found that runaways make up 92% of all missing children reports the organization receives, a category NCMEC treats as high-risk given the potential for exposure to exploitation and violence. Separately, FBI National Crime Information Center data show that law enforcement agencies filed 305,339 missing child reports across the country in 2025.
How to Report a Tip
Anyone who sees Adriana Linares Maldonado or has information about her whereabouts is asked to contact the Lakewood Police Department at 253-287-4455, per the News Tribune's reporting. That line connects to South Sound 911, a regional communications center that handles non-emergency dispatch and 911 calls for 35 police and fire agencies across Pierce County. The News Tribune's report was written by Isabela Lund, the paper's lead breaking news reporter, who joined the outlet in February 2025 after graduating from Western Washington University in 2022 with a journalism degree.
