Methuen Police Search for Missing 15-Year-Old Estrella Diaz, Last Seen on Haverhill Street

Methuen police are asking for the public's help finding 15-year-old Estrella “Star” Diaz, who was reported missing on Sunday after last being seen in the Haverhill Street area. Diaz is described as 5 feet 3 inches tall and 154 pounds, with a medium complexion, dark brown hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a gray shirt and black pants.

The Methuen Police Department shared Diaz's description and photo in a Facebook post Sunday night titled “Help Us Find Estrella Diaz,” according to the Methuen Police Department. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to call the department at 978-983-8698. The department's report does not indicate whether Diaz left on foot or in a vehicle, and it does not say whether foul play is suspected.

A Street Known for Youth Services

Haverhill Street, the area where Diaz was last seen, is also home to St. Ann's Home & School at 100A Haverhill Street, a facility that provides 24-hour residential care, special education and acute community-based treatment for children and adolescents facing emotional and behavioral challenges, according to St. Ann's Home, Inc. It remains unclear whether the facility or any nearby camera footage has factored into the investigation.

Methuen sits along the Merrimack Valley in Essex County, a 23-square-mile city of roughly 53,059 residents that directly borders the urban center of Lawrence as well as several New Hampshire towns, per the U.S. Census Bureau. That proximity to interstate corridors and a nearby state line can widen the radius investigators must consider in a missing teen case.

Why No AMBER Alert Was Issued

Under Massachusetts law, officers who receive a report of a missing child must immediately enter the relevant details into the state's central missing child register, with no mandatory waiting period, according to Massachusetts General Law Chapter 22A, Section 4. That immediate reporting requirement is separate from the far narrower threshold for an AMBER Alert.

Massachusetts State Police protocol reserves AMBER Alerts strictly for cases where a child under 18 has been abducted and is believed to be in imminent danger of serious physical harm or death, according to the Concord Police Department. Standard missing juvenile or runaway reports do not meet that threshold, which is why cases like Diaz's are distributed through police department social media rather than an emergency broadcast alert. The Massachusetts State Police also operates the Massachusetts Missing Children Clearinghouse within the Commonwealth Fusion Center, which serves as a statewide liaison to federal databases and assists municipal departments during youth searches, per the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Department Facing a Leadership Change

The search comes as Methuen Police Department navigates a leadership transition. Chief Scott J. McNamara announced his retirement effective August 24, with Mayor D.J. Beauregard appointing 30-year department veteran Captain James “Jamie” Moore as Acting Chief, according to the City of Methuen. The department also maintains a 24-hour dispatch center at 90 Hampshire Street, and it has operated a specialized aerial drone unit since 2017 to support ground officers during missing person searches and other public safety operations, a capability Hoodline previously detailed when a Methuen drone found a fugitive stuck in a marsh.

Families and law enforcement can also connect with Mass 211's Children Requiring Assistance line, which links at-risk youth and their families to community health services and crisis intervention, according to the Billerica Police Department. Nationally, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children supported 32,167 missing child cases in 2025 and recovered 90% of them, with runaway incidents accounting for 92% of all missing child reports, per NCMEC's own statistics.

Missing juvenile bulletins are not uncommon in Methuen. Hoodline has previously reported on searches for other missing Methuen teens, including Estrella Coronado, Cynthia Rivera and Jostin Burgos. It is not yet known when or how the current search for Diaz will be resolved. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is urged to contact the Methuen Police Department.