A 16-year-old boy has been missing from Miami's Little Havana neighborhood since Saturday afternoon, and city police are asking anyone with information to come forward. Daniel Mosqueda was last seen near 605 SW 24th Ave at approximately 12:30 p.m., wearing a beige polo shirt and beige shorts, according to a flyer distributed by law enforcement.
The Miami Police Department's Special Victims Unit issued the bulletin, flyer number 26-000, on Saturday and approved by Sgt. Cotilla, describing Mosqueda as a white male standing 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighing 170 pounds, with black hair and black eyes. In its post on X, Miami PD shared the flyer and asked the public to call 305-579-6111 or 305-603-6300 with any tips, signing off with the initials KD. The department has emphasized that its social media account is not monitored around the clock, so anyone with an emergency is urged to call 911 instead.
Investigators have assigned the case number 260822-0051417 and are directing tips specifically to Detective D. Reyes or any on-duty detective within the Special Victims Unit. As of the flyer's release, no additional details have been made public about the circumstances of Mosqueda's disappearance, including whether investigators believe he left on his own or whether they suspect foul play — a question the dossier notes remains open.
How Missing Juvenile Cases Move Through the System
Florida law sets a strict clock for cases like this one. Under Florida Statute § 937.021, police departments that receive a missing child report must immediately alert all on-duty officers, notify surrounding agencies within the county, and enter the case into the Florida Crime Information Center and National Crime Information Center within two hours — with no waiting period allowed before a report can be taken or processed.
Federal law adds another layer of urgency. Suzanne's Law requires local agencies to immediately report missing individuals under age 21 to the National Crime Information Center, a mandate created specifically to ensure missing teenagers like Mosqueda receive prompt national database indexing, according to guidance published by PowerDMS.
Notably, the fact that Mosqueda's case has so far been publicized through a departmental flyer rather than a statewide Missing Child Alert is not unusual on its own. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement only activates a statewide alert when local police have a well-founded belief, based on an active investigation, that a child is in danger of death or serious injury, along with detailed physical descriptions. Absent that threshold finding, cases are typically handled through local bulletins like the one Miami police issued this weekend.
A Familiar Pattern of Missing Teen Cases in South Florida
Miami-Dade County sees a steady stream of these cases. The Miami-Dade Police Department's Special Victims Bureau runs 24/7 operations staffed with dedicated missing persons detectives and victim advocates who support families through active investigations. Statewide, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Missing Endangered Persons Information Clearinghouse opened 2,654 new cases during the 2020–2021 fiscal year alone after local departments entered reports into NCIC.
National data help explain why teenagers make up such a large share of these reports. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children found that more than 90 percent of missing child cases it handles involve endangered runaways, with teens ages 15 to 17 accounting for 74 percent of those cases. Florida itself logged 2,646 missing children cases with the organization in 2023, placing it among the top states nationally behind only California and Texas.
City of Miami police have previously joined multi-agency efforts to recover missing minors, including a 2024 initiative called Operation We Will Find You, which combined resources from the Miami Police Department, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the U.S. Marshals Service. It is not known whether any similar task force has been activated in Mosqueda's case. It also remains unclear whether local youth shelters, such as Miami Bridge Youth & Family Services, have been contacted, or whether investigators have identified any surveillance footage or vehicle sightings near the SW 24th Avenue location where Mosqueda was last seen.
Missing teen cases have surfaced repeatedly in Little Havana and across Miami-Dade in recent years. Hoodline previously reported on a missing 14-year-old girl from the same neighborhood in 2024, underscoring how frequently Miami police turn to public bulletins and social media to seek tips on missing juveniles in high-density areas.
Anyone with information on Daniel Mosqueda's whereabouts is asked to contact Detective D. Reyes or any on-duty Special Victims Unit detective at 305-603-6300, or to call 305-579-6111. Those with emergency information should call 911.
