A 15-year-old boy named Dallas is missing after he was last seen around 7:30 Thursday morning near Sullivan Circle in the Security-Widefield area of unincorporated El Paso County. Dallas is autistic and non-verbal, meaning he cannot respond if searchers call out his name or ask him basic questions.
The El Paso County Sheriff's Office issued the missing child alert, according to a post from EPCSheriff. Because Security-Widefield is an unincorporated community of roughly 38,000 residents south of Colorado Springs, public safety response there falls directly to the county sheriff's office rather than a municipal police department, per the U.S. Census Bureau.
Federal law leaves no room for delay in cases like this. Under Suzanne's Law, codified at 42 U.S.C. § 5779, law enforcement agencies are barred from enforcing any waiting period before opening a missing child investigation for anyone under 21, and the case must be entered immediately into the FBI's National Crime Information Center database, according to the U.S. Government Publishing Office. That mandate explains why deputies moved to broadcast Dallas's disappearance so quickly after the morning sighting.
Why Searches for Non-Verbal Teens Move So Fast
Colorado also has its own tool built specifically for cases like this one. Under Colorado Revised Statutes § 24-33.5-415.8, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation runs a Developmentally Disabled Alert system that lets local agencies broadcast a statewide notice when someone with autism or a developmental disability faces a credible safety threat, the Colorado General Assembly notes. It remains unclear whether the CBI has issued a formal statewide alert in Dallas's case, or what search assets, such as K-9 units or drones, deputies have deployed around Sullivan Circle.
National data underscores why urgency matters so much in these searches. Nearly 48% to 49% of children on the autism spectrum engage in wandering or elopement from safe environments, a rate nearly four times higher than among their non-autistic siblings, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Drowning accounts for roughly 84% to 90% of lethal outcomes in these wandering cases, per tracking by the National Autism Association, since autistic individuals wandering from home are often drawn toward water.
Fountain Creek and a History of Searches on the Same Street
That statistic carries local weight because Security-Widefield sits along the Fountain Creek drainage basin, a major regional watershed with natural waterways and drainage channels running near residential streets, according to the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments. Search protocols from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children call for checking water sources first and inspecting small or hidden spaces, since non-verbal children often do not respond when searchers call out and may hide due to sensory distress.
This is not the first time deputies have searched Sullivan Circle for a missing child. In January 2023, the sheriff's office searched the same street for a 13-year-old last seen leaving a home in the 7200 block on foot, a case that, like Thursday's, relied heavily on door-camera footage and tips from neighbors. El Paso County also maintains a Peak Alerts mobile notification system through Everbridge, which authorities can use to push real-time alerts to residents during active searches like this one.
It's also not the first time an El Paso County search for a missing disabled youth has drawn regional attention. Hoodline previously reported on a Monument teen with a disability who vanished last November, a case that likewise triggered a CBI alert and sheriff's office search. Whether Dallas has been located safely by deputies or community members remains an open question as of this report.
