South Salt Lake Police are asking for the public's help in finding Wendy Welch, a 50-year-old woman who was last seen on Friday, August 14. Welch is described as 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighing 169 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes, and she has tattoos across her chest and upper right arm.
The department shared her case, assigned reference number LK2026-23861, in a South Salt Lake Police Department Facebook post published Sunday. Anyone with information on Welch's location is asked to call the non-emergency line at 801-840-4000. That number connects to the Salt Lake Valley Emergency Communications Center, which handles dispatch for 22 fire and police agencies across the county, including South Salt Lake, according to the Salt Lake Valley Emergency Communications Center.
Why No Silver Alert Was Issued
Welch's age means she does not qualify for Utah's highway Silver Alert system, which is legally restricted under Utah Code § 53-10-703 to missing individuals who are 60 or older or who have documented dementia. Hoodline reported on this statutory gap earlier this month in a South Salt Lake missing-persons case involving a 43-year-old man who similarly fell outside the age threshold for a highway broadcast.
Because Welch's case doesn't meet the criteria for an AMBER or Silver Alert, Utah law enforcement agencies have another option: an Endangered Missing Advisory, issued through the state Department of Public Safety to quickly notify media outlets and other agencies, per the Utah Department of Public Safety's alert guidelines. It's unknown whether South Salt Lake Police have requested one in Welch's case.
Reporting Timelines and Public Tip Options
There is no mandatory waiting period for filing a missing person report or for entering an adult's information into the FBI's National Crime Information Center database, according to federal guidelines cited in a public safety message shared by WETM 18 News. That standard undercuts a common assumption that families must wait 24 to 48 hours before reporting an adult missing, and it underscores why investigators emphasize speed once a disappearance is reported.
Beyond the non-emergency line, South Salt Lake residents can submit confidential tips by texting the keyword “SSLPD” along with their information to 274-637, or by filling out an online tip form through the city's website, per the City of South Salt Lake. Text tips generate an anonymous alias, allowing officers to follow up with tipsters while shielding their identity.
Where Welch Was Last Seen
South Salt Lake spans an urban corridor between 2100 South and 3900 South, bordered by the Jordan River and 700 East, a commercial and residential stretch that sits directly against Salt Lake City. Welch's exact last-known address within that corridor, along with whether she was on foot or in a vehicle, has not been disclosed. It also remains unclear whether investigators suspect foul play in her disappearance.
The South Salt Lake Police Department, led by Police Chief Danielle Croyle, operates out of headquarters at 2835 South Main Street and is organized into Patrol, Investigations, Community Resources, and Homeless Resources divisions. State-level missing person records, including Welch's, ultimately interface with the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification's Missing Persons Clearinghouse, though publishing a flyer there requires a family authorization waiver.
A Statewide Push to Track Cold Cases
Welch's case joins a broader statewide effort to keep missing person investigations visible. Earlier this month, open-source researchers and law enforcement stakeholders launched the Utah Missing Map, an interactive tool tracking more than 400 active missing person and cold cases statewide, as reported by KUTV 2News. Nationally, Justice Department data show more than 500,000 missing person reports are filed each year, with the large majority resolved within the same year, according to World Population Review.
Anyone with information about Wendy Welch's whereabouts is urged to contact South Salt Lake Police through the channels listed above and to reference case number LK2026-23861.
