An 11-year-old boy disappeared late Wednesday night from a stretch of East Los Angeles, and sheriff's deputies are now asking the public for help finding him before another day passes. Jaime Anthony Martinez was last seen at 11:45 p.m. on the 4500 block of Sixth Street, carrying a black backpack and wearing red shorts, a black shirt with a white logo, and black shoes.
According to the MyNewsLA.com report, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department described Martinez as Hispanic, standing 4 feet 11 inches tall, weighing 98 pounds, with black hair. Deputies have classified him as critically missing largely because of his age, a designation that triggers an immediate and coordinated law enforcement response rather than a routine check.
Detectives Assigned, Public Asked to Call In
Detectives P. Lavin and D. Aguayo of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department East Los Angeles Detective Bureau were assigned to the search, working alongside the station's on-duty watch commander, per a Patch report. The public has been urged to contact Detective Aguayo or the East Los Angeles Station's on-duty watch commander directly at 323-264-4151, or to reach out anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477) or online at lacrimestoppers.org.
The 4500 block of Sixth Street sits within unincorporated East Los Angeles, a 7.4-square-mile area with no municipal police department of its own. Law enforcement there falls directly to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's East Los Angeles Station, which also patrols nearby areas including Commerce and City Terrace, according to the department.
Why Age Alone Triggers an Urgent Response
California law leaves deputies no room to sit on a report like this. Under Penal Code Section 14211, agencies are barred from imposing any waiting period before accepting and prioritizing a missing person report, according to the California Department of Justice. Separately, Penal Code Section 14215 defines an “at-risk” missing person as someone with no history of running away, a suspected victim of foul play, or a child missing under circumstances that don't match their normal habits — criteria an 11-year-old vanishing near midnight would meet.
Once a report involves an at-risk juvenile, state law requires it be entered into the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System's Missing Persons database within two hours, ensuring the alert is visible to every police and sheriff's agency in the state, according to the Shasta County Superior Court. If the East Los Angeles Station's search extends further, it can draw on the LASD Homicide Bureau's Missing Persons Detail, a countywide unit headquartered in Monterey Park that coordinates regional alerts and long-term tracking on missing cases.
What National Data Shows About Missing Children
Nationally, the numbers offer some reassurance even as the search continues. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children assisted in 32,167 missing child cases in 2025, and 90 percent of them were resolved safely, according to MissingKids.org. Runaways accounted for 92 percent of the cases the organization supported that year, though the group also estimated that roughly 1 in 7 missing minors face potential risk of child sex trafficking.
Martinez's age also sets his case apart statistically. Research compiled by the Crimes Against Children Research Center and the Department of Justice found that teenagers aged 12 to 17 make up more than 80 percent of non-family missing child reports, according to Let Grow, making cases involving children 11 and younger comparatively rare — and one reason departments like LASD treat them as automatic priorities.
Martinez's disappearance is the latest in a string of missing-child cases handled by the East Los Angeles Station in recent weeks. Hoodline previously reported on a missing 16-year-old and on a missing 10-year-old girl who vanished near Dennison and Ditman two weeks prior. No further updates on Martinez's whereabouts have been released, and anyone with information is asked to call the numbers above.
