A 12-year-old girl reported missing from a mobile home community near Longmont has been found safe, according to an update from local law enforcement. Mia Torres was last seen on the evening of August 28 in the 10910 block of Turner Boulevard, near the River Valley Village community in unincorporated Weld County, before being classified as a runaway juvenile the next day.
The Weld County Sheriff's Office announced Torres had been located safely in a Facebook post shared Wednesday, closing out a search that had prompted deputies to ask the public for help. Torres, described as a 12-year-old girl standing 5 feet 1 inch tall and weighing 120 pounds, has black hair and brown eyes. At the time she went missing, she was wearing black pants, a black sweater with a blue design, and white Nike shoes.
Deputies had previously noted that Torres was known to frequent the broader Longmont area as well as the Countryside Village community in Longmont, according to a lookout alert the sheriff's office posted on Facebook. Those additional locations helped focus community search efforts beyond her last known address on Turner Boulevard, which sits within River Valley Village, an all-ages manufactured home development in Weld County.
How the Search Unfolded
Community members shared the sheriff's office post widely as the search progressed, a common tactic in juvenile runaway cases where rapid public awareness can speed up a safe recovery. The sheriff's office had directed anyone with information to call its tip line at 970-304-6464 or submit tips by email to [email protected], channels that remain open for future missing person cases in the county.
Under Weld County Sheriff's Office policy, deputies open missing person cases when the individual resides within the department's jurisdiction or when credible evidence places them last within county boundaries, according to the Weld County Sheriff's Office. Torres's last known location on Turner Boulevard fell within that jurisdictional scope, which is why deputies moved quickly to issue the lookout alert.
A Pattern of August Runaway Cases in Weld County
Torres's case follows two other juvenile runaway reports handled by Weld County authorities in August. Thirteen-year-old Jada Rangel was recovered safely on August 10 after Hoodline reported on the search near Hudson, while 15-year-old Amaya Pena was reported missing from Greeley the same day, with investigators later suggesting she may have traveled dozens of miles south to Parker.
Anyone sheltering a runaway minor in Colorado faces potential legal consequences. Under Colorado Revised Statutes § 18-6-601, knowingly harboring a runaway minor is a Class 2 misdemeanor punishable by up to 120 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000, unless the person notifies parents or law enforcement within 24 hours, according to Justia Law.
Runaway Cases Remain Common Statewide and Nationally
Missing juvenile cases like Torres's are far from isolated in Colorado. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation reported 1,278 active missing persons cases across the state as of August 2024, per figures cited by the Weld County Sheriff's Office. Nationally, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children assisted law enforcement with 32,167 missing children cases in 2025 and reported a 90% recovery rate, according to MissingKids.org.
Youth aged 12 to 14, the same age bracket as Torres, accounted for 7,270 of those 32,167 cases nationwide last year. Separately, the National Child Protection Task Force reports that 93% of all missing child reports submitted to U.S. law enforcement agencies involve endangered runaways, a classification driven by the heightened vulnerability children face while away from their guardians.
