A 16-year-old Nashville boy who vanished more than two months ago carrying a red suitcase is still missing, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is renewing its call for public tips. Daylen Aguilera was last seen on June 28, 2026, and has hazel eyes, brown hair, stands 5 feet 8 inches tall, and weighs 150 pounds.
Aguilera's case was featured this week as part of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's #MissingMonday campaign, a weekly spotlight the agency uses for youth previously listed on the Missing Children of Tennessee website who are evaluated as at-risk or presumed to have left home voluntarily, according to a Facebook post from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Juveniles highlighted through the campaign, including Aguilera, are generally considered at-risk and believed by investigators to have left home on their own. Anyone with information can call the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation at 1-800-TBI-FIND or reach the Metro Nashville Police Department directly at 615-862-8600.
Aguilera's disappearance was reported to local police the same day he was last seen, and his case was entered into national police databases under NCIC case number M248960683, according to a poster from MissingKids.org. That same-day reporting reflects a legal requirement: under Tennessee Code Annotated § 37-10-203, law enforcement agencies must accept a missing child report without any waiting period and transmit the information to the National Crime Information Center database within two hours, a timeline that federal guidelines under 34 U.S.C. § 41307 similarly mandate.
Search Leads Point Beyond Davidson County
Investigators have expanded their geographic search focus beyond Nashville to include potential locations in Clarksville and Charlotte, Tennessee, according to CrimeSolversCentral, which notes that Clarksville sits roughly 50 miles northwest of Nashville. The detail that Aguilera was last seen carrying a red suitcase, paired with those outlying search areas, points toward the possibility that he traveled away from Davidson County, though his current whereabouts remain unknown.
State-level support for the case runs through the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's Missing Children's Clearinghouse, which the agency operates under Tennessee Code Annotated § 38-6-117 to maintain official missing youth registries and issue public alerts, per Law.Cornell.Edu. The clearinghouse operates under a formal memorandum of understanding with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, coordinating investigative support between TBI and local departments like MNPD.
How Nashville Police Are Working the Case
Missing person investigations in Nashville are led by specialized detectives within the Metro Nashville Police Department, who typically rely on cell phone location tracking, financial record analysis, and regional surveillance video, according to previous Hoodline reporting. MNPD also maintains a public online portal dedicated to missing persons and cold cases that lets residents submit tips directly, alongside the department's standard telephone tip lines.
The volume of these cases in Tennessee is significant: law enforcement agencies across the state enter an average of approximately 600 missing children reports into the National Crime Information Center database each month, according to figures from TN.gov. Nationally, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children assisted law enforcement with 32,167 missing children cases in 2025 and resolved 29,013 of them, a 90% resolution rate, per MissingKids.org.
Why Runaway Cases Draw Extra Urgency
Runaways accounted for 92% of all missing children reports filed nationally in 2025, according to the same MissingKids.org data, a category child advocates say carries a heightened risk of exploitation and exposure to danger. Missing youth in that category often lack access to safe shelter or support networks, which is why officials continue pushing public awareness tools like the #MissingMonday campaign even months after a teen first disappears.
Aguilera's case adds to a run of recent missing person alerts across Middle Tennessee, following cases involving a Donelson mother, a Colorado man last seen in East Nashville, and a Nashville man featured in a Silver Alert, all of which have kept MNPD's tip lines and TBI's clearinghouse busy in recent weeks. For now, anyone who has seen Daylen Aguilera or has information about his whereabouts is urged to contact investigators.
