Pasco Sheriff's deputies are searching for 15-year-old Yessenia Castillo, who was last seen around 10 p.m. Thursday in the Gray Fox Lane area of Port Richey. She's described as 5 feet 3 inches tall, around 130 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes, and was last seen wearing a black shirt and black shorts.
The search notice, posted by Pasco Sheriff on X, lists Castillo as a missing or runaway teen and asks anyone with information on her whereabouts to come forward. The sheriff's office is asking the public to call its non-emergency line at 727-847-8102, option 7, or submit tips online at pascosheriff.com/tips, while urging anyone with an emergency to call 911.
Pasco Sheriff’s deputies are currently searching for Yessenia Castillo, a missing/runaway 15-year-old. Castillo is 5’3”, around 130 lbs., with brown hair and brown eyes. Castillo was last seen on Sept. 10, around 10:00 p.m., in the Gray Fox Ln. area of Port Richey. Castillo was… pic.twitter.com/8Z76jqPSuc
— Pasco Sheriff (@PascoSheriff) September 11, 2026
A Familiar Street in Regency Park
Gray Fox Lane sits inside Port Richey's Regency Park subdivision, a residential development in the 34668 ZIP code, according to Realtor.com. Notably, Richwood Lane — another street in the same subdivision — is where the Pasco Sheriff's Office previously searched for Castillo in April 2024, when she was reported missing at age 14 before being located safely, per the agency's own account of that earlier case.
The proximity of the two disappearances, both within the same small neighborhood, adds a layer of concern for investigators working the current search, though no additional details about her destination or possible companions have been released.
Why Florida Treats Every Missing Minor as an Emergency
Florida law leaves law enforcement no room for delay when a child is reported missing. Under Florida Statute § 937.021, agencies statewide are barred from imposing any waiting period before accepting a missing child report and must enter case details into state and national databases within two hours, according to the Florida Senate. That statute is why deputies were able to mobilize an overnight search rather than wait to see if Castillo turned up on her own.
A separate law, Florida Statute § 937.0201, classifies every missing person under 18 as both a missing child and a missing endangered person, guaranteeing full investigative resources regardless of whether the teen is believed to have left voluntarily. The designation removes any agency discretion over how urgently to respond, even in cases initially flagged as runaways.
There are also consequences for adults who might shelter a runaway. Florida Statute § 984.085 makes it a first-degree misdemeanor for any unauthorized adult to knowingly shelter or assist an unmarried runaway minor for more than 24 hours without parental consent or notifying law enforcement.
The Resources Behind the Search
The Pasco Sheriff's Office has built out a formal framework for handling juvenile disappearances. The agency joined the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's Missing Kids Readiness Program in October 2022, adopting standardized best-practice policies for these investigations. To actually locate missing juveniles, the sheriff's office can deploy its Missing and Abducted Child Team, K9 units, and an Aviation Unit equipped with drones and helicopters.
Because Castillo's case has been classified as a runaway rather than a confirmed abduction, it does not automatically trigger a statewide AMBER Alert or Missing Child Alert. Those broadcasts are reserved for cases where law enforcement presents active evidence of an abduction or an imminent threat of death or serious injury, according to Uncovered Investigates. That threshold explains why local tip lines and community alerts, rather than a statewide broadcast, are driving the current search.
Part of a Wider Pattern in Pasco County
Castillo's disappearance is the latest in a string of teen missing-person searches across Pasco County this year. Hoodline previously reported on a Port Richey teen vanishing near Ridge Crest Drive on Sept. 6, and on the same day Castillo was reported missing, deputies in Wesley Chapel were also searching for 17-year-old Isaiah Alers, who had been missing since Tuesday afternoon.
National data offers some context for how these cases typically resolve. According to 2025 figures from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, endangered runaways made up 92% of the 32,167 missing child cases the organization supported that year, with an overall recovery rate of 90%.
Anyone with information on Yessenia Castillo's whereabouts is asked to contact the Pasco Sheriff's Office.
