An 81-year-old Inglewood woman has been missing since Tuesday, prompting the California Highway Patrol to issue a Silver Alert covering Los Angeles and Orange counties. Rosa Chavez was last seen on foot at 11:45 a.m. near West Manchester Boulevard and Cedar Avenue in Inglewood, wearing a red shirt, blue jeans and a black hat. She stands 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighs about 120 pounds, and has brown hair and brown eyes.
The alert was activated by CHP on behalf of the Inglewood Police Department, which notified the state agency on Wednesday, according to a bulletin shared by CHP - Alerts. Chavez is officially classified as an at-risk missing person, and officers are urging anyone who spots her to call 911 immediately. The gap between her last sighting on Tuesday and the alert going out two days later is not explained in the bulletin.
Silver Alerts like this one exist under a specific legal framework. California's program was established in 2012 under Senate Bill 1047 and is codified in California Government Code § 8594.10, which authorizes public notifications when a missing person is 65 or older, or cognitively impaired, and determined to be at risk. Before requesting activation, local police must satisfy five specific criteria laid out in that statute, including exhausting local search resources and determining the missing person is in peril.
How the Alert Reaches the Public
Once Inglewood police made that determination, the request went to the California Highway Patrol's Emergency Notification and Tactical Alert Center in Sacramento, which operates around the clock as the state's designated coordinator for reviewing and activating Silver Alerts on behalf of local agencies. CHP then pushes the information out through variable message signs on freeways, broadcast Emergency Alert System messages, electronic flyers and social media, according to a document from CalAlerts.org, in hopes of generating tips from drivers and residents across the region.
The search area sits in a busy stretch of Inglewood. The intersection where Chavez was last seen is located within a commercial and residential district about 1.1 miles from Metro's K Line Downtown Inglewood Station, per property listing data from Apartments.com, an area with frequent bus service and roadways leading toward LAX. Because Chavez is believed to be on foot, investigators are likely counting on tips from people who travel through that transit corridor.
A Pattern of Wandering Cases in the Region
Chavez's disappearance follows a string of similar cases out of Inglewood this summer. Hoodline previously reported on searches for 78-year-old Jimmy Woods and 77-year-old Ronald Curling, both of whom went missing on foot or in mobility equipment within weeks of each other in August. Similar alerts have gone out elsewhere in Los Angeles County in recent weeks, including for an 81-year-old man with dementia near the Tujunga foothills, a 95-year-old man in Panorama City, and a 79-year-old woman in North Hollywood.
The frequency of these cases tracks with broader trends. The Alzheimer's Association reports that six in 10 people living with dementia will wander away from home or caregivers at least once, often repeatedly, and that wandering can occur suddenly even in early stages of cognitive decline. Los Angeles County's senior population is also growing quickly: residents 65 and older numbered 1.44 million in 2020 and are projected to exceed 2.32 million by 2040, a 61% increase, according to the county's Aging & Disabilities Department.
The county has tried to get ahead of the problem with the L.A. Found initiative, launched in 2018 to provide trackable Project Lifesaver radio-frequency bracelets and GPS smartwatches to residents with dementia or Alzheimer's who are prone to wandering. The program was created after a 2016 disappearance of an Alzheimer's patient at LACMA. It remains unknown whether Chavez had access to any tracking device, and her specific health condition and possible destination have not been disclosed.
California law imposes no waiting period for filing a missing adult report, allowing police to open an investigation and request an emergency alert the moment an at-risk elderly person is determined to be missing. Anyone who sees Rosa Chavez is asked to call 911 right away.
