A 16-year-old girl has been missing from her Northwest Philadelphia home since last Monday afternoon, and police are asking anyone with information to come forward. Amia Alexander was last seen around 2:47 p.m. on Sept. 7 near her residence on the 16XX block of Mohican Street, according to the Philadelphia Police Department.
The block sits within the West Oak Lane/East Mount Airy section of the city, a stretch of dense residential rowhomes running between Limekiln Pike and Lowber Avenue, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. As reported by Newport Dispatch, Alexander is described as a Black female standing 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighing approximately 125 pounds.
Northwest Detectives Leading the Search
The case has been assigned to the Philadelphia Police Department's Northwest Detective Division, which handles major criminal investigations and missing persons cases across police districts in Northwest Philadelphia, per the department's own missing juvenile bulletin. Alexander's home falls under the jurisdiction of the 14th Police District. Anyone with information is asked to call Northwest Detectives at 215-686-3353.
The department also runs an online submission portal and a 24-hour tip hotline, allowing the public to anonymously send text, photo, or video evidence relevant to missing person searches. Investigators have not indicated whether they suspect foul play, a runaway scenario, or a specific destination in Alexander's case, and no additional details about her disappearance have been made public.
State Law Requires Immediate Action on Missing Kids
Pennsylvania law leaves police no room to delay once a report like this one comes in. Under Title 18 Section 2908 of the state's Crimes Code, originally enacted under Act 1985-14 and amended under Act 2022-4, law enforcement agencies are barred from imposing any mandatory waiting period before investigating a missing minor under 18, according to the Pennsylvania General Assembly. The statute was designed specifically to dispel the common misconception that families must wait 24 to 48 hours before reporting a missing child.
That same law requires police to immediately enter a missing child's profile into the Commonwealth Law Enforcement Assistance Network, or CLEAN, Missing Persons File once enough identifying information is gathered, the Pennsylvania General Assembly notes. The system links local missing-youth files with statewide and federal law enforcement databases, helping investigators and other agencies share leads quickly.
Part of a Wave of Missing Teen Cases in Philadelphia
Alexander's disappearance is one of several missing juvenile cases Philadelphia police have publicized this month. Bulletins have also gone out for 13-year-old Azaria Castro of the 7th District and 15-year-old Melody Marquez of the 15th District, both during the same week, according to the Philadelphia Police Department. Hoodline has also reported on missing Philadelphia teens Sanah Jordan, whose case was likewise assigned to Northwest Detectives, and Anani Ferguson.
Nationally, the scale of missing youth cases is significant. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children assisted law enforcement and families with 32,167 missing children reports across the United States in 2025, and runaway incidents accounted for 92% of those cases, according to the organization's own data. NCMEC reported a 90% case resolution rate that year, closing 29,013 of the reports it received, though prompt multi-agency collaboration remains critical to those outcomes.
For now, Philadelphia police are relying on the public to help fill in the gaps in Alexander's case. Anyone with information is urged to reach out to Northwest Detectives or submit tips through the department's hotline and online portal.
