According to KENS 5, the Bexar County Sheriff's Office is asking for the public's help finding Liliana Rae Morales, a 17-year-old girl who has not been seen since Oct. 9. Deputies say Morales was last spotted in the 14700 block of Saw Mill in Bexar County, and her current whereabouts remain unknown.
According to KENS 5, authorities believe Morales may be couch surfing with friends rather than facing an immediate emergency, though her exact location has not been confirmed. She is described as standing about 5 feet 1 inch tall and weighing roughly 105 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Investigators are urging anyone with information to come forward to help locate her.
Anyone with details is asked to contact the Bexar County Sheriff's Office at 210-335-6000 or email the agency's missing persons unit directly at [email protected].
A New Unit Built to Handle a Steady Stream of Cases
Morales' case lands with a sheriff's office that recently stood up a dedicated missing persons unit to keep pace with demand. The team includes two deputies, a lead detective and a civilian, according to the same outlet's reporting on the unit's launch.
“Our goal is to look for these people and make sure that they are safe and sound and then reunite them with family,” the unit said, per the station's report. The workload is heavy: on any given day, the office fields three to four missing persons cases, with some days climbing to eight or ten.
Most Cases Involve Teens, Sheriff Says
Sheriff Javier Salazar has said roughly 70% of the cases his office sees involve teenagers, a pattern that underscores why the new unit was formed. Salazar also said that missing teens can be approached by traffickers within just a few days of going missing, per the same account.
No additional details about Morales' disappearance, including what she was wearing or whether she has access to a vehicle, have been released. The sheriff's office has not said when the new missing persons unit officially began operating, only that it now exists to manage the volume of cases crossing deputies' desks each day.
