A 17-year-old girl has not been seen since Wednesday in Denver, prompting Colorado authorities to issue a statewide Missing Indigenous Person Alert as they ask the public for help finding her. Brenda Maldonado was last seen wearing a light pink sweatshirt, gray sweatpants and white Air Force Ones, and stands 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 108 pounds. She has black hair and brown eyes and is connected to the Northern Arapaho Tribe.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation said Maldonado was last seen on September 30 in Denver, according to The Denver Post. The bureau asked anyone who sees her to contact the Denver Police Department, and the public has been told to report information by calling 911 or police at 720-913-2000. Denver police could not be reached for immediate comment, per the same report.
A Statewide Alert System Built for Cases Like This
Maldonado's case is being handled through Colorado's Missing Indigenous Person Alert, a notification system the Colorado Bureau of Investigation says was established in 2022. Under the state's official process, a law-enforcement agency may activate the alert through the bureau after a missing-person report is filed, according to the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice. The bureau's own alert procedure requires verifying that the missing person is of Indigenous descent before it issues an alert to Colorado media outlets for broadcast to the public, per the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
The system has seen heavy use statewide. It issued 67 alerts in 2025, more than any other statewide alert system in Colorado, according to 9News. The station reported that 17 alerts had already gone out in the first few months of 2026, putting the system on pace to exceed the prior year's total. Separately, 5280 reported that 55 alerts had been issued so far in 2026 as of its article's publication, and that at least 67 Indigenous Coloradans went missing in 2025 — the highest number since the alert system began, according to 5280.
Front Range Concentration and Outcomes
Data collected by Colorado's missing and murdered Indigenous relatives task force shows a concentration of cases along the state's Front Range, particularly in the Denver and Colorado Springs metro areas, 9News reported. Raven Payment, cited in that report, said more than one Native person goes missing each week in Colorado. Payment also said that, of those reported through the alert system, all but five individuals have been found safe — two were found deceased and three remain missing, according to the same 9News account.
The Missing Indigenous Person Alert was the most utilized alert in the state in 2025, according to the MMIR Task Force of Colorado. The task force notes the first such alert went out in January 2023, with the 100th issued in December 2024 — a pace that underscores how often the system has been called into service since its creation.
For now, Maldonado remains missing, and authorities are relying on the public to help close the gap. Anyone with information has been asked to call 911 or the Denver Police Department.
