A 12-year-old Jacksonville girl is missing, and the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office is turning to the community for help finding her. Naiela “Nia” Bowman-Williams was last possibly seen on Monday in the 2900 block of 4th Street West.
According to First Coast News, the sheriff's office is seeking community support in the search. The report says she was last possibly seen at that location on October 28, per the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
Jacksonville’s online missing-persons page is part of a broader push by the sheriff’s office to enlist residents in locating people. When JSO launched the page in 2026, the department said more than a dozen of the 50 people featured had been safely located; JSO patrol and enforcement director Mark Romano said 17 people had been recovered since March. The page allows visitors to submit tips on individual cases. News4JAX’s coverage of the launch reported that JSO launched the page.
What Nia Looks Like and What She Was Wearing
Nia is 4 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 185 pounds, the station's report states. She has brown hair and brown eyes.
She was last possibly seen wearing a dark gray hoodie with a cross on the back and blue jeans, according to the sheriff's office. Anyone who spots a girl matching that description in the area should take note and pass along what they saw.
How to Help
The sheriff's office asks anyone with information to call 904-630-0500. The report does not detail the circumstances of her disappearance, and it does not say whether she has been found since it was updated on Wednesday.
Federal law also prohibits police from imposing a waiting period before accepting a missing-child report and requires agencies to enter a child’s information into the FBI’s National Crime Information Center database within two hours of receiving the report. The requirement applies regardless of why a child is missing; it does not establish that an abduction occurred in any particular case. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s summary of the federal requirements explains the reporting rules.
Florida’s state-level missing-persons system is handled by the Department of Law Enforcement’s Missing Endangered Persons Information Clearinghouse, which supports law enforcement and public searches and administers statewide alerts, including AMBER and Missing Child Alerts. The clearinghouse is a separate resource from JSO’s local search; FDLE advises anyone reporting a missing person to contact local law enforcement first. Its description of MEPIC’s role and services outlines how the state agency works with local departments.
