A 13-year-old girl from the Ferndale area who had been reported missing has been located, according to a cancellation notice posted Monday. The announcement closed out a case that began with a Missing Indigenous Person Alert on September 22 for teen Victoria Mervine.
Alert Canceled After Teen Located
The cancellation came from WSP Missing Person Alerts
, posted that the Missing Indigenous Person Alert concerning Mervine was canceled because she had been located, according to the
Washington State Patrol
.
Mervine was first reported missing around noon on September 15 off Vista Drive in Ferndale, and the Washington State Patrol activated an alert on her behalf on September 22 at the request of the Lummi Nation Police Department, as reported by KIRO 7 News.
Description in the Alert
The September 22 alert described her as 5 feet 1 inch tall and 115 pounds, according to My Bellingham Now.
The alert listed the Lummi Nation Police Department's non-emergency line, 360-312-2274, for anyone with information and instructed the public to call 911 if Mervine was spotted.
Red River Road Area Has Drawn Scrutiny Before
South Red River Road and North Red River Road on the Lummi Reservation near Ferndale have been the focus of public safety attention in recent months, including a court-ordered board-up in May of a property linked to violent incidents in the area, My Bellingham Now reported separately. That history offers some neighborhood context for the stretch of road where Mervine was last seen before her second disappearance.
How Washington's Alert System Works
House Bill 1725 passed the Legislature on March 7, 2022, and was headed to the governor for signature. The bill would create a first-of-its-kind Missing Indigenous Person Alert system, according to the Washington State Attorney General's Office.
Native Americans make up roughly 2% of Washington's total population but account for about 6% of all open missing persons cases statewide, according to Washington State Patrol data cited by OPB. By its June 2025 annual report, the Washington State Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People Task Force found that the alert system had helped recover more than 80% of the over 150 Indigenous individuals reported missing since the program began in July 2022, the Attorney General's Office reported.
Representatives from the Washington State Patrol's Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit have said that a large majority of these alert activations involve missing juvenile runaways, and that public alert broadcasts often prompt missing youth to re-establish contact with authorities or family, according to KING 5 News. Mervine's case, now closed with her safe recovery, fits the broader pattern the unit described.
