A 16-year-old girl reported missing out of Land O' Lakes has been found safe, the Pasco Sheriff's Office announced Monday. Jalexi Rodriguez had been the subject of a search since she was last seen four days earlier in a residential area off Turning Leaf Circle.
“Update: Rodriguez was found and is safe,” the Pasco Sheriff
posted, closing out a case that had deputies searching for the teenager since the previous week. The update gave no further detail on where or how she was located, leaving those specifics unaddressed for now.
Rodriguez was described by the sheriff's office as a missing or runaway 16-year-old who was last seen on Oct. 1 around 6 p.m. in the Turning Leaf Circle area of Land O' Lakes, according to pascosheriff.com. She was listed as 5 feet 4 inches tall and approximately 110 pounds, with black hair and hazel eyes. It was unknown what she was wearing when she was last seen, the notice said.
Deputies Had Asked the Public for Help
Before Rodriguez was located, Pasco Sheriff's deputies said they were actively searching for her and asked anyone with information about her whereabouts to come forward. The original notice directed tipsters to call the sheriff's non-emergency line at 727-847-8102, option 7, or to submit information online at PascoSheriff.com/tips, per the same pascosheriff.com posting.
The Pasco Sheriff's Office, based in west central Florida, posted its initial missing-person alert for Rodriguez on Oct. 3, and the account is not monitored around the clock. For emergencies, the office directs the public to call 911 rather than rely on social media updates.
Case Resolved After Days-Long Search
The sheriff's office did not release additional information about the circumstances of Rodriguez's disappearance or how she came to be found. Monday's brief social media update marked the end of the search that began days earlier in the Land O' Lakes neighborhood where she was last seen.
