A 16-year-old Philadelphia boy has been missing since fleeing his father’s vehicle near 5th Street and Olney Avenue on Saturday, and investigators are now asking the public for help finding him. Kha’sir Burton was last seen in the area on October 3, according to Philadelphia police, who say his father reported him missing after the teen ran off during the encounter.
Burton is described as a Black male, about 5 feet 10 inches tall and roughly 130 pounds, with a slim build, brown eyes and black hair, according to the Newport Dispatch. The Philadelphia Police Department says Burton ran from his father’s vehicle, and the case has been assigned to the 35th Police District, the agency confirmed in an official missing juvenile bulletin posted Tuesday, October 6, 2026. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact the Northwest Detective Division at 215-686-3353.
A Second Teen Missing From the Same District
Burton’s disappearance isn’t the only one the 35th District is currently working. The district also issued a missing juvenile alert for 16-year-old Brook Lynn Turner, who vanished on the same date, October 3, from the 4500 block of North Marvine Street — about a mile from where Burton fled his father’s car, per the department’s own bulletin on Turner. Police have not publicly connected the two cases, and the bulletins for each teen were issued separately.
The spot where Burton was last seen sits less than a mile east of the Olney Transit Center, a major SEPTA hub linking the Broad Street Line with eight city bus routes, according to information compiled on Wikipedia. The transit center is one of the busiest terminals in the SEPTA system, offering riders quick access across North Philadelphia and into Center City, a detail that underscores how far a teen on foot near that intersection could travel in a short time.
How Pennsylvania Law Treats Missing-Minor Reports
Pennsylvania law gives police no room to delay once a minor is reported missing. Under Title 18, Section 2908 of the state’s Crimes Code, law enforcement agencies are barred from imposing any mandatory waiting period before opening an investigation into a missing minor under 18, a provision Hoodline has previously reported on in a separate case. The same statute requires departments to immediately enter a missing juvenile’s record into the Commonwealth Law Enforcement Assistance Network and the National Crime Information Center once identifying details are collected, connecting local reports to statewide and federal systems right away.
National Numbers Offer Context, Not Certainty
Nationally, runaway youth accounted for 92% of the 32,167 missing child cases the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children assisted with in 2025. The organization also reported a 90% national recovery rate that year, resolving 29,013 of those cases. Those figures describe trends across the country and don’t speak to the specifics of Burton’s case, which remains open.
A 16-year-old went missing in West Oak Lane, as Hoodline reported in prior reporting. Anyone with information about Burton can also submit tips, including photos or video, through the Philadelphia Police Department’s 24-hour tip line or its online portal.
