AMBER Alert on the Front Lines: Washington

Missing child notifications on the move: Washington semi-trucks feature girl who vanished 18 years ago

Two semi-trucks are now rolling down Washington roadways with images and information about a four-year-old girl who disappeared nearly two decades ago. The Washington State Patrol’s Missing and Unidentified Missing Persons Unit teamed up with Kam-Way Transportation to place age-progressed photos of Sofia Juarez on two of its trucks.

The trucks are part of the Homeward Bound Program and were unveiled on February 4, 2021, 18 years to the day after Sofia went missing in Kennewick, Washington. The missing girl’s family attended the event to showcase the truck trailers with the posters.
“We plead with anybody (who) knows anything,” said Victoria Juarez, Sofia’s aunt. “Please just come forward and let that light shine in that dark area because this family needs closure.”

Washington’s first AMBER Alert was issued for Sofia. Her disappearance has been featured on America’s Most Wanted, the side of a NASCAR race car, Times Square in New York and with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. A special investigator is now reviewing more than 20,000 pages of documents and interviewing people again.

“It’s been a long 18 years since Sofia was taken from her home and family,” said Kennewick Police Chief Ken Hohenberg. “The Kennewick Police Department has never forgotten Sofia, nor will we.”

The Homeward Bound Program started in 2006 with another trucking company and once featured 22 missing children. Kam-Way Transportation agreed to assume the program in 2018 after the other company was sold. This is the second child to be featured on Kam-Way trucks.

“The partnership will continue to expand in the coming months with the addition of several more missing children displayed on the side of the trailers,” said Carri Gordon, Washington State AMBER Alert Coordinator and Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager. “Kam-Way Transportation has committed to continuing to feature as many children as they are able, with the hopes of bringing them home to their families.”