Gone in a Blink
There are an estimated 8 billion people in the world. In the US, approximately 2,300 people go missing every day. While some of those cases may be of their own accord, others are because of something far more sinister. Gone in a Blink is a true crime podcast that dives head first into the most mysterious and terrifying missing person cases in existence. Hosts Heather and Danielle take a deep look into some of the most horrific missing person cases that will leave you on the edge of your seat and absolutely terrified at just how fast a person can be Gone in a Blink.
Gone in a Blink
Night of Innocence: What Happened to Sofia Juarez
What happened to Sofia Juarez the night before her fifth birthday? Join us on a heart-wrenching journey as we recount the tragic events of February 2003 that forever altered the lives of Sofia’s family. From her innocent decision to follow her grandmother's boyfriend to the nearby convenience store, to the chilling revelation of her likely abduction, we unravel the emotional turmoil and the relentless search for answers. This episode captures the swift response of the Kennewick police and explores how a young girl's disappearance can shatter a community.
We delve into the haunting and perplexing details surrounding Sofia's case, including eyewitnesses who reported a suspicious windowless van and the unsettling question: could this have been a premeditated crime or a tragic crime of opportunity? We also touch on the specter of human trafficking and the chilling possibility that Sofia might have known her abductor. With updates on the investigation, including descriptions of key witnesses and suspects, we urge the public to come forward with any information that could help bring closure to Sofia’s family. Listen in, and be part of the community effort to seek justice for Sofia Juarez.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the website below:
https://www.go2kennewick.com/1368/What-Happened-to-Sofia
or contact Al Wehner at (509) 582-1331
or email Al Wehner at alwehner@ci.kennewick.wa.us
Non-Emergency dispatch contact (509) 628-0333
Source Credits:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Sofia_Juarez
https://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/crime/article251841388.html
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/07/us/tiktok-video-missing-girl-case/index.html
https://www.go2kennewick.com/1376/Updates-on-Sofias-Investigation
Music Credits:
Crime Trapp by Muza Production
Night-City-Drive by Gioele Fazzeri
The Wait by Never Not Dead
Dark Trap Groove by Anton Vlasov
Gone in a Blink is created by Heather Hicks and Danielle E.
Written and produced by Heather Hicks and hosted by Danielle E. and Heather Hicks.
Gone in a Blink theme: Crime Trap created and produced by Muzaproduction
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Thanks for joining us on the airwaves. And remember......Be Safe, Be Smart, and Try Not to Blink.
it can all happen in a blink. You turn your head for just one second, you get distracted, you get a phone call or one of your other children needs your attention. You thought it would be okay for them to play outside in the front of the house, because they're right in front of your house. You take your eyes off them for just one second and now they're gone.
Speaker 2:The search continues for Sofia Juarez, who disappeared from her home in Kennewick. Police believe she was abducted as she walked near her home. Sofia was only four years old when she disappeared. Police say she attempted to follow a family member to the store on foot but was never seen again. Four-year-old Sophia Juarez disappeared from Kennewick in February 2003, a day before her fifth birthday, February 2003,.
Speaker 1:a day before her fifth birthday, extreme panic sets in and fills every inch of your body as you frantically look around, scanning everything and everyone who walks by. How could this happen? This family needs closure.
Speaker 1:It's been very hard. Closure, it's been very hard. These are the kinds of questions that Maria Juarez asked herself on the day her daughter, four-year-old Sofia Juarez, simply disappeared just one day before her fifth birthday. This is the case into the disappearance of Sofia Juarez, and this is Gone in a Blink. Hey, true crime fans, I'm your host, heather, and I'm Danielle. Welcome to episode 23 of Gone in a Blink. It is almost the end of August already and most kiddos have started the new school year and preseason football is underway. Woohoo. If any of our listeners are football fans, I'd love to hear which team you're cheering for. We here at our house are diehard Kansas City Chiefs fans, except my nine-year-old son, who likes to be different, so he cheers on the Philadelphia Eagles, the Dallas Cowboys and the Cincinnati Bengals, as well, so you're saying everybody but the Chiefs he cheers for Pretty much.
Speaker 1:I think he just tries to be different, and I really don't even think he's going by the team itself or how well they play. He goes by the mascot, so he thinks the Bengals outfits are really cool, or the Philadelphia Eagles he loves the Eagle. So he's not really anything to be different. He's pretty funny though that way, and he knows that he gets under our skin because we're big Chiefs fans. So today's case takes place in the town of Kennewick, washington, and is one that, even to this day, has really gripped this tight-knit community as well as the nation as a whole.
Speaker 1:Today we are talking about the case of missing four-year-old Sofia Juarez. So if you're ready, let's jump right in. Sofia Lucerno Juarez was born on February 5th 1998 to her mother, maria Juarez, and her father, andres Gutierrez Ebrahan. Sofia never had any kind of relationship With her father and in fact Andres even denied at one point that he actually was Sophia's father. Sophia lived on the 100 block on East 15th Avenue in East Kennewick, washington, and there she lived with a lot of various family Members, including her mother, maria, her grandmother, ignacia Prado Juarez, her grandmother's boyfriend, jose Lopez Torres, and six of her aunts and uncles. Maria was only 20 years old at this time, and so she had a ton of help with.
Speaker 3:Sofia.
Speaker 1:She just had a lot of family there to help watch out for her daughter, and still in an instant, she became extremely vulnerable. So on the evening of February 4th 2003, one day before her fifth birthday, sophia was hanging out at her home with her family, playing with her cousins and her younger uncle. Around 8 pm that evening, her grandmother's boyfriend, jose Torres, decided that he was going to run to a nearby convenience store, and he asked the other kids if any of them wanted to tag along. No one wanted to go. However, at the very last minute, sofia decided that she did want to go. Jose was not aware that Sofia had changed her mind, though, and so he left the house without her, not even knowing that she was wanting to go. Not realizing that Jose had already left, sophia asked her mother for a dollar to spend at the convenience store. Maria gave her daughter a dollar and watched her leave the room, and then heard the front door open and then the door closed behind her. This would be the last time that Maria Juarez would ever see her daughter. Jose arrived at the convenience store and bought some milk, and then made a phone call to some relatives in Mexico using the store's payphone, and he returned back home at 9 45 pm. Once he arrived home, maria was asking him where Sophia was and Jose thought she'd stayed home and Maria obviously thought that she went with Jose.
Speaker 1:Maria began frantically searching for her daughter and by 9 53 pm she contacted the Kennewick police department to file a missing persons report.
Speaker 1:I know we don't always see this in a lot of cases, but the Kennewick police department were very quick to jump on this case.
Speaker 1:It could have been due to the fact that it involves a child, or maybe it was due to the fact that many reports have stated how tight-knit this community really is and they just have a really awesome police department that knows just how little time you actually have to find that missing child before the outcome becomes less likely that they'll find them alive. So the police arrived on scene less than three minutes after receiving the call. They conducted interviews with all family members living at the residence and several officers began searching the Juarez home, the yard, the vehicles of all family members, neighbors' yards and other property around the neighborhood, including parks, playgrounds, schools, businesses, fields and vacant lots in the area. They searched everywhere within a three-mile or 4.8-kilometer radius surrounding Sophia's neighborhood. After speaking with family members, it was almost immediately determined by police that this was a potential child abduction. Within an hour, word of Sophia's disappearance began flooding the media, and within the same hour the FBI stepped in and joined forces with the Kennewick Police Department in the search for Sophia.
Speaker 3:Wow, it seems like that they really tried their best to get on this. I mean to respond within three minutes and within the hour. Media outlets, fbi was involved. I mean I could definitely tell the effort here.
Speaker 1:Yes, they. This is the type of situation that, even though the outcome isn't what we all have been hoping for, I like to see the police jump right in instead of now. Granted, this little girl was only four years old, so that could have played a huge part in it, because, you know, a lot of times with older kids or, you know, teenagers especially they consider, oh, you know, they probably just ran away and they really dragged their feet to get on it. Now, I think the fact that she was four years old played a huge part, because I don't think that they really gave it any kind of thought that, hey, she might be a runaway, she's four years old, she could have been a runaway, I mean, but they didn't treat it like that and they were on it quick.
Speaker 3:It seems like they were on it quick. But I guess what scares me too is that how quickly, even with those efforts, efforts that she was just gone as a mother, that that is very scary to me, that it can happen that fast, yes, and that is extremely scary, and that is the point that I want to try to make to all of our listeners.
Speaker 1:I'm sure most of them already know this, but it can happen so quickly. So local citizens began participating in the search and they would continue volunteering in the search several days after her disappearance, looking in dumpsters and garbage cans and fields surrounding the home. Just hours after Sophia went missing, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children were notified and around that same time, the first ever Amber Alert was issued in the state of Washington. This alert lasted 36 hours and Sophia was entered into the Washington State and National Crime Database as a missing or endangered person. During the next several days, investigators searched tirelessly, searching rivers and other nearby bodies of water and sewer systems, and neighborhoods and rural areas as well. The searchers included more than 500 police officers and dive and rescue teams, as well as FBI agents, incident management crews, the Coast Guard, King County search and rescue cadaver dogs and civilian volunteers. So we've got a lot of people out there searching for this little girl.
Speaker 1:Rewards were offered by Crime Stoppers as well as the Fraternal Order of Police for information leading to Sophia's whereabouts. More than 800 tips were followed up on and several search warrants on multiple houses and vehicles were conducted. Family members of Sophia's were thoroughly investigated and her bio. Dad was even tracked down and investigated and, it is important to note, he was cooperative with investigators and had been able to provide an airtight alibi which quickly ruled him out as a suspect. Police also located more than 150 registered sex offenders in the Kennewick area, looking for any links they may have had to Sophia. A DNA profile for Sophia was then created and entered into the CODIS database, which is the FBI's National Combined DNA Index System, and this system stores someone's DNA profile and then periodically compares it against unidentified persons or remains that have been recovered anywhere throughout the entire country.
Speaker 1:The family of Sofia Juarez held a candlelight vigil for her on February 11th, one week after her disappearance. There were more than 300 people that showed up to share their support for the family. A public memorial had been created outside the Juarez home, but three weeks after Sofia's disappearance, the memorial was taken down and it seemed as if hope in finding Sofia was slowly fading. The day after Sofia's disappearance, the memorial was taken down and it seemed as if hope in finding Sophia was slowly fading. The day after Sophia's disappearance.
Speaker 1:A witness came forward recalling an encounter on the day that Sophia went missing between a young girl and a Hispanic boy who was believed to be between 11 and 14 years old, and the witness reports that he saw the boy approach Sophia and then led her towards a white van with no windows that was parked on the street close by. The witness stated that the girl was crying and the boy was laughing as he lured her away. The Tri-City Herald reported that it happened around 8 30 pm on February 4th 2003, and that the van was stopped on 14th Street facing west. The witness was stopped at a stop sign and didn't realize what he was actually witnessing until word of Sophia's disappearance hit the media. After seeing photos of Sophia posted on the news, as well as photos provided by police, the witness said he was positive that the girl he saw was in fact Sophia, and police consider this witness highly credible.
Speaker 3:Wow that. I mean that that's really crazy One. I guess what stands out to me is a van with no windows. I don't think I've ever seen that, but I also and maybe this is a little cynical, I don't know but it seems like when things like this happen, there's always like somebody that takes kind of advantage of the situation. You know like, oh, I saw, you know, I witnessed this, but but they're the only ones that did so. I don't know. I want to believe it for the family and for her, but I don't know For no one else to have seen something like that a van with no windows hanging out in the neighborhood. I don't know. I mean, does that sound crazy to you?
Speaker 1:It does sound different, but not that it was a van with no windows, because there's a lot of mostly work vans, painter vans, construction vans of that sort won't have any windows because they have tools and things like that inside that they don't want people to be able to see. And that was actually what the witness described this as was something that was more like a construction van or a painter's van or something of that sort. So that doesn't surprise me that the van looked like that. Now, I don't know how busy this area is, especially at that time of night. I mean it was, I don't know. I mean it's not like it was late, but it was around 830 ish. So it is weird that there's only one witness and the police do consider this witness credible and they're not releasing why they consider this witness credible and we'll talk about that in just a minute about how quickly this all happened. So police suspect that the boy did not act alone. Considering the fact that Sophia was taken so abruptly and the fact that to this day, sophia's body has never been found.
Speaker 1:Now, okay, I really question how this all played out, because it's around 8.30 at night in February, so it's pitch dark at that time in the winter, right, and she's one day away from turning five years old, so she's pretty little. And she walks out her front door to go with her grandmother's boyfriend and pretty quickly realizes that he had already left. What happens after that? She doesn't turn around and go back inside and she couldn't have been out there that long. Reports showed that she disappeared around 8 pm and Jose returned home at 9 45. So that's a little less than two hours An hour and 45 minutes, if the times are exact. So in that hour and 45 minutes Sophia was abducted. Does that sound strange to you? That's a very short amount of time to be outside and then just randomly be abducted.
Speaker 3:I guess what I think of. Okay, february 11th, it's going to be pretty cold outside, so I could picture Sophia looking around for the boyfriend not finding him. Oh, it's pretty cold, it's dark by that time. I could see her going inside at that point. So that's where I come back to. Ok, if he left about eight o'clock but then somebody saw her getting into a van at 830, just the timing doesn't, doesn't seem to add up for me it just seems like it all happened so quick.
Speaker 1:So now, sources I found said that police believe that sofia attempted to follow jose to the store that night after realizing that he had left without her, and reports also state that the convenience store was located just a few blocks from the Juarez home. However, sofia never made it to the store that night and video surveillance from the convenience store that night confirmed Jose's version of events. So was this a real crime of opportunity or did it just so happen that this boy, and whatever accomplices he had with him, just happened to cross paths with Sophia as she was trying to follow Jose to the store? Maybe Sophia didn't even know how to get to the store. I mean, she was only four years old so she could have. I mean, I guess it's possible.
Speaker 1:Some kids are fearless. Maybe this little four-year-old the dark didn't faze her. I do know reports said that she left without her coat. So it is cold in Washington, especially at that time of year. She's outside without a coat, it's dark. Maybe she thought she did know where the convenience store was. I feel like at some point she would have turned around and thought it's too dark, it's too cold, I'm never gonna catch up with him. It's so quick for her to be abducted.
Speaker 3:I don't know it happens, but Well, something that comes to mind for me Okay, if she was attempting to catch up with the grandmother's boyfriend, that would tell me that she saw him, and If she's trying to catch up with him, I would think that she's trying to get his attention somehow to, maybe so she could catch up with him. So that's where it seems kind of weird there, definitely that she didn't have a coat. But also, let's say, okay, that the white van theory is true and for it to happen that quickly, I feel like the white van had been in the neighborhood for a while, meaning kind of scoping out places. Maybe she was at one point or other kids playing out in their yard and just looking for an opportunity, maybe not for Sophia specifically, but any child. I guess the number one thing that I think of is human trafficking. For something to happen that quickly and like her just to be gone, like that, that really screams human trafficking to me.
Speaker 1:Yes, it is possible that this van was just so happened to be out there scoping out the neighborhood. It could be possible to that they knew there was more than one kid that lived in this house and they could have known that. They knew there was more than one kid that lived in this house and they could have known that they could have seen Sophia before. Her mother did say in reports from sources that I found that she believed that Sophia would never willingly go with a stranger and that she felt like it could have been someone that Sophia knew. And it doesn't take much for a kid to think they know someone and that, unfortunately, is part of the grooming process, because they can meet someone. And when I say meet just a guy, come rolling through and say hi and the typical, will you help me find my puppy? Or hey, I like your outfit. Or just making small talk with the child to get them to feel more comfortable and maybe not abduct them that time. But a few times of that the child feels like, hey, they're not a stranger anymore. And I try to talk to my own kids about it's not just someone that you know, it has to be someone that your mom and dad know too. And hey, I'm gonna be honest, even if it's someone that the parents think they know, you don't totally know someone or their intentions, so it's really just a slippery slope, I guess. I question, I question how long was she actually out there before she was abducted? I'm thinking she couldn't have been out there that long. Her home was in that 100 block of East 15th Street and the witness saw the abduction take place on 14th Street, so that's not that far away. We're talking maybe a block. I mean, I don't know what really, what ends of the street or how long these blocks are, but it's. It just all seemed so coincidental that she would be outside chasing her grandmother's boyfriend down or attempting to, and then, in that short amount of time, she gets abducted. It's really strange to me, but there's also a lot that I'm sure we're not ever going to know, probably because the police are not going to let that information out. It's still an ongoing investigation, but, according to Wikipedia, sergeant Randy Menard said in a 2011 interview that he believed Sophia was still alive, and that quote. My gut is that she's alive. If she's deceased, we'd have found her remains unquote In May 2021, a 22-year-old woman in Mexico, with a strong resemblance to age-progressed photos of Sophia Juarez, posted a video on TikTok.
Speaker 1:Progressed photos of Sofia Juarez posted a video on TikTok and in that video, a TikTok user is interviewing the woman in Spanish. The woman says in the video that she is 22 and hates birthdays. The woman mentions that she would like to talk with her family because some people have told her that she had been kidnapped and that she would like to know where she's from. Other TikTok users noticed the resemblance and contacted Kennewick police, who then opened up an investigation, had been kidnapped and that she would like to know where she's from. Other TikTok users noticed the resemblance and contacted Kennewick police, who then opened up an investigation and by February 2022, investigators came to the conclusion and made the announcement to the public that, after thoroughly investigating the woman, they had compiled enough information to strongly suggest that the woman featured in the TikTok video was not Sophia. They were also able to solidify that through DNA testing.
Speaker 3:Wow, I mean, that seems very coincidental. I mean to find someone that looked that familiar to her.
Speaker 1:It's so ironic I mean, wow, I, I mean dna, but still that sounds like that could have been a pretty credible leak yeah, I think that the family and law enforcement were really hoping that that was her, and it is noted in different sources that she never claimed to be sophia, but she did feel like she had been kidnapped at one point. And well, family was telling her or people were telling her I don't know what people that she had been kidnapped. And so, because of the strong resemblance, it was the other TikTok users that were like, wow, she looks so much like Sophia Juarez in the age progress videos and they were the ones that stepped up and contacted law enforcement and I will post a picture of Sophia's Age Progress pictures and the picture of the TikTok user and you can kind of see. But I mean, I guess they went through DNA testing and concluded that it's. It's not her.
Speaker 1:But since Sophia's disappearance, police have sifted through more than 225 leads providing information regarding illicit drug users having accidentally hit Sophia that night with their vehicle and after panicking, they allegedly killed her and buried her body in a remote area.
Speaker 1:Several names and vehicle descriptions were provided to police and continue to be investigated and, to be quite honest, that's something that seems more likely to me than of a teenage boy abducting her in that amount of time. But wouldn't you feel like that? Like I mean, I and again I don't know what evidence they have but if she was accidentally hit by a car, you know, who knows, she wasn't running down the middle of the road trying to catch up and then somebody accidentally hits her and then, especially if that somebody has got drugs in the vehicle or warrants or anything like that, they're not going to want to get in trouble. So to me that doesn't sound so far-fetched. Now I'm not saying that's what happened, I have no idea and I don't want to discount the witness because obviously police feel like he's very, very credible. But to me, just on the outside looking in, that seems more likely yeah, I mean you bring up some pretty good points there.
Speaker 3:I guess I also go back to what the police officer said, though, that he feels like she's still alive because, going through 225 leads saying that maybe somebody had hit her and they had a list of drugs in her system and hid the body. I almost feel like that he was addressing that in his statement, saying that if she was deceased they would have found the remains by now. I mean, with this many years that had passed, and I mean in general not in all cases, but in general that really weighs on somebody's mind that they've hit a little girl, and especially if it was somebody in the community that saw all the efforts to try to find this child, I really feel like something would have came out concrete saying that that had happened.
Speaker 1:Well, and that's true too, that is true. So it's very possible that someone did kidnap her and it's very possible that she is still alive and she could have been sold into trafficking. It happens all the time and because of the fact they haven't found her body but there's a lot of there's a lot of missing people whose remains have never been found and, while some could have been sold into sex trafficking, I don't believe all of them are, so I don't know. But I feel like in this situation, you got to go with the police and if they feel like the witnesses, if they feel like his account of what happened is really strong and he's a very credible witness, well then more than likely is. Unfortunately, there are people that come forward and claim things just to be in the spotlight and it's sad and it's sick that people would mess with an investigation like that, but there's a lot of sick people in this world. So in March of 2021, the Kennewick Police Department created a website devoted to the disappearance of Sophia. So in late 2007, maria Juarez moved to California and in mid 2008, she gave birth to another child. Unfortunately, six years after Sophia's disappearance, on January 10th 2009, maria Juarez passed away in Sacramento, california, due to medical complications, she was only 26 years old. Now police are asking for the public's help in locating the main suspect in Sophia's case.
Speaker 1:The juvenile suspect who was witnessed luring Sophia to a van the night of her disappearance was described as being a Hispanic male, 5 foot to 5 foot 2 inches tall, with a light complexion. 5 foot to 5 foot 2 inches tall with a light complexion. Based on his facial features, the suspect was described as being chubby, with a baby face that included a possible mark on his cheek. His hair was dark, short and wavy. He would be 32 to 35 years old today. Today, the full-size van seen on the night of February 4th 2003 at the intersection of Washington and 15th between 8 pm and 9.15 pm was described as an older 1970s to early 1980s full-size panel van with no windows, resembling a work van. So this is their main suspect. This is who they're looking for. It may not be easy to find him now because he's not a teenager anymore. So the whole description, minus the light complexion and probably the height no, the height's probably. He's probably taller than that by now that kind of all goes out the window. So what does that leave you? You're looking for a light-skinned hispanic man between those ages. That's hard, that's like a needle in a haystack right there, but I guess this is the description that we have. So sofia juarez was four years old at the time of her disappearance and she was just one day away from her fifth birthday. She was last seen wearing a red long-sleeved shirt, blue overalls, violet socks, white Converse shoes and gold hoop earrings.
Speaker 1:Anyone with information is asked to visit the website and we will post this on our page in our show notes, actually, and on our page. The website is wwwgotokennewickcom. Backslash 1368, backslash what-happened-to-sophia. Again, I will put that in our show notes. Or you can also contact Special Investigator Al Wenner at area code 509-582-1331 or email him at alwenner that's W-E-H-N-E-R at cikennewickwaus. You can also call non-emergency dispatch at area code 509-628-0333. And we will post all of that contact info in our show notes. Thank you for listening to another episode of Gone in a Blink. If you like our show, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts and we love to hear your take on any of the cases that we cover. So please consider following us on any of our social media sites and we will post those as well in our show notes and if you have an idea for a show, drop us an email at goneinablinkpod at gmailcom. We'll give you a shout out for any suggested cases that we cover. And, last but not least, please remember be safe, be smart and try not to blink.
