After more than a year, the search for an Arlington teenager who ran away has come up empty.
Authorities have struggled to find Yanci Sagastizado, who disappeared last February, when she was 16 years old.
Sagastizado is believed to have run away to be with a boyfriend on Feb. 18, 2011, said Melinda Stevens, director of the missing children division of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The two may have gone to the Takoma Park area in Maryland, Stevens said.
Even though foul play is not suspected in Sagastizado’s disappearance — her case is classified as an “endangered runaway” — Stevens said authorities are still worried about her welfare.
Anytime a child goes missing, she said, “if they are not of age and able to look out for themselves, as far as we’re concerned, they’re in danger and extreme risk.”
Officials from NCMEC have distributed posters with Sagastizado’s photograph and information about her case in Arlington and in Takoma Park.
Sagastizado would now be 17 years old. She is biracial — white and Hispanic — and is described as 5 feet 1 inches tall and about 120 pounds. She has brown eyes and shoulder-length brown hair. She was last seen wearing a gray skirt and black tights, and was carrying two bags, according to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
Anyone who has information about her disappearance is asked to call NCMEC at 800-THE-LOST (843-5678).
