What Happened to Missing Child Karen Grajeda? 30 Years Later, the Search for Answers Continues
On Jan. 11, 1996, 7-year-old Karen Grajeda went missing outside of her Tucson, Ariz., home and never returned.
Now, as the 30th anniversary of her disappearance nears, the search for answers has endured.
On Jan. 7—four days before the three-decade milestone—the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and Tucson Police Department renewed their appeal to the public for any information that could help solve the cold case.
“For 30 years, Karen’s family has searched tirelessly, not knowing what happened to her,” NCMEC Missing Children Division vice president John Bischoff said in a statement. “No family should have to live with that kind of uncertainty. No amount of information is too small. It takes just one person coming forward to help give this family the answers they have waited decades for.”
The organization also released an age progression image of what Karen may look like now at age 37.
What happened to Karen Grajeda?
On the evening Karen went missing, she was roller-staking with her friends and younger sister Alejandra, the Grajeda family recalled in a NCMEC blog post.
Karen was last seen when she briefly came inside their apartment unit to drop off her skates, then headed back outside to keep playing while her mom Rosalba finished cooking dinner.
When the meal was ready and Rosalba called her daughters inside, only Alejandra returned.
“I remember Mom said, ‘Go back out and get Karen,’” Alejandra said. “But when I went to find her, she wasn’t there.”
Inside the Karen Grajeda missing person investigation
In the aftermath of Karen’s disappearance, law enforcement—including the FBI—quickly began investigating what happened. Those efforts continued through the years but never led to answers.
According to the NCMEC, Tucson police have never charged anyone in the case, which they believe to be a non-family abduction.
“Her disappearance left a lasting impact on Tucson,” Tuscon Police Department Detective David Miller told the organization, “and we will never stop working to find answers for Karen and her family.”
