Photo: National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
A Texas woman who went missing in 2010 when she was 14 years old was found alive, living on the East Coast. After investigating Jessica Delgadillo's disappearance for around a year, officials turned the case over to the Amarillo Police Department's Homicide Unit due to a lack of evidence about her whereabouts or her disappearance.
Her case remained unsolved until 2023, when the department created a new Cold Case Unit. Investigators reopened Delgadillo's case and reached out to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children for assistance.
Investigators began pouring over the scant amount of evidence from the original case and posting about Delgadillo on social media, hoping somebody would have information about her whereabouts.
On November 2, 2023, investigators received a phone call from a woman claiming to be Delgadillo. She provided a DNA sample, which was sent to the University of North Texas to be compared to that of a known family member.
After several months of waiting, the results confirmed Delgadillo's identity.
No information was provided about why she disappeared or where she has been for the past 14 years. Degadillo asked the investigators to respect her privacy and only reveal that she is living on the East Coast.