A 14-year-old girl from Amarillo, Texas, who mysteriously disappeared more than 13 years ago has been found alive and safe.
Jessica Delgadillo disappeared without a trace in October 2010 after leaving her home in the 1300 block of North Bolton.
She was supposed to walk to Palo Duro High School, where she was studying, but didn’t show up. Her family reported the teen missing the next day.
Amarillo police opened an investigation, but the case was shelved six months later Sergeant brent barbee told the Amarillo Globe News ‘we don’t know what happened to her’.
Jessica Delgadillo (photo) disappeared in 2010 at the age of 14. Her disappearance was unfathomable: there was no evidence of foul play and she had no history of running away from home. Her case quickly went cold
Amarillo police searched for Delgadillo, but the case stalled. Pictured: A centuries-old photo that researchers used to find Delgadillo
Sergeant Barbee told the outlet there was no evidence of foul play. No money had been stolen and Jessica’s clothes had not gone missing.
What made the case even more puzzling, he added, was the fact that Delgadillo had no history of running away or leaving the house without permission.
In most cases involving runaways, the person in hiding normally returns home or is found within a few days or a few hours.
“The main difference (in Delgadillo’s situation) is that she has been gone for six months and we have received no new information about her,” said Sgt. Barbie said.
One family member suggested Jessica could be in Dalhart, Lubbock or Port St. Lucie, Florida. Authorities also noted that Delgadillo had family in Mexico, further complicating the situation.
Amarillo police officers called for help from federal investigators, who were monitoring traffic at the border, in hopes of finding the girl.
Jessica’s relatives also ventured across the border to look for her.
But she was not found and a year after her disappearance the police had no more clues.
In 2023, the Amarillo Police Department established the Cold Case Unit and enlisted the services of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Together they investigated three cold cases, including Jessica’s. Pictured: A tweet from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children celebrating the discovery of Delgadillo
After being missing for thirteen years, a woman claiming to be Jessica Delgadillo contacted the Amarillo Homicide Unit; Pictured: A missing person poster for Delgadillo. The image on the right is the age
In 2023, the Amarillo Police Department established a Cold Case Unit.
They started by investigating three cases, hoping to breathe new life into them and give new energy to the investigations.
They called for help from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which quickly sent two officers to Amarillo to assist with the investigation.
The investigators delved into the details of each case. They updated old information and spread details about the disappearances on social media. They also distributed age-appropriate photos of the missing persons.
Then on Thursday, November 2, 2023, after thirteen years of searching, the Amarillo Police Department’s Homicide Unit received a call.
The woman on the other end of the line said she was Jessica Delgadillo.
She said she knew she had been reported missing. Authorities collected DNA swabs from the caller and sent them to the University of North Texas, where they were compared to the DNA of a known relative.
Months passed and then it was confirmed: the caller was Jessica Delgadillo.
Delgadillo currently lives on the East Coast. She requested that details of her disappearance not be released.
Jessica Delgadillo’s case has been closed, giving investigators the time and leeway to focus their efforts on the two remaining cold cases.
Amarillo’s other two cold cases involve the disappearances of Brandy Noble and Dorien Thomas.
Noble went missing in 2002 at the age of 16. She was listed as a missing person/endangered runaway. She had been gone for six months before she was reported missing.
In 2008, Thomas disappeared from his neighborhood near 9th Avenue and North Lipscomb. He was nine years old.
Brandy Noble (pictured) is one of three cases the Amarillo Police Department’s Cold Case Unit is investigating. Noble disappeared in 2002 at the age of 16
The third case Amarillo’s Cold Case Unit is investigating is that of Dorien Thomas, who went missing in 2008 at the age of nine. In late December, investigators acted on a tip and dug up some bones from a field. It was later determined that the bones were from an animal, but Dorien’s family has vowed not to give up hope
In late December, Amarillo investigators acted on a tip and dug up chunks of bone in a field near Hastings and Smelter.
Researchers and Thomas’ family hoped the bones were Dorien’s and that they would get a solution, no matter how tragic.
But in January it was reported that the bones were from an animal.
In an official statement, Brandon Thomas, Dorien’s older brother, said: “We are not going to give up.”