![\"Jonathan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790116931_934_da4d9bc5-110d-452a-b239-b1ee55e76049_1577754643.jpg\")
SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014<\/p>\nEbony Alert issued for 16-year-old Sacramento girl missing since Sept. 4, CHP says<\/p>\n
SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014<\/p>\n
An Ebony Alert is in effect for a missing 16-year-old Sacramento girl, according to the California Highway Patrol.<\/p>\n
Azaria Higginbotham was last seen around 4 p.m. on Sept. 4, CHP said, explaining that it was notified of her disappearance on Sept. 8. She is believed to be on foot.<\/p>\n
Higginbotham is described as being 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighing 109 pounds, CHP said. She has black hair and brown eyes and was last seen wearing a gray tank top and pumpkin shorts.<\/p>\n
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office told KCRA 3 that Higginbotham has a history of disappearing but could not elaborate further. The Black & Missing Foundation, a nonprofit organization, stated that she may have been sighted in Oakland.<\/p>\n
According to the foundation, Higginbotham’s mother said her daughter may have been lured online and is a victim of human trafficking. Higginbotham also may have a mental health condition and is currently without her prescribed medication.<\/p>\n
Sgt. Edward Igoe, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, was asked about the possibility of her being lured. <\/p>\n
“It sounds like there was an update from the child’s mother suggesting that that was a possibility, and based on that new information, that’s where the Ebony Alert came in,” Igoe said.<\/p>\n
When asked if the sheriff’s office found any information confirming that Higginbotham was lured, Igoe said they did not. Igoe was also not aware of the possible Oakland sighting.<\/p>\n
Ebony Alerts are separate from Amber Alerts, with the focus on helping bring Black girls and young women home.<\/p>\n
Former California Sen. Steven Bradford, the author behind the bill that created the Ebony Alert, said the alert is intended to raise awareness. In 2024, he cited a study from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation that stated 57.5% of all minors arrested for prostitution are Black children.<\/p>\n
The study also stated that in an interview with the Urban Institute, traffickers believed that trafficking Black girls and women would land them less jail time than trafficking white girls and women if caught.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a list of requirements for an Ebony Alert, but a person must only meet the age criteria and one other item on the list.<\/p>\n
1. The missing person is between 12 to 25 years of age.<\/p>\n
2. The missing person suffers from a mental or physical disability.<\/p>\n
3. The person is missing under circumstances that indicate any of the following:<\/p>\n
(A) The missing person\u2019s physical safety may be endangered.<\/p>\n
(B) The missing person may be subject to trafficking.<\/p>\n
4. The law enforcement agency determines that the person has gone missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances.<\/p>\n
5. The law enforcement agency believes that the person is in danger because of age, health, mental or physical disability, or environment or weather conditions, that the person is in the company of a potentially dangerous person, or that there are other factors indicating that the person may be in peril.<\/p>\n
6. The investigating law enforcement agency has utilized available local resources.<\/p>\n
7. There is information available that, if disseminated to the public, could assist in the safe recovery of the missing person.<\/p>\n
That criteria determination is made by the person reporting them missing. Law enforcement then passes it on to CHP, which is required to issue that alert.<\/p>\n
If seen, CHP says people should call 911.<\/p>\n
See news happening? Send us your photos or videos if it\u2019s safe to do so at kcra.com\/upload<\/a>.<\/p>\n See more coverage of top California stories here<\/a> | Download our app<\/a> | Subscribe to our morning newsletter<\/a> | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel<\/a> | Make KCRA a preferred news source in Google<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ebony Alert issued for 16-year-old Sacramento girl missing since Sept. 4, CHP says SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014 An Ebony…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[4385,185795,105904,185789,185790,166244,185791,7,859,852,185787,91898,185794,3650,473,28181,101350,185792,25135,20546,143,346,185793,7656,185796,121,357,185788,123,122,2614,2637,126084,52692],"class_list":["post-472379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-4385","tag-age-criterion","tag-amber-alert","tag-azaria-higginbotham","tag-black-and-missing-foundation","tag-black-girl","tag-black-girls","tag-california","tag-california-highway-patrol","tag-chp","tag-ebony-alert","tag-edward-igoe","tag-girls-missing","tag-human-trafficking","tag-kcra","tag-law-enforcement-agency","tag-mental-health-condition","tag-missing-since-sept-4","tag-missing-teen","tag-new-information","tag-oakland","tag-office","tag-online-lured","tag-person","tag-physical-disability","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-county","tag-sacramento-girl","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news","tag-sept","tag-sheriff","tag-steven-bradford","tag-young-woman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}