Greensboro police find missing 23-year-old Maleek Riveara safe

Greensboro police said 23-year-old Maleek Riveara was found safe by Saturday, ending a brief but urgent search that drew a Missing Endangered Alert and a public plea for help in Greensboro. The case brought relief to neighbors and showed how quickly local agencies can move when a missing person is believed to be at higher risk.

Police said Riveara was last seen around 7:45 p.m. Thursday in the 1500 block of Barto Place. Officers later said he was believed to be suffering from dementia or another cognitive impairment, a detail that triggered the endangered alert through the N.C. Center for Missing Persons at 5:29 a.m. Friday. The alert asked citizens to be on the lookout and to contact Greensboro Police Officer Steven Peppers at 336-373-2287 with information.

Greensboro police were called just after midnight Friday to 1508 Barto Place in reference to the missing-person report, according to local reporting. Riveara was described as 5-foot-10, 130 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair. He was last seen wearing a black T-shirt, black pants and dark sneakers.

The timeline shows how missing-person alerts can unfold in Guilford County: a report comes in, police assess whether the person may be endangered, and if the risk is high enough, the information is pushed out quickly to the public through state and local channels. In Riveara’s case, the alert reached residents within hours, giving investigators a wider net as they searched Greensboro for a vulnerable young man.

By Saturday, April 25, police said Riveara had been located and was safe. No further details were immediately released about where he was found or what led to the recovery. For Guilford County families, the case underscores the importance of treating official missing-person alerts as urgent, especially when cognitive impairment is involved and every minute can matter.