Gallup police seek missing Arizona teen last seen near Safeway

Gallup police asked the public to help locate Madison Hale-Calladitto, a 17-year-old who was entered as missing by the Florence Police Department in Arizona and was last tied to the Safeway area in Gallup. Officers described her as a Native American girl about 5-foot-5, 140 pounds, with brown eyes and brown hair.

Police said Hale-Calladitto went AWOL from Brightland Youth Welfare Group Homes in Arizona on Oct. 9 and may be with an adult boyfriend. That detail has heightened concern that she could be vulnerable to exploitation or that people around her may not realize she is missing.

The case has a clear local reach because Gallup is a regional stop for people moving across the Four Corners. U.S. Interstate 40 runs through the city, Greyhound serves Gallup, and the Navajo Transit System links the city with parts of the Navajo Nation and towns in Arizona. In a community where many people know the retail corridors, bus stops and travel routes, even a brief sighting near Safeway can matter.

Gallup’s official police department is at 451 Boardman Drive. Anyone with information can call Metro Dispatch at (505) 722-2002 or (505) 722-2231, or reach the Gallup Police Department at (505) 863-9365. In an emergency, residents should call 9-1-1.

The search also comes in a city where the stakes around missing Indigenous youth are especially high. Gallup had a population of 21,899 in the 2020 Census and an estimated 19,969 residents on July 1, 2025; American Indian and Alaska Native residents alone made up 53.8% of the city’s population. Federal agencies treat missing and murdered Indigenous persons as a priority, and the FBI says its Missing Person File has been in place since 1975, with entries kept until the person is found or the record is canceled.