Silver Alert issued for missing person last seen in Amargosa Valley

Drivers in Amargosa Valley should be watching Highway 95 and State Route 373 closely after California Highway Patrol issued a Silver Alert for a missing person last seen in that area. Anyone who sees the person is being asked to call 911 immediately and be ready to give the person’s location, description and any vehicle details if available.

CHP uses Silver Alerts for missing elderly people, or people with developmental or cognitive impairments, when they are considered at-risk. The program was created under California Senate Bill 1047 and became law in 2012. CHP also serves as the state coordinator for missing person alerts, with the system built around fast public recognition and rapid law-enforcement response.

Nye County Sheriff’s Office has been notified. In a rural corridor like U.S. 95, where long distances and sparse traffic can slow down a search, quick tips from passing motorists can make the difference between a fast recovery and a dangerous delay. That is especially true in Amargosa Valley, a quiet hamlet on the southern Nevada-California border near Death Valley that Nye County says was formerly known as Lathrop Wells.

Amargosa Valley covers nearly 100 square miles along U.S. 95 and had a population of 1,170 in the 2020 census. The community is flanked by the Funeral Mountains, the Nevada National Security Site and Yucca Mountain. In a place that spread out, a missing-person alert can depend on one driver noticing a detail and acting immediately.

Recent local incidents on and near U.S. 95 have already shown how quickly emergencies can unfold in this corridor, including fatal crashes and homicide and deputy-involved shooting investigations. That makes the public’s role in an active alert even more important, especially when an at-risk person may be moving through a wide stretch of road with limited visibility and few immediate landmarks.

For law-enforcement contact in Nye County, 911 is the number to use for crime in progress. The Nye County Sheriff’s Office non-emergency line is (775) 751-7000.