Belen police seek public help finding missing teen Serenity Martinez

Belen police are asking Valencia County residents to help locate Serenity Martinez, a juvenile identified in the state missing-person system, after she was last seen on Delgado Ave in Belen wearing bell-bottom jeans, a maroon sweater and white Nike Air Force shoes. The New Mexico Department of Public Safety listed the missing-person report as posted June 15, three days after the date she was last seen.

The state record lists Martinez’s age then and now as 16. As of Tuesday, no update had been released on her status. Anyone with information is being asked to call the Belen Police Department at (505) 865-9130.

The case puts a spotlight on how quickly missing-teen information moves through local and state channels. New Mexico’s Missing Persons Clearinghouse serves as the state’s central repository for missing-person information, and the listing for Martinez was entered there alongside the Belen police contact number for tips. The state also maintains the Turquoise Alert system for missing Indigenous persons, which is designed to help coordinate notifications across law enforcement, media and public emergency channels when those criteria are met.

Belen police serve a city of 7,269 residents and more than 22,000 people from surrounding communities, according to the city. The department has 23 sworn officers, a small force carrying a broad regional load that makes timely public reporting critical when a young person disappears in town.

The AWARE Foundation, Inc. also amplified the alert, urging people to contact police first and then share information through its missing-loved-one network. For a case like Martinez’s, that wider reach can matter when a teen is last seen in a familiar neighborhood and the difference between a safe return and a prolonged search can come down to a witness remembering a vehicle, a route or a detail as ordinary as a sweater, a pair of jeans or the street where she was last seen.