15-year-old Redwood Valley resident Laticia Elliott was “laughing and smiling” when she went to bed at her dad’s house in Hopland on November 25, 2020. The next morning, Elliott was gone. Five days later, after putting up dozens of missing person flyers between Ukiah and Hopland, Elliott’s aunt Shareen Rosales told us her family is desperate for the community’s help in finding their beloved daughter and niece.
The night Elliott went missing, Rosales explained her niece was visiting her father on the Hopland reservation, who had recently moved to the area. They had plans to celebrate Thanksgiving together. There was no indication Elliott was in distress that night, Rosales said.
The next morning, Elliott’s family found a note she wrote before leaving. Rosales told us what the letter said: “She said she needed to clear her head and that it’s hard for her to be away from her family for the holidays. It also said she’s close by, so don’t come looking for her. She will be fine, and that she loves everyone very much.”
Rosales said the only things missing from her father’s Hopland home the next morning were her niece’s backpack, purse, and blanket.
According to Mendocino County Sheriff Office’s Public Information Officer Captain Greg Van Patten, investigators believe Elliott left her father’s Hopland residence at approximately 5:30 a.m. the next morning.
Captain Van Patten added that there are “prior missing person cases over last 2 years” related to Elliott.
Rosales explained these previous missing person circumstances were associated with Elliott having issues at school. She also emphasized that the earlier occasions of her running away had never gone on for multiple days at a time.
Rosales thinks that her niece is either in the Hopland reservation or somewhere in the Ukiah area. Rosales was told that Elliott was spotted in the Ukiah Denny’s restaurant on November 28, 2020.
Captain Van Patten told us that MCSO deputies are continuing their attempts “to locate her through follow up investigations.”
Rosales said, “We are hoping for the best for her. We all want her safe, and we all want her to make good choices. We all love her very much.”
Laticia Elliott is a Native American with dark brown eyes and shoulder-length dark brown hair. She is 5’ 2’’ and weighs 140 pounds. She was last known to be wearing a gray Nike hoodie with black shorts.
If you have any information regarding Laticia Elliott’s whereabouts, please call the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office (707)463-4086. Other parties you could report the information to include Elliott’s father, Emilio Elliott, at (620)-960-8882 or Shareen Rosales, Elliott’s aunt, at (707)489-0052.
UPDATE 1/4/2020
Shareen Rosales, Laticia’s aunt, told us she had been found in Santa Rosa safe and back at home.
