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For years police in the US state of Washington had have no leads about what happened to Sofia Juarez.
The four-year-old vanished without a trace from the town of Kennewick on February 4, 2003, just one day before her fifth birthday.
But now a viral TikTik video has sparked renewed interest in her case, with authorities hopeful that a tip-off may finally reveal what happened to the missing girl.
In March, TikTok personality AkayAlla posted an interview with a woman in the northwestern Mexican city of Culican.
In the short clip, the woman, who appeared dishevelled and possibly homeless, claimed she had been kidnapped years ago and didn’t know where she was from.
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“She made mention to him she thought she was about 22 but she didn’t like birthdays because of a traumatic event that happened to her when she was young,†Kennewick Police Special Investigator Al Wehner told People.
“She thinks that she had been kidnapped at an early age. She didn’t know if she was from the US or Mexico. And she was hopeful that her family might be able to find her.â€
The video went viral when someone in the comments pointed out the woman bore a striking resemblance to Sofia.
AkayAlla went back to the plaza he interviewed the mystery woman to try to find more information from her to help her reunite with her family, but she wasn’t there.
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He has since claimed Sofia’s family has been in contact with him and said “she is not Sofia and knock off the publicity you are generating about herâ€.
Mr Wehner told People police were still interested in obtaining a DNA test from the woman to rule her out officially as there were “physical similaritiesâ€.
“If you compare the features of her that are shown in the video to the photos of Sofia and age progression photos, there are some very obvious physical similarities,†he said.
“Our interest is obviously piqued by her comment about a traumatic event having occurred when she was young around the time of her birthday.â€
The interest in the TikTok video generated “about 40 tips†including one from a witness who claims to have seen a person approach a girl who looked like Sofia and lead her away.
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A panel van that was either silver or light blue was also seen on a nearby street, which Mr Wehner said police had a “high degree of interest†in.
Mr Wehner believes that police could now be close to finding out what happened to Sofia after all these years.
“Allegiances once owed to people have changed over the years. Now is the time to step forward,†he said.
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