Ebony Alert issued for 16-year-old Sacramento girl missing since Sept. 4, CHP says
KCRA 3
Jonathan Ayestas, Maricela De La Cruz
September 22, 2026
An Ebony Alert has been issued for 16-year-old Azaria Higginbotham, who was last seen around 4 p.m. on Sept. 4 in Sacramento, according to the California Highway Patrol. Authorities were notified of her disappearance on Sept. 8, and she is believed to be on foot.
Higginbotham is described as 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighing 109 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a gray tank top and pumpkin-colored shorts, CHP said.
Her mother, Andrina Mosley, shared her concerns about her daughter’s disappearance.
“Her siblings, we miss her. It’s so messed up because I have five kids and it’s empty without her. I need her to be OK for her to be OK,” Mosley said.
Mosley said she initially went looking for Higginbotham but discovered her daughter had left behind her phone and prescribed medication. She explained that while Higginbotham has left home before due to mental health episodes, this situation feels different.
“She left before because she dealt with mental health issues, so she’ll have an episode and she’ll disappear, but this time was different because she was on her medicine, so I made sure she took it every day, so it was no mental health episode. It was no argument,” Mosley said.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office told KCRA 3 that Higginbotham has a history of disappearing but could not elaborate further. The Black & Missing Foundation, a nonprofit organization, stated that she may have been sighted in Oakland.
According to the foundation, Higginbotham’s mother said her daughter may have been lured online and is a victim of human trafficking. Higginbotham also may have a mental health condition and is currently without her prescribed medication.
Sgt. Edward Igoe, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, was asked about the possibility of her being lured.
“It sounds like there was an update from the child’s mother suggesting that that was a possibility, and based on that new information, that’s where the Ebony Alert came in,” Igoe said.
He explained the criteria for issuing an Ebony Alert.
“What it boils down to is either a) they’re in some type of imminent danger. Maybe they’ve been taken by somebody who means harm. The other is that there is a possibility that they might be involved in some type of sex trafficking,” Igoe said.
When asked if the sheriff’s office found any information confirming that Higginbotham was lured, Igoe said they did not. Igoe was also not aware of the possible Oakland sighting.
Mosley said she has spent weeks calling Higginbotham’s friends, checking social media, and reaching out to law enforcement and other organizations for help. She fears her daughter may have been lured online and worries her efforts to find her may have drawn unwanted attention.
“If I’m being honest, I think that I was too loud on social media and I’m worried she might not be ok, but I just felt like my hands were tied. I felt like law enforcement, nobody was helping me. I wasn’t eating or anything, like I’m sick,” Mosley said.
Higginbotham was enrolled at a charter school in Elk Grove and was supposed to start classes on Sept. 8. Her mother has been distributing flyers in Stockton and Oakland.
Ebony Alerts are separate from Amber Alerts, with the focus on helping bring Black girls and young women home.
Former California Sen. Steven Bradford, the author behind the bill that created the Ebony Alert, said the alert is intended to raise awareness. In 2024, he cited a study from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation that stated 57.5% of all minors arrested for prostitution are Black children.
The study also stated that in an interview with the Urban Institute, traffickers believed that trafficking Black girls and women would land them less jail time than trafficking white girls and women if caught.
There’s a list of requirements for an Ebony Alert, but a person must only meet the age criteria and one other item on the list.
- The missing person is between 12 to 25 years of age.
- The missing person suffers from a mental or physical disability.
- The person is missing under circumstances that indicate any of the following:
(A) The missing person’s physical safety may be endangered.
(B) The missing person may be subject to trafficking.
- The law enforcement agency determines that the person has gone missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances.
- The law enforcement agency believes that the person is in danger because of age, health, mental or physical disability, or environment or weather conditions, that the person is in the company of a potentially dangerous person, or that there are other factors indicating that the person may be in peril.
- The investigating law enforcement agency has utilized available local resources.
- There is information available that, if disseminated to the public, could assist in the safe recovery of the missing person.
That criteria determination is made by the person reporting them missing. Law enforcement then passes it on to CHP, which is required to issue that alert.
The California Highway Patrol advises anyone who sees Higginbotham to call 911.
Photo credit: KCRA 3