Tiffany Reid was 16 years old when she disappeared on her way to school on May 17, 2004. She has not been heard from since.
Tiffany asked her older sister, Deiandra, for a ride to Shiprock Northwest High School that morning, but Deiandra had just finished a graveyard shift and was too tired to get up. Tiffany set out on the ten-minute walk to school alone, carrying her usual black backpack and a purse with her nickname, "Kay-C," printed inside. She never arrived at school and has never been seen since.
Tiffany's makeup bag, purse, and library card were later found scattered at the base of the Carrizo Mountains near Sweetwater, Arizona, a well-known party spot for teenagers at the time, just over the New Mexico border. Clothing was also found in the area, but none of it could be positively identified as hers.
Because Tiffany had run away before and always returned, her mother didn't report her missing for a week. Police classified her as a runaway, a label her sister has said doesn't fit — Tiffany wasn't having problems in her life at the time. Years later, the family learned Tiffany's information had been accidentally purged from the national crime database during a system upgrade, meaning police may not have recognized her as a missing person for a period of time. In 2018, a woman gave the name "Tiffany Reid" to police outside Shiprock, briefly raising the family's hopes, but she was not Tiffany.
Tiffany's sister, Deiandra Reid, has spent more than two decades pushing for answers and has since become an advocate for other families of missing and murdered Indigenous people. Their mother passed away in 2019 still searching for Tiffany; Deiandra and a cousin continue the fight.
Tiffany may still be in the Shiprock or Sweetwater area, or she may have traveled elsewhere in Arizona or Mexico. Her family has never stopped looking.
How to report a tip:
Navajo Nation Police Department, Shiprock District: 505-368-1350