Turquoise Alert Issued for Missing 16-Year-Old Girl, Family Say It’s ‘Out of Character’ for Her to Not Return Home By Bailey Richards

Authorities in Arizona are asking for the public’s assistance in locating a missing teenage girl.

On Sunday, Nov. 2, authorities in Mesa, Ariz., issued a statewide turquoise alert for 16-year-old Yolyn Hermios. The City of Mesa Police Department shared the alert for the missing and endangered teen alongside a photo of her on Facebook.

Hermios was last seen at around 6:50 p.m. local time on Saturday, Nov. 1, near Broadway Rd. and Dobson Rd., according to Mesa police. “She has not been seen or heard from since,” an earlier alert for the teen reads. “Family is concerned for her welfare since it is out of character for her to be gone for an extended period of time.”

The Pacific Islander teen was last seen wearing red shorts, a black shirt and black shoes, according to the alert. She has brown hair with “green faded highlights” and brown eyes. She is 4 feet, 11 inches tall and weighs 110 pounds.

Four hours after the alert was issued, a spokesperson for the City of Mesa Police Department told PEOPLE, “I do not have any updates at this time.”

Turquoise alerts aim “to locate the missing endangered person through efficient information dissemination and communication that results in the safe and expedient recovery,” according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZDPS).

The system is also referred to as “Emily’s Law,” in reference to 14-year-old Emily Pike, who went missing from a Mesa, Ariz., group home in January. She was found dismembered in trash bags near the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation a month later.

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Emily’s Law was put in place “to honor and memorialize the life” of Pike, a San Carlos Apache Tribal member, the AZDPS website states.

Turquoise alerts are issued if the endangered individual meets specific criteria. According to the AZDPS website, they must be “under the age of 65” and “the law enforcement agency investigating the missing person report has used all available local resources.”

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The individual must have “gone missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances,” and the agency investigating their disappearance must have determined that they are not a “runaway as the only reason they went missing,” per the AZDPS — unless there is evidence they are “missing and endangered due to aggravating factors.”

Authorities must also believe that the individual is in danger, “in the company of a potentially dangerous person,” or may otherwise be in peril.

Another criteria for the alert is that “there is information that, if disseminated to the public, could assist in the safe recovery of the missing person.”