Anyone with information is highly recommended to report to the Phoenix Police Department. The family suspects there is a local family harboring him in the Tempe/Guadalupe area. Chris's family is getting little assistance from the police due to the laws. The family is desperately trying to locate Chris.

What do you mean by the laws? I don't understand.

Police are not able to enter a home that Chris is suspected of being in. Without a warrant they cannot pickup Chris. This is what local police are telling the family. So, people can harbor Chris. Police can see Chris in their homes and if they do not allow the police in, there is nothing they will do other than tell the family where they last saw Chris.

Chris Augustine Acosta, 13, was last seen in Phoenix, Arizona, on January 16, 2026. Public missing-child records describe him as Hispanic with brown hair and brown eyes; he is listed with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children under NCMEC case number 2076278 and NCIC number M738774316. Later public notices list his current age as 14.

Very little about the circumstances of January 16 has been released. The notices do not give a Phoenix address, a time, clothing, whether he was on foot or in a vehicle, or any companion or destination. Authorities and missing-child organizations circulated his name, photographs and identifying information and asked anyone with information to contact the Phoenix Police Department or NCMEC.

Chris had been reported missing earlier on November 22, 2025, and was located then; the January disappearance is described as a separate incident.

Did anyone in Phoenix see Chris around mid-January or have information about where he might have gone?