As a courtroom takes up the death of a Lake Elsinore teen, new data shows Riverside County’s runaway numbers climbing

THOUSAND PALMS, Calif. (KESQ) Riverside County logged 5,373 reports of a missing child last year according to according to data released by the California Department of Justice. That’s about 15 a day. Nearly all of those reports in 2025, were runaways 5,328.

The county had 4,385 such reports in 2024. The 2025 figure is 988 higher  an increase of close to 20%, according to a News Channel 3 review of the state data, the largest jump of any county in California.

Most of the state moved the other way. DOJ figures show reports statewide fell more than 4% last year…

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