A 34-year-old Lancaster woman with autism and depression who vanished Thursday evening near 25th Street West has been found safe, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced early Friday. Kiersten Rebecca Jensen was last seen around 6:12 p.m. Thursday traveling southbound on 25th Street West in Lancaster, and her case had been classified as an at-risk missing person search before deputies confirmed she had been located.
According to a bulletin from LA County Sheriffs, Jensen is described as a white female standing 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing 180 pounds, with black hair, blue eyes and a tattoo on her left shoulder. She was last seen wearing a denim skirt, black tank top, pink Crocs, a turquoise necklace and earrings. The Sheriff’s Department’s Missing Persons Unit had asked the public for help locating her before announcing she had been found.
The department, led by Sheriff Robert G. Luna, thanked the public, media, its Aero Bureau and deputy personnel for their work on the search. A Nixle notification confirming the update was published Friday at 12:09 a.m. PDT, following the initial missing-person alert issued the night before.
Why the Case Moved So Fast
Jensen’s disappearance was handled under California’s legal framework for vulnerable missing adults. Under Penal Code Section 14215, a missing person with a cognitive impairment, developmental disability, or severe medical or mental condition is legally defined as at-risk, a classification that triggers expedited police response protocols across California law enforcement agencies, according to the Long Beach Police Department Policy Manual. Because Jensen suffers from autism and depression, that designation meant deputies could not impose any waiting period before acting…