Chris Augustine Acosta was 13 years old when he was last seen in Phoenix, Arizona, on January 16, 2026. Chris is male, and public missing-child information identifies him as Hispanic, with brown hair and brown eyes. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children lists him under NCMEC case number 2076278 and NCIC number M738774316, while later public notices list his current age as 14. The information released about the circumstances surrounding January 16 is limited.
The public notices located for his case do not identify a specific Phoenix address where he was last seen, the time he disappeared, what clothing he was wearing, whether he was traveling on foot or in a vehicle, or who may have been with him. Instead, the official missing-child notice simply records Phoenix as the location and January 16 as the day Chris was last seen, leaving many of the events surrounding his disappearance unknown to the public.
Chris's disappearance in January was not the first time concern had been raised about his whereabouts. MissingNoMore reports that he had previously been reported missing from Arizona on November 22, 2025. According to that organization, Chris was subsequently found after that earlier incident. The disappearance beginning January 16, 2026, was specifically described as a new and separate occurrence rather than a continuation of the November case. That history adds an important part to the story because Chris had already been the subject of a search only a short time before he disappeared again. No publicly located source provides detailed information explaining what led to either incident, where Chris had gone during the earlier disappearance, how he was located, or whether investigators believed the two episodes were connected in any way. Because those details have not been publicly established, there is no responsible basis for assuming that Chris ran away, was taken by someone, met with foul play, or disappeared for any particular reason.
After the January disappearance, Chris's photograph and identifying information were circulated through missing-child organizations in an effort to reach anyone who might recognize him or know where he had gone. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children directed anyone with information to the Phoenix Police Department, which is the law-enforcement agency associated with his missing-child poster. Other missing-person organizations also circulated his information and photographs, identifying him by his full name, Chris Augustine Acosta, and emphasizing that even seemingly minor information could help investigators determine what happened after he was last seen. Publicly released information remains unusually sparse: there is no detailed timeline of his final known movements, no published description of a vehicle connected to the disappearance, no publicly identified companion or suspect, and no disclosed destination that Chris was believed to be traveling toward.
Anyone who has information about Chris or recalls seeing him around the time he disappeared has been asked to contact the Phoenix Police Department at 602-262-6151. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children can also receive information through 1-800-THE-LOST. With so few circumstances publicly known, eyewitness information, a remembered encounter, knowledge of someone Chris may have contacted, or information about where he intended to go could potentially help authorities reconstruct his movements. In overview, the publicly documented case concerns Chris Augustine Acosta, a 13-year-old boy last seen in Phoenix on January 16, 2026, only weeks after an earlier missing-person incident from which he had been located. Authorities and missing-child organizations have circulated his name, photographs and identifying information, but the precise circumstances of his January disappearance have not been publicly explained, leaving the central questions of where Chris went after he was last seen and what happened afterward unanswered in the information released to the public.Last Seen: Jan 16, 2026
