On February 4, 2003, one day before her 5th birthday, Sofia was abducted between 8:00 pm and 9:15 pm, as she walked westbound in the 100 block of E. 15th Avenue, towards S. Washington Street, in Kennewick, WA. She told her mother, Maria, that she was going to the store. She was supposed to be accompanied by her grandmother's boyfriend. Her mother gave Sofia a dollar to spend at the store and assumed she caught a ride with the boyfriend. Sofia did not get into the car, however, and he left without her. When he returned from the store at 9:45 p.m. and said Sofia had not gone with him, Maria alerted the authorities. Sofia was wearing a red long-sleeved shirt, blue overalls, violet socks, white Converse sneakers, and gold hoop earrings. Sofia was missing her top four front teeth at the time of her disappearance. She has a mole under her eye, pierced ears, and a birthmark on her lower back.