Katherine A. Arias
Arias, circa 2022
- Missing Since 06/21/2022
- Missing From Red Bank, New Jersey
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Sex Female
- Race Hispanic
- Age 33 years old
- Height and Weight 5'0, 100 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description A gray t-shirt and blue jeans.
- Medical Conditions Arias was diagnosed with schizophrenia three years prior to her disappearance. She needs psychiatric medication to control her condition, and she doesn't have her medicine with her.
- Distinguishing Characteristics Hispanic female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Arias's hair was cut short at the time of her disappearance. Her nickname is Kathy. She speaks Spanish as well as English.
Details of Disappearance
Arias was last seen in Red Bank, New Jersey on June 21, 2022. She walked out of her home with a blue duffel bag at 8:00 p.m. Her mother, who lived with her, saw her leave and assumed she was going to the laundromat to wash clothes. Arias's stepfather arrived home at 11:00 p.m., and Arias still wasn't back home and wasn't answering her phone. Her family began searching for her at this time.
According to Arias's family, when the covid pandemic started she was extremely fearful of contracting the disease and her mental health deteriorated. Just two days before her disappearance, her mother and stepfather both tested positive for covid.
After Arias's parents reported her missing on June 22, authorities checked her credit card and learned she'd purchased a train ticket to Brooklyn, New York the night she disappeared. Two unknown purchases were made on her credit card in New York City on June 22. Activity on Arias's Facebook account suggested she was at a laundromat on 9th Avenue in New York City on July 23, but when police went to the laundromat they didn't find her.
In August 2022, two months after Arias'd disappearance, her family got a letter from a storage facility in Brooklyn saying she hadn't made payments on a small storage unit she rented on June 22. The unit contained an empty cellular phone box, a laptop computer, and the duffel bag Arias had left her house with. The laptop was encrypted and authorities have not been able to access its contents. The phone box was for a government-subsidized phone which was deactivated on September 5, 2022.
At the time of her disappearance, Arias had a cellular phone connected to a VoIP provider, meaning the phone number wasn't permanently assigned to her and could be reassigned to someone else if she stopped using the phone. Her family called the number many times and left many messages, but never got a reply, except once when someone answered and said, "Kathy's not here" before the line went dead.
Because Arias didn't take her psychiatric medicine with her, she is considered to be in danger. Her case remains unsolved.
Updated 1 time since October 12, 2004. Last updated October 25, 2024; casefile added.