Katya Marie Lyne

• Missing Since 03/21/1997
• Missing From Federal Way, Washington
• Classification Endangered Runaway
• Sex Female
• Race Hispanic
• Date of Birth 11/28/1981 (42)
• Age 15 years old
• Height and Weight 5'3, 125 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A white t-shirt, a black and white flannel pullover shirt, blue jeans and black boots.
• Distinguishing Characteristics Hispanic female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Katya has a mole above the right corner of her mouth, three dots tattooed on her left hand, and the letter K tattooed on her right ankle. Her right nostril is pierced and she may dye her hair another color. Her first name is pronounced "Ka-tee-ah." Katya may appear much older than her true age, possibly as much as seven or eight years older. She is of Salvadoran descent and has Hispanic features, but may appear to be Asian. She had a dental retainer at the time of her disappearance, but left it behind.

Details of Disappearance

Katya was living alone with her father, Pat Lyne, in Federal Way, Washington in 1997. She had a disagreement with him on March 21, 1997 over school. She was attending Auburn High School, but wasn't making good grades and had been missing class. Her father wanted her to transfer to Federal Way High School, and she didn't want to.

Katya left their residence at approximately 9:00 p.m. Her father realized she was missing the next morning, and reported her disappearance to the police the day after that. She left behind her shoe lifts, Social Security card, dental retainer and other personal items.

Pat took his own life four days after his daughter's disappearance, on March 25. He had been depressed over his unemployment and his divorce and may have tried to end his life three weeks earlier, when he was involved in a head-on collision with a semi but not severely injured.

Katya has never been seen again. Authorities theorize that she may have returned home sometime after March 21 and discovered her father deceased, then fled due to the tragic scene. She and her father were apparently very close and there is no indication that she was abused by either of her parents. There is also no evidence that she was involved with gangs.

Katya, who was born in El Salvador and was adopted by her American parents as an infant. She worked as a professional model prior to her 1997 disappearance. She has one older sister who was in college in 1997, and her mother was suffering from breast cancer. She had changed schools often and had many problems with her parents.

There have been unconfirmed sightings of Katya in the Puyallup, Seattle and Midway areas of Washington since she went missing. She was familiar with the Seattle area and had attended modeling school there. Her case remains unsolved.