When 16-year-old Rosa Maria Valentin didn't return home from work in Hartford, Connecticut

1 July 9 in 1986, her family jumped into action to try and find her.

But at every turn the family's fears were dismissed

and Rosa was regarded as a runaway.

That is, until more than a year later, when another teenage girl disappeared under similar circumstances.

I'm Kylie Lowe, and this is the case of Rosa Maria Valentin on wasn't home from her shift at work.

According to reporting by Theresa Sullivan-Barger for the Hartford Current,

Rosa's father, Juan, was strict with all of his kids, especially his daughters who lived in

Hartford at the Charter Oak Terrace Public Housing Project with him, and his girls weren't

allowed to be out after dark.

So with the clock ticking later and later, Juan began to worry.

And so did Rose's sister, Gudelia.

What Gudelia knew, but her father didn't, was that Rosa's shift at Batasin Dry Cleaning actually

ended at five o'clock that day, not seven like she told her father.

Rosa was known to pad her hours a bit bit so she'd have time to hang out with

friends before dad expected her home. So by the time Juan was waiting at the door for Rosa,

three hours had already passed since the end of her shift.

With the sun setting, Juan started trying to track his daughter down himself.

When his efforts to figure out where she went after work came up empty,

Juan contacted police.

Hartford Police, however, did not share in the Valentin family's concern.

Juan was told by an officer that he needed to wait 24 hours

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