Nearly seven months have passed since 15-year-old Kylie Arellano disappeared from her Garden City, Utah, home. She was last seen by her family on Thursday, May 29, 2025. Her mother, Stephanie Coleman, is desperately trying to find Kylie and bring her home.
“Kylie has missed Jaedyn’s birthday, and my birthday, and her birthday,” Stephanie told Dateline. Jaedyn is Kylie’s younger sister. “That’s not Kylie. She would always make homemade cards. She would always go above and beyond to make sure we knew she loved us on our special day.”
“Kylie is one of the most artistic humans you will ever meet,” Stephanie said. “Everything is art to her, from music to poetry. Painting is her absolute favorite.”
The one word Stephanie uses to describe Kylie is genuine. “She is always thinking of others. She will always put others before herself,” she said. “She’s one of the most selfless people you’ll ever meet.”
Mother and daughter liked to spend time together in the kitchen. “We would cook together. She loved learning new dishes to make new meals,” Stephanie said. “Christmas was her favorite because we would always make homemade tamales.”
Christmas is fast approaching, and Kylie is still nowhere to be found.
Kylie didn’t grow up in Garden City — the family moved to the area in May of 2023. Stephanie says her daughter has been struggling with mental health issues, and was in therapy when she disappeared. She had also been the victim of a crime the previous year. “She’s gone through a lot,” Stephanie said.
Stephanie wasn’t home the night Kylie went missing, but says she stopped by the house after work and saw Kylie briefly before heading back out. “Physically seeing her, there was no signs,” Stephanie said. “Like, she was happy.” The two communicated via text that evening. “She goes, ‘I love you, Mama. Goodnight.’ I said, ‘I love you too, baby girl,’” Stephanie remembered. “That was at 9:44 p.m. Her phone turned off at 9:52 p.m.” Stephanie did say that “data was used on her line at 10:37 p.m.”
It wasn’t until the next morning that Kylie’s family realized she was missing. “Her jacket was in the drive– left in the driveway. Stuff was packed, her Xbox was gone. And Jaedyn called me, and she’s like, ‘Mom, Kylie’s gone,’” Stephanie recalled. In a follow-up text to Dateline, Stephanie said that Kylie bought a suitcase with skulls on it from a thrift store the day she went missing.
That’s why Stephanie believes Kylie left willingly, at first. “She did take things. I don’t think it was supposed to be for this long of a time,” she said.
Sheriff Dale Stacey of the Rich County Sheriff’s Office told Dateline his office got involved shortly after Kylie went missing. “I know the family personally,” he said. “Her mother called me.”
The sheriff explained that his department is very small. At one point over the summer, the office was down to just him and two deputies. Kylie is their only active missing person case. “But it’s not our only case that we’re working — and so we do try to put what effort we can into it,” he said.
Sheriff Stacey says when he got the call that Kylie was missing, he alerted a deputy who was closer to the house. “I called him, and he went right over,” he said. The sheriff’s office then alerted surrounding agencies that Kylie was missing. “Let them know that we were looking for her.” Stacey also noted they helped coordinate some drone searches for Kylie.
Stephanie conducted searches of her own. “I was calling everybody, just saying, ‘Is Kylie with you?’ I was texting everyone,” she said, adding that she went around to local businesses and neighbors, checking for any footage of Kylie. “Nobody has Kylie on any footage except for before she went missing.”
Stephanie and Jaedyn also went to search the area where Kylie’s phone last pinged. “It pinged not even 300 feet from my house, just south of my house. We searched all over out there. Her phone wasn’t there. There was no sign of her there,” Stephanie said.
Over the past few months, the Rich County Sheriff’s Office has received multiple reports of possible sightings of Kylie. “We’ve had a lot of reports from different areas,” Sheriff Stacey said. “People thinking they have seen her, ‘cause her picture’s out there.”
According to Stephanie, there was a sighting in Perry, Utah, on Saturday, May 31, just before noon. She believes it was definitely her daughter. Perry is more than an hour south of Garden City by car. “It was at a rest stop right off of I-15,” she said. “I believe this lady with every ounce of my soul.”
Stephanie says she spoke with the woman, who told her she stopped at the rest stop that day and while in the bathroom, noticed the handicap stall door was shut, but didn’t see any feet under the door. “The door unlocks to the handicap stall and Kylie comes walking out. She’s wearing a — a wig with long black hair and a beanie. I have photos of Kylie wearing the same beanie, wearing the same wig,” Stephanie said. “Kylie took it off, and Kylie started fixing her makeup. And Kylie was wearing all black clothing, black sweats, sweatshirts, um, sweatpants. She was wearing white tennis shoes. She had the — the suitcase with the skulls on it.”
“And this woman wanted to say something to Kylie ‘cause she’s like, ‘Oh, my gosh. This girl is so beautiful. Why is she covering herself up?’” Stephanie said. But the woman didn’t end up speaking to Kylie. Stephanie says the woman told her she then saw Kylie sitting on the rocks in front of the rest stop. “The lady went — walked out, got in her car and sat there. She said that she just had this feeling that something wasn’t right,” Stephanie said. “And when she was getting ready to step out, she looked in her mirror, and a Hispanic male walked up and approached Kylie.” Stephanie says the woman told her she couldn’t hear the conversation, but thought that the man had offered Kylie some food. “Because Kylie perked up, smiled and started walking off. And she thought it was Kylie’s dad, ‘cause Kylie’s half Hispanic and the man was Hispanic.” Stephanie said there were no cameras at that rest stop.
Dateline asked Sheriff Stacey about the reported sighting at the rest stop in Perry. He said he could not speak to that sighting specifically, but that it would have been looked into by the original deputy assigned to the case, who is no longer with the department. Stacey emphasized that his department has followed up on all potential sightings reported to his office. “The officers have contacted officers in those areas. We’ve gotten security footage, we’ve reviewed all that, and even taken that to her mother,” he said.
But none of those possible sightings have led to Kylie. “It’s just been frus– frustrating because we really would like to find her and make sure she’s safe,” Stacey told Dateline.
The sheriff confirms none of Kylie’s belongings have been found. He also says the deputies on the case did interview several people in Kylie’s circle, but nothing substantial came from those conversations. The office has also conferred with the FBI on Kylie’s case. “At least twice we’ve spoken with the FBI. They’ve looked at the case,” Stacey said. “Both times they told us it does not fit what they need to get involved.” Stephanie says she has also been talking to an FBI agent directly.
Dateline also contacted the FBI Salt Lake City bureau to ask about their involvement in Kylie’s case. A representative from the department replied via email that “the FBI is committed to assisting local law enforcement in any way possible to help find any missing persons, adults, and children.” The FBI did not comment on Kylie’s case specifically, but stated that they work closely with law enforcement to “provide resources and investigative techniques for missing person’s investigations” and that their “most challenging task upon the receipt of a missing person’s complaint is determining whether the investigation is an abduction, kidnapping, runaway, homicide, or fictitious report to cover up the death of a person.”
Sheriff Stacey told Dateline he knows Kylie personally and confirmed she is considered an at-risk kid. “She definitely had dealt with some difficult issues,” he said. The department believes Kylie ran away, but acknowledges that circumstances could have changed over the last few months. “There could be some things going on now that, um, are obviously not just a runaway-type situation,” Stacey said. “I don’t have any evidence to say that’s the case. But I believe that could be a possibility.”
Stephanie told Dateline she has some concerns that the Rich County Sheriff’s Office has not been doing enough to find her daughter. She says they did not go door to door asking if anyone had seen Kylie, and feels like they could be doing more to obtain warrants to search online accounts she believes are connected to Kylie. She also wants them to search the local landfill. Dateline asked Sheriff Stacey about those concerns, and he says his office did talk to some of the neighbors and local businesses about Kylie’s disappearance. He also says that officials have looked into some of Kylie’s online accounts, including Discord, but found nothing that would lead them to Kylie. He also said they need to have probable cause to get a warrant signed off on by a judge to search accounts they don’t know to belong to Kylie, and they do not currently have that probable cause. The sheriff’s office has not searched the landfill, according to Stacey, because the evidence has not led them there.
The sheriff says his office is actively investigating Kylie’s disappearance. “I just want people to know that we are doing what we can and will continue to do what we can,” he said. “I just want to help her and help her family.” Sheriff Stacey asks anyone with information about Kylie’s whereabouts to please contact his office. “We are more than willing to follow up on it,” he said. “We are willing to take help from any — any other agency or any person that might be able to know or to help her in any way.”
“I just want her to be found–– and safe,” the sheriff said. That’s all her mother wants, too. “I am keeping hope Kylie is out there,” Stephanie said. “I will never give up on Kylie.”
Stephanie then shared a message directly to Kylie: “Baby girl, just come home. If you don’t want to come home, just call somebody and let them know you’re OK.”
Stephanie has created the Facebook page “Help Bring Kylie Arellano Home,” to share photos of Kylie and updates on her case. “I don’t hold grudges. She knows I’m the most forgiving person,” Stephanie said. “She knows she can come home any — any time and I’ll have open arms and just love her.”
Kylie is 5’6” and 115 lbs., and would be 16 years old today. At the time of her disappearance, she wore braces. She has a few tattoos in black ink, including a cross on her right middle finger and her dog’s name, “Koda,” on her right ankle.
If you have information on Kylie’s whereabouts, please contact the Rich County Sheriff’s Office at 435-793-2285 or email secretary@richcounty.gov. You can reference Kylie’s case number: 25-R308.
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