Age-progressed image released in Darian Nevayaktewa disappearance
Submitted | National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Left: Darian Ray Nevayaktewa is shown in a 2008 photo, the year he disappeared from Kykotsmovi, Arizona, at age 19.
Right: An age-progressed image released by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children shows what Darian Ray Nevayaktewa may look like today at age 37.
WINDOW ROCK
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has released the first age-progressed image of Darian Ray Nevayaktewa, who disappeared from Kykotsmovi, Arizona, at age 19 in June 2008.
NCMEC forensic artists created the image to show what Nevayaktewa may look like today at age 37.
John Bischoff, the vice president of NCMEC’s Missing Children Division, asked people to review the new image carefully.
“Time does not diminish the importance of finding answers,” Bischoff said. “A single tip could help bring him home.”
Nevayaktewa was visiting his father on Hopi land after finishing the school year in New Mexico, where he lived with his mother. Investigators reported that he was last seen at a gathering near Pumpkin Seed Hill in Kykotsmovi. Witnesses confirmed seeing him there, but he has not been seen since.
An earlier missing-person poster circulated after his disappearance spelled his first name “Darion” and listed “Ootie” as his nickname. The poster states that he was last seen near Pumpkin Seed Hill on June 19, 2008.
Official records differ on whether Nevayaktewa was last seen June 19 or June 20. NCMEC and the earlier poster list June 19, while the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System list June 20.
Charles Addington, the principal director of Justice Services and Law Enforcement for the BIA, said Nevayaktewa’s disappearance remains under investigation. He asked anyone with information, no matter how minor, to contact investigators.
“Tips can be provided confidentially or anonymously, and even a single piece of information could help us locate Darian and bring long-awaited answers to his loved ones,” Addington said.
Information may be reported to NCMEC at 1-800-THE-LOST or to the BIA at 1-833-560-2065. Tips also may be emailed to OJS_MMU@bia.gov. Anonymous information may be submitted by texting BIAMMU and the tip to 847411.
As the new image was released, Nevayaktewa’s mother, Lynette, described the family’s 18-year search.
“We have been searching for Darian since June 2008. If anyone out there knows anything, please come forward. Darian, we miss you. We love you. We will never stop searching for you. Please help us bring Darian home.”
To read the full article, please see the July 16, 2026, edition of the Navajo Times.
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