Blaine teenager missing for four months found safe

A 15-year-old Blaine resident has returned home after being missing since late December 2023.

Blaine Police Department (BPD) sergeant Tim Richardson wrote in an email to The Northern Light that Rajan Chand returned home at 12:45 p.m. May 6. Richardson said Chand’s parents informed the police department that the teenager was in good health, but didn’t mention where Chand had been.

Chand had left home on December 28, 2023 and, after not receiving information from the teenager’s friends, the parents filed a report to BPD on January 2. BPD asked the public for help looking for Chand in an April 5 Facebook post after Chand’s father had followed up with the department in early April.

Chand’s father had previously voiced frustration to the newspaper how the police department had handled the investigation.

Richardson had said in mid-April that the department had received anonymous information that the child was either in Bellingham or the San Francisco area. Blaine police chief Rodger Funk had said at the time there was a lot of information the police department couldn’t share as it was an active investigation.

BPD posted on April 29 that Chand had been seen that evening in the 2800 block of W. Maplewood Avenue in Bellingham but left before Bellingham Police Department arrived.