Blaine Police Department has announced that it needs the public’s help looking for a 15 year old who has been missing for over three months.
Rajan Chand, of Blaine, is described as being 5 feet 11 inches, 190 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Rajan left home the evening of December 28, 2023 and has not contacted family since.
Rajan’s father, Dipakh Chand, told The Northern Light that Rajan left all belongings at home, including a passport, ID and clothing. The family doesn’t know for certain what Rajan was wearing but believes it may have been nightwear.
“Rajan is someone who would not leave the house,” Dipakh said. “He’s a very kind, polite, heartfelt and caring person. … He’s always very well dressed up and cares a lot about his family, and that’s what shocks us how he has just left us.”
BPD asks that anyone with information on Rajan’s disappearance call 911.
In an April 5 Facebook post, BPD circulated a Washington State Patrol (WSP) missing persons poster of Rajan. Family members last saw the teenager on December 28, though the poster states Rajan was last seen the day before.
Rajan’s mother reported to a public entity around 9 a.m. December 29 that Rajan left home at 6 p.m. December 28. After friends told the family that they didn’t know anything about Rajan’s disappearance, Rajan’s parents officially reported their child as a runaway to Blaine police January 2.
“We kept it down low. We thought ‘he’s probably at his friends or something’ and it’s been a while that he hasn’t come home so we started searching,” Dipakh said. “It was out of our hands so we handed it to the police.”
Rajan was entered as a missing person/runaway in the National Crime Information Center’s (NCIC) Missing Person and Unidentified Person files on January 2, BPD sergeant Tim Richardson wrote in an email to The Northern Light. Both Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. Customs and Border Protection would immediately contact BPD if they encountered Rajan, Richardson said.
After not hearing from Blaine police, Dipakh said he contacted the department at the beginning of April and they asked him to fill out information for a WSP missing persons poster. The poster was circulated the next day, Dipakh said, though he said he wished the police had created the poster on their own earlier.
When asked why BPD waited until April 5 to ask for the public’s help in finding Rajan, Richardson wrote, “Rajan was entered into NCIC as a missing person/runaway that night. The flier is a standard part of the follow-up investigation. Rajan’s father called to see if there were any updates to the case or anything else that could be done. We coordinated with the parents and the WSP missing persons unit to obtain the flier. As soon as we got the flier, it was posted.”
Richardson said the police department couldn’t provide much information on the case due to legal constraints.
BPD did not immediately respond to a list of questions including what steps the police have taken to investigate Rajan’s disappearance and when those steps were taken, and whether the police department had a standard procedure for investigating and keeping track of missing persons/runaway cases.
Carrie Gordon, Washington State Patrol’s missing and unidentified persons unit director, said WSP’s role is to be an assisting agency to BPD, the case’s primary investigator. WSP's main responsibility is to create and upload to its website a missing person poster, which can be initiated by either a legal guardian or police.
WSP will also send out alerts in specific cases. The primary investigating agency determines whether an alert should be issued, such as an Amber Alert or Endangered Missing Persons Advisory, Gordon said. Each alert has its own criteria that needs to be met for it to be issued; for example, one of the criteria for an Amber Alert is that the missing person needs to have known to be abducted.
Dipakh said while he understood the constraints of a small police department, he hoped Blaine police could do more.
“Blaine police is helping, but they haven’t done much,” Dipakh said. “I understand that they can’t knock on every door and ask for Rajan, but they could do something.”
Dipakh said one of Rajan’s friends had told the family a couple of weeks ago she believed Rajan was in California, but the family doesn’t know why the friend believes that and doesn’t believe it’s possible if Rajan doesn’t have identification. Dipakh said he called Bellingham International Airport to see if Rajan had taken any flights, but was told the police needed to make that request.
“I’ve done everything that I can but there’s not much I can do when it comes to the public because nobody wants to give information,” Dipakh said.
Dipakh said Rajan was only known to go to friends’ houses in Blaine and Birch Bay. The family believes Rajan would have been found by now if the teenager was in Blaine and believes Rajan may be somewhere in Washington state.
“If anyone sees him, call 911 and find my son,” Dipakh said. “That’s all I care for right now.”
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