As a citizen of the US, you do know what an Amber Alert is. It’s an emergency code that is pressed into use in the case of abducted children. Authorities use all forms of media and communication including Google, Yahoo, Bing and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to warn almost every demographic when it concerns a missing child. The alert saves more than 100 children every year in the US, but did you know about the tragic origins of the Amber Alerts? Yes, It was one little girl who inspired the move of the Amber Alert but unfortunately wasn’t saved herself.
This is the story of Amber Hagerman who was abducted by a stranger outside a supermarket 20 years ago while she was riding her bike. A Witness called the police but could only relate how he saw a dark truck driving away from the scene.
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It was January 13, 1996. Amber Hagerman aged 9 and her brother Ricky 5 was riding their bikes outside an abandoned grocery store in Arlington, Texas. Ricky soon left for home. Suddenly a truck driver pulled up and grabbed Amber and drove off with her. The witness Jim Kevin 78 was in his backyard when he saw the incident.
Says Kevin “I saw [Amber] riding up and down, she was by herself. I saw this pickup. He pulled up, jumped out and grabbed her. When she screamed, I figured the police ought to know about it, so I called them.”
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According to Jim descriptions, the abductor was either white or Hispanic. The police arrived within minutes but by then Amber’s grandfather Jimmie Whitson was driving down to the former Win Dixie store to se if she was ok. He was worried after he saw Ricky had returned home and Amber was alone. When he arrived he only found the cops scouting the area.
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According to authorities abductions by strangers are rare incidents and because of lack of witnesses and information, it is the most difficult to solve such cases. In the case of Amber, investigators had no leads at all and were stumped. They assumed that the abductor seeing Amber alone took advantage of the situation and snatched her on impulse.
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Children usually played on the vacant lot on East Abram Street which was close to the General Motors plant. The only thing they could think of was that the abductor knew the area.
Volunteers together with the local police and FBI began a massive search but they could not locate the vehicle. After four days, Amber’s body was found by a man who had taken his dog for a walk near Forest Hill Apartments which was close to where Amber had been abducted. The man spotted the child’s body at the bottom of a creek. It was Amber found in the most tragic circumstances possible. She had been murdered.
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The autopsy on the child showed that she had been sexually assaulted for two days during which time she was alive. The FBI and Arlington police arranged a task force to hunt down the killer but unfortunately, he was never found.
The task force was disbanded in 1999 and the case considered cold. Today after 20 years, Amber’s killer is still at large. Said detective Jim Ford “There would be nothing more important or rewarding than seeing this case get resolved because [it] is as bad as they get.”
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Just a few days after Amber was abducted, a Dallas radio station received a question from a caller Diana Simone from Forth Worth who asked “why can’t law enforcement team with the media to quickly provide information to the public when a child is abducted? The radio station hit upon the idea and that was how the Amber Alert was born.
It was first known as the Dallas Amber Alert but as soon as it caught on, it was used by the entire country. It became officially known as “The Amber Alert”. By 2008, The Amber Alert had spread to several countries including Canada, Mexico, France, Netherlands, and Australia and almost throughout Europe.
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According to the National Center for Exploited and Missing Children, the Amber Alert has contributed to rescuing almost 800 children. However, for one person, hearing an Amber Alert conjures up memories and that is Amber’s mother Donna Williams.
She says “It’s a shame my daughter had to be butchered and had to go through what she went through for us to have the Amber Alert. But I know she would be proud of it. Amber’s grandmother still has hope that the police will find her killer.”
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The origin of the Amber Alert became a huge movement. It is also an acronym that stands for “America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response.”The program run by the center for missing and exploited children is run along with the US Department of justice.
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Amber Hagerman’s Killer has roamed free since 1996. On the 20th anniversary of her death, the police department has pledged to find her killer even if it takes them years. The police believe that there were many other witnesses besides the old man. Most of them were immigrants who worked in the Laundromat where a similar looking truck had been parked before Amber was abducted. Despite the promise of reward and no deportation, none of them came forward to help.
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Today the police have received 8000 tips so far and have now said they will continue the hunt for Amber’s killer who presumably will be 45 today. Amber does deserve justice and her killer deserves to be punished for his malicious crime.
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