The Tragic Unsolved Case of Amber Hagerman and How It Inspired The Amber Alerts

4Abductions by strangers were rare

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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5After four days…..

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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6Task force formed but the killer couldn’t be found

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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7The origin of the Amber Alert

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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