Amber Hagerman was a typical nine-year-old girl. She lived with her parents and younger brother in Arlington, Texas, loved to ride a bike and was on the scout team. Her life was no different from the lives of millions of girls who grew up in America in the 1990s. And then one terrible winter afternoon, it all changed…
It was January 13, 1996. To make the most of a sunny, winter day, Amber and her five-year-old brother Ricky rode their bikes to the parking lot in front of an abandoned store. Someone set up bicycle ramps there and all the children from the area came here to ride and play.
After a while, Ricky decided to go home and Amber was left alone. Just moments later, she was abducted!
Retired 78-year-old car mechanic Jim Kevil was the only witness to the crime. He lived not far from the parking lot and saw a black (or blue) pick-up stop and the driver grab the girl and push her into the truck. Amber screamed and struggled, but she just wasn't strong enough.
Jimmy immediately called the police and the team was on the spot in a few minutes.
Missing girl!
Jimmy described the kidnapper as "a white or Hispanic man, aged 25 to 40, of average height and build." This didn't help much. Situations for a complete stranger to abduct a child were extremely rare and difficult to resolve precisely because there was not much evidence to start from. However, the police started searching the surroundings in detail, especially looking for a black (or blue) pick-up.
More than 50 police and federal agents were looking for Amber. Family, but also neighbors and friends joined the search, and soon the whole community was desperately looking for the girl. Unfortunately, nothing helped…
Five days after the abduction, a random passerby walking the dog found the girl’s body in a creek that was coming over due to a storm that raged the night before. The place was less than 10 kilometers away from the parking lot from which Amber was abducted.
She was completely naked, except for one sock that remained on her leg. An autopsy showed that the kidnapper kept Amber alive for at least two days after the kidnapping. She was beaten and raped before her neck was cut.
Arlington police concluded that the swollen water had brought the body to the place where it was found and that it was impossible to determine where it had previously been. Forensics was not very helpful either. The water washed most of the evidence from the body and the detectives didn't really have a place to start.
The phone at the station rang from time to time and people shared certain information, but in the end - all clues turned out to be false.
To this day, the case of the abduction and murder of Amber Hagerman remains unsolved.
An accident that changed the laws!
News of Amber Hagerman’s tragic fate spread like wildfire across America. She was also seen on television by a certain Diane Simon from Fort Worth, Texas, and the story shook her a lot. Although she knew neither Amber nor her family, she herself was a mother and deeply sympathized with the parents of the unfortunate girl.
So she came up with an idea that eventually changed everything!
Diane went to a local radio station with a revolutionary idea. If the media is already issuing warnings about upcoming storms and bad weather, why not report child abduction cases as well?
If the local community had immediately found out that Amber had been abducted, maybe someone would have seen the pick-up and reported it to the police?
Maybe the girl would be found alive?
Maybe everything would be different? And the idea came to life!
First, the media in Texas started cooperating with the local police in order to jointly develop a warning system in case of child abduction. During 1996, other jurisdictions across the state began establishing similar public information systems, and over time, the U.S. National Amber Alert Program was established.
How does the system work?
Amber alert (America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) means information that is urgently and simultaneously transmitted on all possible channels of mass communication - television, radio, telephone, LED billboards, GPS navigation, social networks… The program is terminated and the public throughout the country immediately learns about the disappearance of the child, his appearance and characteristics, when he disappeared, where he was last seen, what he was wearing and who to contact in case they see something.
The Amber alert is not always advertised but only when the police assess that all pre-agreed criteria have been met.
According to the data from the official website, it is believed that by this year, almost 1000 children have been saved thanks to this system. According to Robert Hover of the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, about 95% of Amber alert cases are resolved within 72 hours.
By February 2005, all US states had accepted the Amber alert, and a similar system exists in 22 other countries around the world.
Although the principle is the same, Amber alert is not called that everywhere. In Georgia there is a "Levi's call" (in memory of Levi Fradi), in Havi "a Mail Amber alert" (in memory of a Mail Gilbert), in Arkansas a "Morgan Nick Amber alert" (in memory of Morgan Nick) and Uti “Rachel alert” (in memory of Rachel Ranian).
In Serbia, the Tijana Jurić Foundation has been advocating for the introduction of child abduction alarms since 2015, and recently launched the Amber Alert Serbia website, where those interested can learn all about this system and the way it could work.
Interruption of programs on all television and radio stations due to the notification of the child's disappearance, and a parallel warning of the same content on the information panels of stations, motorways and airports - should soon become a Croatian reality. At the initiative of the Osijek Center for Missing and Abused Children
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