It was 3:30 a.m. and Colorado AMBER Alert Coordinator Kristina Bomba was asleep when she received a call from dispatchers. The Alamosa County Sheriff's Office wanted to issue an AMBER Alert. At 2 a.m., August 28, authorities said 28-year-old Justin Lamar Lampkins allegedly kidnapped his 5-month-old daughter Avaya May after cutting the throat and ear of the baby's mother. “Don't move or I will kill you,” Lampkins allegedly told the child's mother.
“AMBER Alerts do not always come at the most convenient time,” said Bomba. To make matters worse, the Democratic National Convention was being held in Denver at the time, and law enforcement and the media were stretched to the limit. Bomba sent out the AMBER Alert at 4:24 a.m. from her home computer.
“We sent out the AMBER Alert and we had indications that the initial notification was not working,” said Bomba. She called the Emergency Alert System station, Traffic Operation Center and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and relayed the information by phone and e-mail.
Colorado's initial system sends out AMBER Alert notifications to computers, law enforcement car computers, fax machines, and a text to law enforcement teletype. Bomba then used her back-up list serve to send the AMBER Alert out by e-mail at 4:40 a.m.
“I was not too panicked because we had a back-up system,” said Bomba.
At 6 a.m. a police officer who had heard the AMBER Alert spotted the suspect's vehicle. The child was recovered safely and the suspect was arrested. The cancellation of the AMBER Alert was delayed until 6:44 a.m. so authorities could first notify the child's mother.
“I think it is great whenever we can get the child recovered safely and as quickly as we did,” said Bomba. Still the AMBER Alert Coordinator had to figure what went wrong with the initial notification. The system has been fixed but Bomba worked with others to create additional back-up plans.
Alamosa County Sheriff's Sergeant Harry Alejo sent this e-mail to Bomba after the alert. “I would like to thank the AMBER Alert organization for the assistance I received,” wrote Alejo. “The response that went out and the calls in to assist me in my investigations were unbelievable. In the small town of Alamosa and as the only investigator on the department, I was thankful and did not feel that I was alone when I was looking for the vehicle and baby.”
“We were worried the suspect was going to leave the state,” added Alamosa County Sheriff Dave Stong. “The AMBER Alert gave us lots of eyes-and-ears looking for this child.”
“It could have been horrible had we not had a backup,” said Bomba. She has been involved with Colorado's AMBER Alert Plan since it was set up in April 2002. Bomba has been working since then to improve and refine the plan so the AMBER Alerts work even if something fails.
“I feel pretty comfortable with the process of issuing AMBER alerts,” said Bomba.
The child has been reunited with her mother, and the suspect is now facing kidnapping, burglary, and assault charges.