South Carolina AMBER Alert Coordinator Alexandra Schelble has spent nearly a decade behind the state’s alerts. What she wants new coordinators to know starts with taking care of themselves.
When Schelble thinks about a missing child, she doesn’t think about criteria or protocols first. She thinks about what she would need if it were her family. “I think about how hard I would want someone to work and the compassion I would need if I was living the nightmare of having a child missing,” she says.
Schelble is a Special Agent with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), assigned to the Missing Persons Information Center (MPIC) within the SLED Fusion Center. She is South Carolina’s AMBER Alert and Statewide Alerts Coordinator and manages the state’s Missing Person Clearinghouse. SLED is an assisting agency, she explains, and part of its mission is to provide manpower and technical assistance to local, state, and federal law enforcement partners.
From Military Family to Fusion Center
Schelble was born in the Azores, Portugal, where her father was stationed in the U.S. Air Force. The family later lived in Maine and New Mexico before settling in Sumter, South Carolina, where her father retired and where she spent most of her childhood.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in criminology and psychology from Coker College and began her career as a Class 2 Detention Officer at the Sumter-Lee Regional Detention Center. In 2016, she joined SLED’s Criminal Justice Information Services division, working in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Unit. For a year and a half, she trained agencies on entering wanted persons and protection orders.
In July 2017, she moved to the SLED Fusion Center to handle South Carolina’s three statewide alerts: the AMBER Alert, the Endangered Person Notification System, and the Blue Alert. In 2019, she took on the duties of the MPIC and attended the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy to become a Special Agent.
What the Job Demands
Ask Schelble what it takes to succeed in the role and she keeps it practical. “Effective communication and networking are crucial,” she says, along with the ability to problem-solve under stress “where time is of the essence.” Coordinators must also be adaptable and resilient, she adds, and willing to “think outside the box.”
A Case That Stays With Her
On Thanksgiving Day 2022, the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office asked SLED for help after finding the mother of a 5-year-old girl named Aspen dead in her home, the apparent victim of a homicide. Investigators determined the shooting of the mother had occurred around November 1. Aspen, who has multiple physical and developmental disabilities, was missing, along with her biological father, Antar Jeter, who was quickly named a person of interest.
SLED followed leads involving numerous local, state, and federal agencies. “Every tool, database, contact, and skill was used in an effort to locate Aspen and apprehend Jeter,” Schelble says. The search crossed state lines and multiple jurisdictions before the pair were found in Danville, Virginia, on December 9. Aspen was recovered safe.
Two things made the difference, Schelble says: communication and collaboration. Jeter later pleaded guilty and was sentenced in August 2025 to 30 years in prison. The most recent update Schelble received showed Aspen adopted, “making amazing progress, and happy!”
Learning the Ropes
When Schelble first took on the Coordinator role, Carly Tapp with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) showed her the ropes. She later attended the National AMBER Alert Symposium, where she learned how other states operate and met peers who offered advice and help.
That experience shapes her counsel to others. “Take the trainings, attend the conferences, and make the connections and network,” she says.
Then she adds the advice she considers most important: “Take care of yourself. This work is emotionally demanding, and you cannot pour from an empty cup. If you don’t protect your own well-being, you won’t have the clarity or energy needed to help the families counting on you.”
Connect with Alexandra Schelble through the Portal.