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It was nearing dusk one Sunday evening last November when Hillsborough County deputies in Tampa, Florida, were notified about a missing 9-year-old child with autism. With weather conditions worsening, deputies could not use an air unit to help search for the child, but a SafetyNet bracelet he was wearing allowed them to pinpoint his location. SafetyNet works by allowing law enforcement agencies access to GPS information from bracelets worn by those with cognitive conditions when they go missing. The child, who was hiding behind an air conditioning unit, was found about 20 minutes after the signal was detected.

When Chinese exchange student Kai Zhuang was reported missing in December from his host high school in Riverdale, Utah, authorities traced his location by analyzing call data and bank records. Police found the 17-year-old alone in a tent in rural Utah, amid freezing temperatures and with limited food and water, the apparent victim of a cyber-kidnapping scam. Zhuang was unharmed, but the damage was done—his parents in China had already paid “kidnappers” an $80,000 ransom. Zhuang’s case represents a growing type of fraud where cybercriminals target exchange students, particularly Chinese students, tricking them into believing their families are being threatened. They force terrified victims to take photos of themselves bound and gagged, which are then used to coerce the family into paying ransom. The cyber kidnappers continue to extort the family by using photos and voice recordings of the victim that give the impression the kidnappers are with the victim and causing them harm, Riverdale police said. With the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), experts believe the crimes will continue.

In the aftermath of his son Adam’s kidnapping and murder in 1981, John Walsh became a victim’s rights activist, political lobbyist, and creator of the TV program, “America’s Most Wanted,” which he hosted until 2013. The popular show was credited with helping solve missing child cases, including the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart, featured on one of its episodes. In January, Walsh returned to “America’s Most Wanted,” this time with son Callahan Walsh as co-host and co-producer. To help find more missing kids, “America’s Most Wanted” is also working directly with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). “Partnering with NCMEC is so vital to the return of ‘America’s Most Wanted,’” said Callahan, who is also the executive director of NCMEC’s Florida office. “By featuring these cases on the show, we’re putting these missing children in front of a national audience...It’s going to be such a powerful tool to help bring kids home.”

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Advances in rapid DNA sequencing are helping to solve missing persons cases long gone cold, such as that of 20-year-old Ashley Loring Heavyrunner, who disappeared from Montana’s Blackfeet Reservation in 2017. New testing kits can extract thousands of genetic markers from unidentified human remains, making it easier to link them to missing persons. Because few genetic data are available for Native Americans, Hopi Tribe member Haley Omeasoo, a classmate and distant relative of Heavyrunner, decided to pursue forensic anthropology to help locate missing Indigenous people. As a Ph.D. student at the University of Montana, Omeasoo and her graduate advisor, anthropologist Meradeth Snow, are working with the Blackfeet Tribe to create a DNA database of tribal members that can be compared with unidentified human remains. More than 4,000 sets of human remains are found in the U.S. each year; about a quarter remain unidentified, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Nearly 5,500 reports of missing Indigenous women and girls were filed in 2022 alone. Omeasoo is hopeful Ashley Heavyrunner will be found alive, but she knows that her DNA work could ultimately identify her friend’s remains. If that happens, she hopes it will at least give the family closure.

Leah Gazan, a member of Canada’s Parliament, is leading discussions on a proposed “Red Dress Alert” system for missing Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit (gender-diverse) people, who face a murder rate six times that of other females. Similar to AMBER Alerts for children, Red Dress notifications would be sent to the public on their phones. Ottawa, which recognized the crisis as a national emergency, included funding for an alert system in the federal budget in March 2023. Calling it a matter of life or death, Gazan is urging the federal government to implement the Red Dress program before the next election.

Despite being separated during childhood, two Sioux City, Iowa, sisters and members of the Winnebago Tribe reunited as adults and set out to learn more about their Native American heritage. While digging into their family history, Trisha Rivers and Jessica Lopez-Walker learned of an aunt, Paulette “Paulie” Walker, who left Iowa for California in 1984, and shortly afterward was murdered. The sisters struggled to understand why no one reported the young woman missing, and now aim to have her remains returned to Iowa for burial near family. Their aunt, whose case remains unsolved, is one of the countless Indigenous women who suffer disproportionately higher rates of violence, sexual assault, and murder compared to the rest of the U.S. population. The sisters’ work with the nonprofit organization Great Plains Action Society involves helping find missing or murdered Indigenous people (MMIP) and providing support for other issues Iowa’s Indigenous population faces. Native Americans made up 1.5 percent of missing persons cases in Iowa, despite the state’s Native American population accounting for less than one half of 1 percent, according to an Iowa Public Radio report. “Native women and girls, our relatives, are not expendable,” Rivers said, adding that they’re seeking better treatment for Native communities.

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A novel use of technology is helping to locate missing children around the world, including 9-year-old Phillista Waithera, who vanished in Nairobi in 2021. Two years later, she was reunited with her immediate family with the use of Face Age Progression (FAP) technology, which utilizes an Artificial Intelligence (AI) app to create photos of the child to show what they would look like now. In 2021 alone, the Kenyan nonprofit Missing Child Kenya Foundation located 298 children using AI, according to CEO and founder Maryanna Munyendo. And in central China’s Hubei Provence, a group of students at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) developed an AI system to restore and enhance old blurry photos of children who went missing decades earlier. More than 1,000 photos have been restored to improve clarity, helping reunite 11 missing children, like Sun Zhuo, a 4-year-old abducted in 2007 from his daycare in Shenzhen Province and rejoined with his biological parents in 2021 at age 18.

Ukraine officials have identified more than 19,000 children illegally removed from their homes and taken to Russia or Russia-controlled territory since the war began in February 2022. In some cases, Russian authorities took hundreds of children from Ukrainian orphanages and schools, according to Russian documents gathered by Lyudmyla Denisova, a former Ukraine human rights official. Many children were removed on the pretext of rescuing them from the war zone, or lured with the promise of attending camp. Others were taken from hospitals. Russian authorities have placed children with foster families, and President Vladimir Putin opened the way for Russian families to adopt Ukrainian children. The Russian strategy is deliberate, premeditated, and systematic, according to evidence collected by Ukrainian and international human rights and war crimes organizations. In March 2023, The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Putin and another official, a move that has made it easier to return children. Charities such as Save Ukraine and SOS Children’s Villages Ukraine have taken up the cause, and in recent months have tracked down and returned 387 children to their families.

Dozens of migrant children who sought protection after fleeing war-torn countries have vanished in Ireland since 2017. A 2023 report published by University College Dublin’s (UCD) Sexual Exploitation Research Programme (SERP) indicates some of the children were victims of organized sexual exploitation. Of the 62 who are missing, 44 have reached their 18th birthday and, because they are no longer minors, child welfare has ceased searching for them. MECPATHS (Mercy Efforts for Child Protection Against Trafficking with the Hospitality and Services Sectors), a nonprofit group raising awareness of child trafficking and exploitation in Ireland, said the report confirmed what frontline workers have been telling the organization for years. “Sexual exploitation, forced labor, forced begging, criminal exploitation, forced marriage, the removal of organs, and domestic servitude—it is all happening in Ireland,” said Ann Mara, the organization’s education manager. “So, the fact that these children are missing, and there is a kind of a shrug of the shoulders, is just mind-boggling.”

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General Augusto Pinochet’s 17-year reign of terror resulted in tens of thousands of Chileans killed, tortured, and imprisoned—and an estimated 20,000 newborns were stolen and put up for adoption abroad. Pinochet was deposed in 1990, but the thousands of families whose babies were illegally taken still feel the pain. To help them and their missing children find answers, the Chilean nonprofit group Nos Buscamos has partnered with online genealogy platform MyHeritage to provide free at-home DNA testing kits for Chilean adoptees and victims of child trafficking. The effort is paying off: One American man has been given his birthright back. In late summer 2023, Nos Buscamos helped Jimmy Lippert Thyden locate his biological mother in Chile after 42 years. Thyden’s DNA test matched him to a first cousin who connected him with his birth mother, Maria Angelica Gonzalez. Thyden soon traveled to Chile with his family to meet her. The NGO has orchestrated over 450 such reunions between adoptees and their birth families in the last decade.

Digital powerhouse Meta has joined forces with Brazil’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security to help locate missing children and adolescents up to age 18. In an agreement signed on the International Day of Missing Persons this past August, two of Meta’s platforms—Facebook and Instagram—have begun issuing emergency alerts for Brazil’s missing children. Emily Vacher, Meta’s Global Director of Responsibility and Safety, says the technology has been used in 30 countries since 1990 and resulted in locating more than 1,200 children. Meta hopes to expand the program to other platforms, including WhatsApp and Threads.

United States congressional delegates High Chief Uifa’atali Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen of American Samoa and James Moylan of the District of Guam are co-sponsors of a bill to raise mandatory minimum jail time from 15 to 25 years for convicted child traffickers. The bill, known as the Combating Human-Trafficking of Innocent Lives Daily (C.H.I.L.D.) Act of 2023, also requires uniform sentences for traffickers who exploit victims under the age of 18. The toughened law is expected to send a strong message to those who engage in child sex trafficking. “Human trafficking is one of the greatest crimes imaginable, yet it is a sad reality that we must defeat,” said Congresswoman Radewagen. “Thank you to Congressman Moylan for his leadership on this important issue as we fight for the lives and futures of vulnerable children.” Representatives Don Davis of North Carolina, Diana Harshbarger of Tennessee, and Don Bacon of Nebraska also co-sponsored the bill, which was introduced last September.

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The 25th Florida Missing Children’s Day event honored citizens, law enforcement officers, and K-9 teams for their exemplary efforts investigating missing persons, rescuing missing children, and preventing abductions. The September 11 ceremony in Tallahassee included a moment of remembrance for all the children who vanish each year. One of them was 14-year-old Demiah Appling, reported missing from Dixie County in October 2022. Her body was found two months later in neighboring Gilchrist County. Her uncle, David Appling, told Tallahassee’s WCTV that the ceremony was a moment of healing: “The people here, they understand. And they know, they explained to us it is OK to be sad, it’s OK to cry and show your emotions and not be ashamed of it.”

More than 200 sex trafficking victims, including 59 missing children, were rescued by the FBI during a coordinated two-week campaign last summer that involved federal, state, and local agencies across the country, working in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. “Operation Cross Country,” now in its 13th year, also led to the identification or arrest of 126 suspects of child sexual exploitation and human trafficking offenses; 68 suspects of trafficking were also identified and arrested.

The Santa Rosa County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office K-9 Bloodhounds Unit and K-9 “Zinc” took top honors this past September at the 2023 Southeastern States Manhunt Trials, Single Leash Division. The field trials, which are hosted by the Escambia County Road Prison, simulate conditions that law enforcement K-9 teams experience when searching for a suspect or lost child. The county’s K-9 Unit is comprised of 17 highly trained canines supervised by Sergeants Chrystal Bozard and Robert Lenzo.

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“Operation We Will Find You” has safely located and recovered 225 endangered missing children, including a 6-month-old infant. Led by the U.S. Marshals Service, which worked with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, the 10-week initiative was the first of its kind to involve state and local agencies in 15 areas with large clusters of critically missing children. Searches were conducted in Los Angeles County, San Bernardino County, and Riverside County areas from March 1 to May 15. According to law enforcement, more than 40 cases involved trafficking, and of the cases closed, 86 percent were endangered runaways.

Imposter scams have been around for years, such as ones involving callers claiming a grandchild has been in an accident or robbed—and needs money. In those cases, would-be kidnappers pose as the grandchild or use generic recordings of someone screaming in the background. These attempts to extort money weren’t always successful, but federal officials are now warning about a new virtual kidnapping fraud that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to clone a loved one’s voice. AI programs are inexpensive, easily accessible, and can create good voice likenesses from just a few seconds of dialogue taken from social media posts. The FBI reports that most scam calls involving AI originate from Mexico and target Latin communities in the southwestern U.S. These sophisticated ruses can be successful, with fake kidnappers stealing an average of $11,000 from each victim. To avoid getting scammed, families are advised not to mention upcoming trips on social media or to give financial information to strangers on the phone. They also should create a family password or phrase that can help identify whether a kidnapping is legitimate.

Police in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, were training to use a new technology called “Project Lifesaver” when an opportunity to effectively use it in real-time came with the report of an endangered missing child with a medical condition. Officers ended their training session and immediately began a search for the child, who to their relief, had previously been enrolled in the nonprofit Project Lifesaver program. The child was found in just 11 minutes using radio technology that tracks signals from a transmitter worn on the child’s wrist or ankle. The technology was developed to protect and locate “at risk” individuals with cognitive disorders and relies on specially trained search and rescue teams to use it. Beaver Dam police have been using the program since 2018, and the officers involved in locating the child are certified as electronic search specialists by the Project Lifesaver International organization.

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According to a newly released “2022 Missing American Indian and Alaska Native Persons: Age 21 and Under” report from the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), of the more than 10,000 cases of American Indian and Alaska Native youth reported missing in 2022, 65 percent were between the ages of 12 and 17; girls represented 4,000 of those cases compared to 2,500 males. Additional statistics from the report, based on data from the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC), showed that 190 of the case entries (about 4 percent) were for males under age 12, compared to 165 entries (3 percent) for missing girls under age 12. More detailed information can be found in the report.

In response to the ongoing crisis of people missing from Tribal communities, California has enacted a new Feather Alert. The statewide notification, similar to an AMBER Alert, can be issued for missing Indigenous people or Tribal members. “We’re hoping it’s beneficial, because we really need it,” said Keely Linton, who heads the Strong Hearted Native Women’s Coalition in Escondido. Linton noted that while much of the concern is for missing Indigenous women, some Tribes report more missing men.

Native Americans who lost loved ones to violence, or experienced injustice, testified during a Not Invisible Act Commission field hearing in Minneapolis. As part of the federal government’s efforts to address the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) crisis, Tribal members detailed their emotional losses and the apathy they experienced in trying to get cases investigated. They recommended more collaborative training between law enforcement and Tribes. Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, a Native American, said there is “an urgent and critical need” to keep communities safe and support those who have lost loved ones. The commission will use information gathered at its hearings to recommend best practices for solving MMIP cases.

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After an international manhunt, five missing and endangered children from the United States have been safely recovered in Mexico and their fugitive father and his girlfriend apprehended. Edgar Salvador Casian-Garcia and Araceli Medina—formerly on the U.S. Marshals Service’s 15 Most Wanted List—were charged not only with multiple counts of child sex abuse, but also for the murder of Casian-Garcia’s son, whose remains were found near the boy’s Pacific Northwest home. An official at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), which assisted law enforcement in the search, said the fugitives’ capture is testament to the importance of collaboration and community involvement in safeguarding children.

After being kidnapped by his foster parent and her mother, a 5-year-old U.S. boy was found safe in Vietnam and returned to his biologicalmother in Washington State. Foster guardian Amanda Dinges and her mother, Amber Dinges, fled with the boy after it appeared he would soon be transitioning back to living with his birth mother. After Diplomatic Service Security personnel obtained custody of the boy at the U.S. Consulate in Hanoi, the abductors were charged with second-degree kidnapping and first-degree custodial interference. Brittany Tri, the birth mother’s attorney, said the boy is doing well; his mother is unsure how he was able to leave the U.S., since she had never applied for him to have a passport.

The sweet face of 4-year-old Aranza Maria Ochoa Lopez in a “Stay Kind” shirt served as continual motivation for U.S. authorities who worked for nearly five years to find the girl, last seen in 2018 at a Vancouver, Washington, shopping mall. Earlier this year FBI agents got the long-awaited news that Aranza had been located in western Mexico, and shortly thereafter were able to escort the now 8-year-old back home. Though the girl’s mother, who had kidnapped Aranza, was taken into custody in Mexico in 2019, Aranza had remained missing. “For more than four years, the FBI and our partners [in the U.S. and Mexico] did not give up,” said Richard A. Collodi, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Seattle field office. What the girl had experienced while missing is unclear, but “our concern now will be supporting Aranza as she begins her reintegration into the U.S.”

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On March 3, 2022, 15-year-old Arina Yatsiuk and her family were trying to evacuate from Ukraine when Russian troops killed her parents and yanked her from their car. Now, the Ukrainian teen is the face of an alarming fallout from Russia’s invasion: She’s among thousands of Ukrainian children who have vanished. Ukrainian officials believe Russia has forcibly deported children and is attempting to “Russify” them. (And Ukraine’s Children’s Rights Commissioner reports more than 16,000 known cases of children who have been forcibly deported.) Some of the children are reportedly held in camps to be politically re-educated; others are put in institutions or orphanages, or quickly adopted and given citizenship, even as relatives search for them. Ukraine’s government, which is seeking help from the international community, has secured the return of about 300 children so far. Arina’s relatives remain hopeful. “We all believe she is alive, and we will soon find her,” her aunt said. “We are considering all options, including that she might have been adopted.”

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) report that more than 90 percent of AMBER Alerts in Canada’s most populous province have resulted in the safe recovery of the missing child. The OPP has issued 21 Alerts since 2018, an average of about four a year. In noting the effectiveness of the program, the OPP credits the public with being the eyes and ears in the safe recovery of children. They also urge people to be vigilant in checking AMBER Alerts and reporting incidents, even if they may seem insignificant. “Without your help, we might be reporting very different statistics today,” a department official said.

Fourteen European organizations have teamed up on a new campaign to help stop online child sex abuse and exploitation. The “Right in Front of Us” (#ChildSafetyOn) initiative aims to spread awareness of and seek support for legislation that would bring accountability to large tech companies such as Meta, Google, and TikTok. Under a new law the European Union is considering, the tech companies would be required to identify, remove, and report any child sexual abuse material on their platforms. “The proposed legislation is necessary and urgent to prevent and combat child sexual exploitation such as grooming,” said Anna Maria Corazza Bildt, president of Missing Children Europe. In addition to working with teachers and educators to strengthen the message, the campaign includes a website (childsafetyineurope.com) with videos and a petition supporting the proposed legislation.

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California’s largest Tribe and a longstanding leader in criminal justice issues is getting an assist in dealing with the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people. The U.S. Marshals Service has tapped Northern California’s Yurok Tribe as the pilot partner for its Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) Initiative. The Tribe’s priorities will drive specific areas of the collaboration, which could include training on missing child investigations and sex offender registration. “We are fully committed to supporting the Yurok Tribe’s efforts to keep their communities safe,” said U.S. Marshals Service Director Ronald L. Davis.

Calling Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) “an important lifeline to Americans,” two New York lawmakers are leading a charge to remove language barriers in the bulletins—a measure that could impact Tribal communities. (Larger Tribes such as the Navajo Nation already are working to share emergency alerts in their native language.) U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and U.S. Representative Grace Meng and 43 lawmakers who signed a bicameral letter urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to expand requirements beyond English and Spanish to ensure more of the nation can respond to such WEAs as AMBER Alerts and severe weather notices. Lawmakers pointed to 2021’s Hurricane Ida, when many Asian immigrants did not receive language-accessible warnings that could have alerted them to, and protected them against, deadly flash flooding.

Colorado has become the second state to implement a Missing Indigenous Person Alert system. The new public alert, designed in response to the disproportionately high number of Indigenous people who are missing or have been murdered, comes on the heels of a similar one launched in Washington State. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation operates the system, which is the result of Indigenous advocates to pass legislation to raise awareness about missing members of Tribal communities. “It just feels like we’re always put on the back burner,” said Southern Ute member Daisy Bluestar, member of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Taskforce of Colorado, which advocated for the alert.

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“Take It Down,” a free online service run by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), is helping remove sexually explicit images or videos depicting children under age 18. And NCMEC’s work is paying off: Since “Take It Down” launched in December 2022, more than 200 cases have been resolved. The process works by assigning a unique digital fingerprint, or hash value, to specific images or videos. Participating tech platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Pornhub, and OnlyFans, use the hash values to detect and remove the disturbing imagery from their sites. Individuals also can submit a request to remove explicit visual content.

A new state law in Utah—designed to improve the criteria for issuing AMBER Alerts—went into effect May 3. Representative Ryan Wilcox of Ogden sponsored HB266 which prohibits law enforcement from issuing AMBER Alerts for runaways or child custody disputes unless the child faces a credible threat of imminent danger. Wilcox told KSL.com that the overuse of AMBER Alerts has caused people to opt out of receiving the alerts or ignore them, which diminishes their effectiveness. Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed the bill into law in March.

In May 2023, Texas lawmakers approved HB3556, which would allow law enforcement to immediately notify people within a 100-mile radius as soon as a child goes missing. The “Athena Alert” bill is named for 7-year-old Athena Strand, who was kidnapped and killed last year by a FedEx driver who made a delivery to her Wise County home. The bill aims to close the gap between when a child is reported missing and when the child’s case meets state criteria for an AMBER Alert (for a confirmed abduction). The bill awaits Governor Greg Abbott’s signature into law.

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If the worst-case scenario ever happens, Florida officials want parents to be ready. On the heels of more than 25,000 incidents of missing children reported to authorities in 2022, the state will be giving free identification kits to parents. The goal is to make it easier for parents to collect identifying information on cards that can be kept at home if they are ever needed. About 250,000 kits will be provided to all public, private, and charter schools for the parents of kindergarten students.

“Operation Lost and Found” has located nearly a dozen endangered missing children throughout the Denver metro area. A two-week operation by the Aurora Police Department, the U.S. Marshals, and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children helped find the children, who ranged in age for 12 to 17. Authorities said the children were “some of the most at-risk and challenging recovery cases in the area, based on factors such as child sex trafficking, child exploitation, sex abuse, physical abuse and medical or mental health conditions.”

Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and First Lady Phefelia Nez have issued an executive order laying out new guidelines for missing persons cases that will emphasize being more empathetic to victims and their families. “Many families know the personal heartbreak and trauma of missing loved ones in the Navajo Nation and throughout Indian Country. Multiple jurisdiction systems have historically failed the victims and their families,” said President Nez. The new guidelines will mandate that any missing persons case should immediately involve the victim’s family, relatives, and community.

On August 23, 1971, 1-year-old Melissa Highsmith of Fort Worth was kidnapped by a woman posing as a babysitter. Her family searched for in vain for her over five decades, and never gave up. Encouraged by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, the family used the genetic-testing company 23andMe—and Jeffrie Highsmith discovered a grandchild he didn’t know he had. Highsmith then found a Facebook account likely connected to his long-lost daughter, who went by “Melanie Walden.” And of all places, she lived in Fort Worth, where her family still resided. When Highsmith contacted Melanie/Melissa, he shared his (and her) story, but Walden, 53, thought he was trying to scam her. Additional genetic testing confirmed that she was indeed “Baby Melissa.” During the family’s reunion, they learned of Walden’s abusive childhood. “I finally have a mother and father who want me,” Walden said. She has since changed her name back to Melissa Highsmith.

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In the past two years, five volunteer activists in Mexico who have frantically searched for their missing “disappeared” (and presumed murdered) children have themselves been murdered. The news has gotten little attention. With more than 100,000 missing people in Mexico, experts say police often lack the time, expertise, or interest to look for the clandestine grave sites where narco-gangs frequently bury the victims. And so, volunteers—many of them relatives of the missing—do the searching themselves. Unfortunately, Maria Vázquez Ramírez, is the latest victim. She was killed while searching for her son, Osmar. In response, the Movement for our Disappeared in Mexico group, which supports the volunteer searchers, decried the act as “cowardly”—releasing a photo of Maria with her missing son with the words, “I didn’t live long enough to find you.” The group demands Mexico do more to search for all the missing, saying, “Violence against searchers shouldn’t be the norm.”

On November 20, 2022—World Children’s Day—Sakarya University’s Diaspora Research Center in Turkey reported that the number of cases involving missing migrant children in Europe is skyrocketing. According to their 2021 “Lost in Europe” report, more than 18,000 migrant children went missing in Europe between 2018 and 2020—an average of 17 refugee children each day. European authorities are banding together to try and stem this tide. The sad reality behind the high numbers of missing is that criminal organizations target refugee children in Europe and ensnare them in sex trafficking and forced begging.

The group Missing Children Europe was founded in 2001 to protect children from becoming missing. The group coordinates a vast network of missing children hotlines and cross-border family mediators throughout Europe. The group recently celebrated its 20^th anniversary at a celebrity-studded event. But the event’s main goal was to highlight the fact that since the launch of its hotlines in 2007, operators across Europe have answered more than two million calls and supported more than 70,000 cases involving missing children. Those numbers were tempered by this equally stark reality: “The war on Ukraine and the expansion of the internet with both its opportunities and risks of harm for children are just two of the more recent challenges that need tackling,” Missing Children Europe said. The organization plans to continue better protecting and empowering at-risk children through research, advocacy, training, and education.

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Maryland leaders will now be notified of hate crimes with an “Emmett Till Alert.” The alert is named after the 14-year-old Black boy who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955 for allegedly whistling at a White woman. Pictures of Till’s open casket helped transform the nation’s civil rights movement. Currently, the new alert will notify 167 key civil rights and community leaders of any racial incident or hate crime. The alerts have three levels: low, medium, and high. The highest level means there is a high possibility of violence or death.

Since launching its AMBER Alert system in July 2002, California has helped return 376 missing or abducted children to their families. The state issued its first alert a month after its inception and rescued two teen girls from a suspect who later died in a gun battle. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) recognized the 20th anniversary of the child abduction alerts at a press event. “We are so successful because we are all caretakers in our community,” said CHP Commissioner Amanda Ray.

Starting in January 2023, California will begin issuing Yellow Alerts to notify the public and help law enforcement find hit-and-run drivers. If police have a complete or partial license plate number and description of the vehicle, the information can be flashed on highway message signs in the area and sent to the media. Colorado and Maryland already use similar alerts for hit-and-run crashes. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports a 26 percent increase in hit-and-run fatalities – from 2,037 in 2019 to 2,564 in 2020.

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Instagram is now posting AMBER Alerts to notify the public about abducted children. The alerts are being placed on the social media platform in the U.S. and 24 other countries. Meta, the parent group of Instagram and Facebook, said Instagram will share the alerts in a designated area based on the user’s IP address and location. AMBER Alerts have been posted on Facebook since 2015. Google began issuing the alerts to users of its Search and Maps tools in 2012. “With this update, if an AMBER Alert is activated by law enforcement and you are in the designated search area, the alert will now appear in your Instagram feed,” said Meta Director of Trust & Safety Emily Vacher. The Instagram posts are part of a partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

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Natalee Holloway has been missing more than 17 years after disappearing during a high school graduation trip in Aruba. Natalie’s mother, Beth Holloway, spoke at the Northeast Ohio AMBER Alert Conference March 25, 2022, about the desperation and panic she felt when her daughter went missing. “I think about in Natalee’s case the difference it would’ve made if we had a 911 number to call, if we would have had an AMBER Alert,” Holloway said.

The case continues to spark international attention. A suspect has been named, but Natalee’s whereabouts are still a mystery.

Gina DeJesus also spoke at the conference about how she was kidnapped as a teen in 2002. She was held for more than a decade with two other young women before they escaped from the “house of horrors.” “I have had to learn a lot since I came home. I take it day by day,” she said. DeJesus has since started the “Cleveland Missing” organization to help find and support missing people.

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said he is interested in creating a “Lily Alert” that could be used for a missing or abducted child – but with fewer criteria than an AMBER Alert. An online petition was started after 10-year-old Lily Peters was murdered by a 14-year-old boy. She was supposed to ride her bike home, and when she did not arrive, she was reported missing. An AMBER Alert was not issued because authorities didn’t have descriptive information about the suspect or the suspect’s vehicle. “I think we should look at that,” Evans said. “Clearly it’s not something that would cost a significant amount of money, and it seems a reasonable approach.”

Since 2006 the AMBER Advocate newsletter has covered the growth and expansion of the AMBER Alert program across the nation and internationally. Now on its 50th edition, we are more dedicated than ever to bringing you news about the people working hard to continuously strengthen AMBER Alert programs in every state through solid processes and protocols, comprehensive law enforcement training, public awareness and education, and expansion of partnerships to distribute lifesaving information when a child is abducted.

Over the last 15 years, The AMBER Advocate has covered a broad array of information. It has illustrated the evolution of the AMBER Alert network through the grass-roots work of state partnerships involving law enforcement, the media, the transportation sector, and other key stakeholders in public alerting. From the first AMBER Alert National Conference, the rise and use of social media, the beginning of Alerta AMBER Mexico and AMBER Alert in Europe, and so much more, we’ve witnessed together how AMBER Alerts are bringing endangered missing and abducted children home safely.

With more than 1,100 children recovered due to AMBER Alerts as of May 1, 2022, we know the programs around the globe work, and we stand in confidence that they will grow even stronger. Through AATTAP’s work, we’ve been honored to help create a strong network of interstate and interagency cooperation between states, agencies, and the citizens they serve; breaking down barriers to communication and information sharing, and expanding and improving upon resources that expedite the safe recovery of abducted children.

We encourage you to go to amberadvocate.org and take advantage of the resources available to all disciplines comprising the critical connectedness inherent in child protection: law enforcement and other criminal justice professions, child advocacy and social service providers, families and community members. While there, be sure to check out the archive of past issues of The AMBER Advocate and let us know which ones are your favorites.

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The AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program is so happy to congratulate Jolene Hardesty, Missing Persons Clearinghouse Analyst for the Michigan State Police on her recent appointment by Michigan Governor Whitmer to the Not Invisible Act Commission! The new U.S. Department of Interior commission will combat the epidemic of missing persons, murder, and trafficking of indigenous people and make recommendations to improve intergovernmental coordination and establish best practices for law enforcement to offer resources to survivors and families of victims.

Jolene is an invaluable member of our cadre of ‘AMBER Alert Partners’ across the nation who diligently serve the needs of state AMBER Alert and Missing Persons programs. Amazing professionals like Jolene form the very fabric of the mission, vision and values of the U.S. Department of Justice AMBER Alert Initiative.

Well-deserved, Jolene! We can’t wait to see the important work and outcomes you and your colleagues achieve in the months ahead!

Read the full announcement here.

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On January 13, 1996, 9-year-old Amber Hagerman was kidnapped and murdered in Arlington, Texas. But her legacy lives on through the nationwide AMBER Alert system that has helped more than 1,000 children return home safely. “It’s another legacy for my daughter, that she didn’t die in vain, that she is still taking care of our little children as she did when she was here,” said Amber’s mother, Donna Williams. “So, I’m very proud of my daughter for all she has done for our children here.” January 13 is now National AMBER Alert Day, a day to remember Amber Hagerman and all the other children who have been kidnapped and murdered. It is also a date to celebrate those who have been saved and efforts still being made to help missing and abducted children.

A Utah senator wants to stop AMBER Alerts from being used in custody disputes between parents. Senator Todd Weiler is seeking to ban the alerts in custody cases after an AMBER Alert was issued for four children taken by their non-custodial mother. The girls were later found safe in California. The Utah Department of Public Safety responded that AMBER Alerts are only used when a child has been abducted and their life or safety is in danger. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) data estimates more than 200,000 children are abducted each year by a parent or family member.

More than 26,000 service stations are now posting AMBER Alerts and information about missing children on television monitors installed on gas pumps. The national media network GSTV started the program ADAM (Automated Delivery of Alerts on Missing Children) in 2019. GSTV is working with NCMEC and said the gas pump screens reach 96 million people in 48 states each month. “It’s not just about advertisements and entertaining, but taking the opportunity to engage our viewers at a time where they’re extremely attentive,” said GSTV executive Violeta Ivezaj. “There isn’t a whole lot to do when
you’re pumping gas.”

Hawaiian lawmakers launched a task force to gather data and study the impact of sex trafficking on Native women and children. Researchers found that 64% of sex trafficking victims are Native Hawaiians. Local activists blame tourism and the lack of law enforcement resources to stop the widespread abuse across the islands. “If there’s no data, there’s no problem,” said Khara Jabola-Carolus, Executive Director of the Hawaii State Commission on the State of Women. She added concrete numbers are needed to understand the scope of the problem. In 2020, the Hawaii Attorney General established a human trafficking coordinator to develop training and increase the number of prosecutions.

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An operation based in New Orleans called “This is The Way Home” rescued or recovered 19 missing and endangered runaways. The U.S. Marshals located or helped return another 20 children during the sweep that ran from March 1 to June 30, 2021, in Louisiana, Florida, Arkansas, Texas and Tennessee. The operation included an AMBER Alert that led to the safe recovery of a missing one-month-old boy from Arkansas. Officers also arrested nine adults on charges including felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile and/or contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile.

The rock band Soul Asylum has created a new version of its hit song “Runaway Train.” The video for the 1993 tune included images of real-life missing and runaway children. The song and video have been updated with new names and images. “The problem’s never gonna go away, although I think there’s been progress made,” said singer Dave Pirner. “They didn’t have an AMBER Alert back when we made the video...” NCMEC said the original video helped reunite 21 missing children with their families.

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Virginia launched a new alert system on July 1, 2021, to be used when adults with autism go missing. Efforts to create the alert started after a 29-year-old woman with autism went missing and drowned in a swampy area a mile away from her home.

The Virginia State Police also began using a new communications platform to notify the public about the state’s six different alerts. Virginia has an AMBER Alert, Senior Alert, Critically Missing Adult “Ashanti” Alert, Missing Child with Autism Alert, and the new alert for missing adults with autism. The platform is designed to get the key details out to the public more quickly.

Gina DeJesus, a woman who was held against her will for 11 years, has partnered with the Northeast Ohio AMBER Alert Committee to assist families and law enforcement agencies. DeJesus’s organization, the Cleveland Family Center for Missing Children, will offer support in cases involving missing or endangered children. DeJesus was 14 when she was abducted and held in a home with two other female teens. You can read more about her story of survival and advocacy efforts for missing children in the June 2019 issue of The AMBER Advocate.

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Tennessee will require parents to report missing children after two days, or face increased penalties. “Evelyn’s Law” goes into effect on July 1, 2021, and also requires parents to notify law enforcement within 24 hours if a missing child is 12-years-old or younger. The law was passed after the mother of 15-month-old Evelyn Boswell did not notify law enforcement that their daughter was missing until months later. The mother was charged after the child was found two and a half weeks later.

Tennessee’s Holly Bobo Act is now in effect which raises the age limit for missing person alerts. The law increases the age limit from 18 to 21 to notify the public for an endangered missing person.

State legislators are also considering a Silver Alert to notify the public for missing and vulnerable adults. Alzheimer’s Tennessee is lobbying legislators for issuance of an alert for missing adults with dementia, disabilities, or impairments.

The Wisconsin legislature is considering creating a Purple Alert to help find missing and endangered domestic violence survivors. The law would eliminate any waiting period before law enforcement can issue a statewide notification with the missing person’s picture and information.

Florida lawmakers are considering a Purple Alert also; however, it would be used by law enforcement for a missing adult with a developmental disability. State Senator Lori Berman says she wants the alert in place after a man died while wandering away from a care center.

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A U.S. hacker asserts he can break into the U.S. and Canadian Emergency Alert Systems and claims he could send a nationwide message through both systems. He said he was able to discover passwords from key manufacturers to access their systems. “Theoretically I can send anything from a volcano warning to the entire U.S. to an AMBER alert. If I really wanted, I could send out custom messages too,” he said. The hacker also warns of others with the same technological know-how.

In November 2020, hackers gained access to Florida’s emergency communications channel and sent an unauthorized message to the state’s emergency response team. “The fact that someone would use an emergency alert system for their own purpose, whatever it is, is both irresponsible and unlawful,” said Jason Mahon, communications director for the Florida Division of Emergency Management. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has been asked to investigate.

A Pennsylvania state legislator wants to crack down on hit-and-runs by creating a “Jay Alert” which would notify body shops after an incident occurs. Pennsylvania State Senator Anthony Williams said the law was inspired by an eight-year-old girl who was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver while walking home from school. The suspect was caught after a body shop owner notified police. The law would expand the AMBER Alert system and send descriptions of vehicles in hit-and-runs to all state body shops.

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The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) released new age progression photos for two children who went missing from a house fire on September 23, 2012. AMBER Alerts were issued at the time for nine-year-old Chloie Leverette and seven-year-old Gage Daniel. Their remains were never found. “AMBER Alerts do not expire,” said Leslie Earhart, Tennessee Bureau of Investigations spokesperson. “They remain active until we have definitive information concerning the child’s whereabouts.”

College Station, Texas, Assistant Police Chief Charles “Chuck” Fleeger was honored for his work to help missing and abducted children when he retired after serving with the agency since 1989. The U.S. Department of Justice honored Fleeger as the AMBER Alert Coordinator of the Year in 2010. Fleeger will now direct the nonprofit Brazos Valley AMBER Alert Network, and will continue teaching and consulting on issues concerning missing and exploited children, including his work with the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program and National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College.

States can now apply for federal funding for the Ashanti Alert pilot program. The Ashanti Alert notifies the public about missing or endangered adults, ages 18-64, and sets up a national communications network to assist law enforcement in the search. The Bureau of Justice Assistance will make $1 million in technical assistance available to facilitate and expedite the development of statewide Ashanti Alert programs. The alert is named after Ashanti Billie, the 19-year-old college student was abducted and murdered in North Carolina in 2017.

Family and friends in Kansas City are raising money for memorial benches to honor Olivia Jansen, a three-year-old who was allegedly murdered by her father and his girlfriend. Police issued an AMBER Alert on July 12, 2020, after the father reported his daughter was missing. “The whole situation, has touched so many hearts and it hits home,” said family friend Ramona Olivas, “It’s beautiful to see all these people coming out for her.” A motorcycle group organized a ride to raise money and additional fundraisers are planned.

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The Texas Center for the Missing has teamed up with Clear Channel Outdoor Americas to utilize digital billboards for providing information on missing children. The effort was started to help Robyn Bennett find her missing 16-year-old daughter. The messages will be broadcast about 1,250 times every day on each of the 10 billboards throughout the Houston area. “These cases can all be solved if we all work together and look for these missing children actively and report what you see if you see something,” said Beth Alberts, CEO of the Texas Center for the Missing.

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The Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office in Tennessee issued a warning not to support a GoFundMe page connected to a missing 15-month-old girl. On February 19, 2020, the sheriff’s office issued an AMBER Alert after 18-year-old Megan Boswell reported her daughter was missing. On February 23, the sheriff’s office said a donation site that claimed to be connected to the investigation was fraudulent and it was not authorized to use the agency’s name. On March 6, the child was found dead, ending a 17-day-search in 3 states. The mother is now charged with making a false report.

A Pennsylvania legislator wants law enforcement agencies to immediately issue a Missing Endangered Person Advisory when a parent or family member reports an abduction. Representative Anthony DeLuca is calling the change to the AMBER Alert program the “Nalani Johnson Rule,” named after a two-year-old girl who was kidnapped and murdered on August 31, 2019. DeLuca said the child’s father reported the child missing with information about the kidnapper, vehicle, and direction they were traveling. He said the alert was delayed for hours because the approved criteria for an AMBER Alert had not been met.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) is encouraging residents to subscribe to ‘Mo- Alerts’ for immediate receipt of AMBER Alerts issued in the state. MSHP launched the upgraded AMBER Alert system in December 2019 which streamlines the process for faster public alerting. The new system was first used on January 17, 2020, for a 2-year-old child. A resident saw the AMBER Alert and the child was located minutes after the alert was issued. Missouri residents can sign up at moalerts.mo.gov/.

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The Missouri Highway Patrol streamlined its process to issue AMBER Alerts for faster public notification. Authorities upgraded the system to allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System to deliver alerts directly to cellular carriers. Previously, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children distributed the messages to cellphones. Other features include: reducing the possibility of outdated information to continually be shared on social media, automatically updating Facebook and Twitter accounts, and the option to subscribe to alerts on its website at www.mo.gov/alerts/.

The Richmond, Virginia, Police Department purchased a fleet of drones to help in investigations, including cases involving AMBER Alerts. Twenty officers have been trained to fly the department’s four drones. The Federal Aviation Administration governs drones and state code requires a search warrant unless there is an immediate danger, such as in the case of an AMBER Alert. “They’re small. They’re portable. They’re easily deployed, and they are relatively inexpensive,” said Richmond Police Captain Michael Snawder. “This is a game changer for us.”

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Both New Hampshire and Vermont will now issue Blue Alerts when a law enforcement officers is injured, killed or missing. New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu signed a bill on June 21, 2019, authorizing the Blue Alert program. The New Hampshire system will use the same channels as an AMBER Alert, including radio broadcasts and state highway signs. “We hope we never have to use it,” said Sununu. “But, unfortunately, we know that those days may come.”

The Vermont Attorney General and Department of Public introduced its Blue Alert program on August 13. The Vermont system will disseminate messages by email, text, phone, traditional and social media, roadside and lottery signs.

Minnesota became the first state to test the Blue Alert system, after sending a test message on August 14, 2019, to the media and subscribers to the state’s alert program. Minnesota has yet to issue an actual Blue Alert. Learn more about Blue Alerts across the nation by visiting the USDOJ COPS office website at https://cops.usdoj.gov/bluealert.

The Utah Department of Public Safety requested $2 million from state legislators this summer for a surveillance program that uses artificial intelligence to gather social media posts, traffic cameras and other resources. The company Banjo designed the program to be used in real-time emergencies. The Utah Attorney General’s Office used it for training in an AMBER Alert situation. Legislators expressed concern about overreach and privacy violations as they considered results of testing with the state’s Department of Transportation and consider expansion of the technology to other areas of state operations.

A family in Bedford County, Tennessee, held a birthday party for a 16-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy who have been missing for nearly seven years. An AMBER Alert was issued for Chloie Leverette and Gage Daniel when they disappeared after their grandparents were found dead in a home that caught fire. The family held a birthday party on June 30, 2019, to keep the case alive with the hope someone will see them and call police. “Every day you’re looking, you’re wondering, not knowing what happened where are they? It takes a part of you, a part of your soul,” said mother Cheryl Daniel.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol canceled an AMBER Alert for an infant boy after discovering the child’s mother had her 16-year-old son call in the false report. The alert was issued August 1, 2019, in Rolla, Missouri, was the first AMBER Alert ever initiated by the Maries County Sheriff’s Office. Officers say the woman was trying to buy time to take the infant to Arkansas while the child’s father was distracted. The woman was charged with making a false report and with prostitution for allegedly paying a man to have sex with her and help her pick up her son from a bus station.

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Rae-Leigh Bradbury was eight-weeks-old when the first successful AMBER Alert was issued after she was taken by her babysitter in Arlington, Texas. She was found unharmed 13 hours later and her abductor served ten years in prison.

“That was the hardest 13 hours of my life ever,” said her mother Patricia A. Sokolowski. “The (detectives) came to me at about midnight and said ‘we’re going to activate an AMBER Alert. We haven’t used it, it’s the first time. We want it to work.’”

The emergency response system was put in place two years earlier after the disappearance of Amber Hagerman. Bradbury was given the Hope Award by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) on May 25. She says her experience inspired her to intern for NCMEC in Austin, Texas.

“There are kids right now not knowing where their parents are. I just can’t imagine wondering, ‘Where’s my mom? Where’s my dad?’” said Bradbury.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law a bill that allows law enforcement to issue alerts for missing adults believed to be abducted or endangered. The CALE (Civilian Abduction or Life Endangerment) Alerts will send information about Texans between ages 18 and 65 through text messages and roadside signs.

The bill was pushed by Allison Steele after her daughter Cayley Mandadi was killed in 2017. The state didn’t issue an AMBER Alert because the victim was 19 years old. Virginia also issues alerts for missing adults between 18 and 65.

Governor Abbott also signed a law creating the Camo Alert, an AMBER-style alert that would be issued for missing military members with a mental illness who may be a danger to themselves or others. The Camo Alert will be part of a five-year pilot program beginning in September 2019, and expiring in 2023.

Natalie Wilson and her sister-in-law Derrica Wilson have been working since 2008 to make sure efforts are being made to find missing people of color. The Black and Missing Foundation helps families work with police and the media to make sure the public hear about their loved ones.

The two women were inspired to start the non-profit foundation after learning about the struggles the family of Tamika Huston had of getting media coverage after the young African-American woman went missing in 2004. Her remains were found a year later and her ex-boyfriend was sentenced to life in prison.

“We’re finding that when people of color, men and women, are reported missing, they’re deemed to be involved with some type of criminal act, they’re stereotyped, and their cases aren’t taken seriously,” said Natalie Wilson.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yosi released a report for National Missing Children’s Day, documenting 25,619 people who went missing in the state in 2018–including 19,879 children. The report noted that 96.1 percent—or 19,510 children—were recovered safely by the end of the year.

Ohio had 19 attempted child abductions in 2018 involving 14 girls and five boys. About one-third of the suspects were driving vehicles and half of the incidents occurred while the children were walking to or from school.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department in Phoenix, Arizona, offered all county personnel, patrol deputies, correction officers, probation officers and other key stakeholders detailed instruction on how identify, recover and respond to victims of sex trafficking and to ensure traffickers face justice.

Cindy McCain, co-chair of the Arizona Trafficking Council and wife of the late U.S. Senator John McCain, was the first speaker at the Sex Trafficking Symposium held June 17, 2019.

The AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program provided experts to present on topics related to helping vulnerable victims of sex trafficking, including:

Warning signs of trafficking;
Investigative techniques; and
Developing a county-level response, to include identifying and recovering victims, and connecting them with advocacy and services.

During the event, a survivor of trafficking shared her story and spoke about her interaction with law enforcement and others, explaining the impact those interactions had on her.

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President Trump signed the “Ashanti Alert” Act on December 31, 2018, that allows alerts for missing adults between the ages of 18 and 64. Police will be able to send the Ashanti Alert to notify broadcasters and activate electronic road signs. The alert instructs the U.S. Attorney General to appoint a national Ashanti Alert Coordinator to establish alert systems and develop voluntary guidelines. The alert is named after Ashanti Billie, who was 19 when she disappeared in December 2017. She was too old for an AMBER Alert and too young for a Silver Alert. Her body was found two weeks after she went missing.

The false missile alert in Hawaii in 2018 has prompted federal officials to take steps to make sure a similar mistake doesn’t happen again. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and Department of Homeland Security is recommending two changes in the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS): 1) require state and local alerting authorities to implement new emergency alert software; and 2) mandate new training requirements for state, tribal and territorial alerting authorities. Both requirements are to be put in place by October 31, 2019.

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The Chicago TV station WBBM could face a fine or penalty for using the Emergency Alert System (EAS) signal in a highlight segment about an AMBER Alert issued and canceled that day. The FCC forbids the “false, fraudulent or unauthorized use of the signal. WBBM’s president said using the signal was a mistake and steps have been taken to ensure it does not happen again. Viacom, NBC and ESPN were fined in $1.9 million in 2014 for using the EAS signal in a commercial; and a Bowling Green, Kentucky, TV station was fined $39,000 in 2013 for the same act. TBS was fined $25,000 that same year for using the signal in a promotional spot for Conan O’Brien’s talk show.

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The Ontario, Ohio, Police Department is using two drones to search in AMBER Alerts and other cases involving missing juveniles or older adults. The department used money from federally seized drugs to purchase the drones, which cost $14,000 each. The drones pro-vide live video feeds and have been used dozens of times, including when an AMBER Alert was activated. “Bottom line, this is irreplaceable technology,” said Ontario Police Chief Tommy Hill. “There is no value too great that we’d spare to save a life.”

Nebraska residents can now get Endangered Missing Advisories (EMA) through text messages. The EMA notifies the public about a missing endangered person who does not qualify for an AMBER Alert. The Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) said thousands of people have already signed up to receive the EMA through email since the program was launched in January 2018. “We’ve already seen multiple times that the public can make the difference in locating a vulnerable missing person,” said Captain Jeromy McCoy, NSP AMBER Alert/EMA Coordinator. “The new text message option will help spread the EMA alerts faster and to more people.”

A Largo, Florida, mother accused of murdering her two-year-old has also been charged with lying to police after an AMBER Alert was issued. Clarissa Stinson claimed her son was abducted after they accepted a ride from a stranger on September 1, 2018. Police say the lies cost them critical time in finding the boy and resulted in $500,000 in law enforcement costs. Fifteen agencies, including 163 law enforcement officers and 28 staff members, took part in the search. “A price cannot be put on that,” said Largo Police spokesperson Randy Chaney. Stinson could face an additional five years in prison for giving the false story to police.

A Grand Rapids, Michigan, mother is facing prison after telling police her 18-month-old daughter had been stolen by a stranger on August 5, 2018. An AMBER Alert woke residents up after it its 3:21 a.m. issuance. Jennell Ross stuck by her story until the baby’s father told police the child was with him the entire time. “It kind of destroys the credibility of the AMBER Alert, which is really sad that one person did that, and she should be charged,” said Michigan State Police Detective Sergeant Sara Krebs. “It’s very frustrating for us, but I will always err on the side of caution for that child.” Ross could face up to four years in prison and a $2,000 fine.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) conducted a nationwide test of the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) on October 3, 2018. The test was postponed from September 20 because of the severe weather on the East Coast.

The WEA system is used to warn the public about dangerous weather, missing children, and other critical situations through alerts on cell phones. The national test uses the same special tone and vibration as with all WEA messages (i.e. Tornado Warning, AMBER Alert). Users cannot opt out of receiving the WEA test.

This first national WEA test message was sent to cell phones connected to wireless providers participating in WEA, with a header reading “Presidential Alert” and the text, “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”

Sonoma County in California tested its emergency alert on September 10 and 12 before the nationwide drill for WEA. The system is being tested because residents complained about inadequate warnings during firestorms last October. The Sonoma County’s former emergency manager didn’t use WEA during the fires because he was unsure whether or not it could be used in an area smaller than the entire county. The county is now confident that the alerts can go to targeted areas, but is requesting feedback from the public following the tests.

Denver conducted its first test of WEA on September 5 to make sure the system is working properly and to create public awareness. The test went to about one million people in the Denver area.

Friends and family members gathered and released balloons and ribbons at the same Sun-set, Utah, park where three-year-old Rachael Runyan was kidnapped and later murdered on August 26, 1982. “She was just so precious,” Elaine Runyan said of her slain daughter. “She just touched everybody’s heart.” Utah initially named its child abduction advisory the Rachael Alert in 2002. “There are children who are alive today because of Rachael,” Sunset Police Chief Ken Eborn said. The alert’s name was changed to the AMBER Alert after it was first used for the abduction of Elizabeth Smart. “I had no idea what the alert was at the time,” said Ed Smart, Elizabeth’s father, who spoke at the event on August 25, 2018.

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The El Paso, Texas, Sheriff’s Office registered children with AMBER Alert cards on July 10, 2018. This information can be used if a child is reported missing or abducted, and includes a color photo, fingerprints and identifying information about the child.

Free child identification kits were also distributed on July 17 at a fair in Ionia, Michigan. The process creates a flash drive with a photo, video, digital fingerprints and other vital information.

A child ID event was also held that same week in Bridgman, Michigan. To date, more than 90,000 Michigan children have participated in the state’s Child Identification Program.

In Birmingham, Alabama, a Ford dealership decided to celebrate its 100th anniversary by holding a fingerprinting and child safety program through Operation Kidsafe. Adamson Ford held the event in February 2018 and ID cards were created for more than 150 children.

A 25-year-old mother was arrested after telling Saraland, Alabama, police that her car was stolen by an ex-boyfriend with her three-year-old son inside. Police issued an AMBER Alert and activated the Child Abduction Response Team (CART) to assist in the investigation. Police say the woman changed her story several times and they ultimately determined the child was with family members.

Police in Grand Prairie, Texas, charged a woman with making a false police report after an AMBER Alert was issued for her ten-month-old baby. Police say the woman wanted to speed up the recovery of her stolen car by claiming her child was in the back seat. Police determined the woman’s car was stolen but that she did not have a baby.

The FBI offered a live action drill in Frankfurt, Illinois, on August 9, 2018, to train Chicago area officers how to handle child abductions. The scenario involved a 10-year-old girl who was missing after she left to see her tutor. Local law enforcement officers, the FBI and reporters with camera crews took part in the exercise. Officers gathered information from interviews and surveillance video to determine the girl entered the car of man who claimed he needed help finding a lost dog. The drills are held to make sure law enforcement is ready during an actual abduction. “After 46 years, I’ve learned that you never stop learning; that learning new procedures, protocols and methods is what makes your agency able to handle an incident like this,” said Tim McCarthy, Orland Park Police.

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Former AATTAP Administrator Phil Keith has been asked to oversee the nation’s community oriented policing program. Keith has been named as the Director of the U.S. Department of Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Police Services, or COPS Program. Keith oversaw the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance program from 2004 until 2014. From 1988 until 2004, he served as the Chief of Police for Knoxville, Tennessee, and has served with the Tennessee Police Chiefs Association, the Major Cities Chiefs Association, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and other notable organizations. He has received numerous awards and commendations for his expertise and leadership in law enforcement, community safety and child protection work. “My first priority will be carrying out the mission of the Attorney General’s violent crime plan,” said Keith. “We’ll primarily be going back to basics, listening to law enforcement in the field, which has not been occurring for a while.”

The Iron County, Utah, Sheriff’s Office recently honored Joseph Paul for helping find four girls who were being held captive in two locations. Paul started looking after an AMBER Alert was issued December 4, 2017. He spotted a man matching the suspect’s description and called police. “Paul’s quick thinking and intuition that night ultimately saved the lives of the four girls who had been kidnapped,” said Iron County Sheriff Lieutenant Del Schosser. The Sheriff’s Office reported the girls were in extremely poor health and physical condition because they were being held without any source of heat or adequate clothing for the harsh elements.

A Joplin, Missouri, man is being remembered for his work in creating a local form of the AMBER Alert. John Cruzan passed away on May 8, 2018. Before local police in Missouri completed their work on that state’s AMBER Alert system, Cruzan created a website for local law enforcement to use in posting information and photos of missing children. While this local alerting system was decommissioned when other state and national alerting technologies were implemented, Cruzan’s efforts were recognized by Missouri law enforcement and citizens as important, and his generosity remembered in developing the local alerting system.

A Missouri man is facing charges after reportedly ramming a vehicle and firing at a driver he suspected was wanted in connection with an Iowa AMBER Alert. Matthew Golden was traveling on Interstate 80 when he heard the alert for two missing boys from Toronto, Iowa. The alert included information about a 2006 Hyundai Sonata with Illinois license plates. Police say Golden rammed a white panel van with Florida plates more than once and then fired two shots at the driver. The driver was not injured.

Michigan changed its criteria for issuing an AMBER Alert in 2017 so it would only be used for cases of child abductions for victims under the age of 18. At that same time, the state added an Endangered Missing Persons Advisory to notify law enforcement and the public about missing person cases that do not meet AMBER Alert criteria. After issuing 15 AMBER Alerts in 2016, Michigan issued just four alerts in 2017 and one in 2018. Michigan State Police said people are now paying more attention to AMBER Alerts and the Endangered Missing Advisory has become a great success in finding missing people of any age.

Michigan legislators are proposing a bill that would require law enforcement officers to enter all missing person cases into the U.S. Department of Justice NamUs database. Proponents say it will help solve more missing person cases. The legislation would also require details about unidentified bodies to be submitted to the database. Similar laws have been passed in Tennessee, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. While these other states have differing requirements regarding when the information must be entered, the Michigan law would require entries to be made as soon as the preliminary investigation is completed.

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SEARCH, The National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics, will honor Donna Uzzell for its highest practitioner award for 2018. The Special Agent in Charge for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has been actively involved with promoting AMBER Alert, human trafficking and child safety training, and protecting vulnerable populations like the elderly and disabled. “It is enormously gratifying that the 2018 Hawkins Award will recognize and honor Donna’s fearless leadership, passionate devotion to duty and relentless pursuit of programs and policies that have measurably improved our justice and public safety systems nationwide,” said SEARCH Chair Bradley D. Truitt, Director of Information Systems, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Ms. Uzzell has worked with the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program for more than a decade, and continues to contribute as an Associate with the National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College. She will be presented with the award on July 24, 2018, in Washington, D.C.

Iowa State Trooper and longtime advocate for the AMBER Alert Todd Misel has retired after a 34-year career in law enforcement. Misel was part of a group that created Iowa’s AMBER Alert program in 2003. Iowa’s governor told the group he wanted the alert up and running soon. “He brought it up at the state fair and gave us 90 days to put it together and figure it out,” said Misel. “It was an extremely aggressive time line but we had something by early spring of the (following) year.” Misel has also worked with the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Program for more than a decade.

Congressmen from Virginia, Texas, Maryland and Rhode Island have introduced a bill that would create a system to notify the public when an adult is abducted and believed to be in danger. The “Ashanti Alert Act” is named after Ashanti Billi. The 19-year-old woman was found murdered eleven days after she was reported missing and 300 miles from where she was last seen alive. The alerts would be for missing people between the ages of 18 and 65 and would utilize TV, radio and social media to send messages to the public. Virginia lawmakers have passed a bill that allows law enforcement officers in that state issue an Ashanti Alert.

The mayor of Godfrey Township, Missouri, heard about nearby Alton Police Department’s request to buy four license plate recognition cameras and handed over a $13,400 check to help pay for them. “As one community goes, the other community goes,” said Mayor Mike McCormik. “We need success in Alton just like Alton needs successful things in Godfrey.” The cameras will be placed on a bridge and will be used to capture any vehicle tagged for an AMBER Alert or vehicles suspected in connection with other crimes. The information is shared with 14 police and sheriff’s departments in Illinois and Missouri.

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North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp and representatives from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) spoke at a panel on child trafficking October 20, 2017, in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

“I think it is critically important that this not just be a social worker’s problem, a cop’s problem, a legislator’s problem; that this be all of our problem because these are all of our kids,” said Heitkamp.

NCMEC received reports of 113 children missing in North Dakota during the last three years. NCMEC said the average of a trafficking victim is 15 and there has been an increase in the number of male trafficking victims.

The panel suggested more training for social workers and nurses and more legislation to stop websites known for sex trafficking.

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The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) is recommending a simplification of the state’s AMBER Alert program. The KBI reviewed the system following concerns raised when an AMBER Alert failed to go out to cellphones after a mother and 3 children were abducted. The report recommends speeding up the process by giving more officers authority to request an alert. Other recommendations include:

Creating a checklist to be used when activating an AMBER Alert
Inviting media to participate in AMBER Alert reviews
Establishing an advisory board that meets annually
Focusing on technological advances for the program

The parents of a 10-year-old girl who was abducted and murdered 3 years ago are asking Missouri legislators to change the state’s AMBER Alert system. The parents of Hailey Owens and the parents of the alleged suspect are supporting “Hailey’s Law” which would integrate the AMBER Alert System with 2 other law enforcement computer systems so officers could enter incident information digitally. Both families say more could have been done to save Owens if the AMBER Alert, including the suspect’s license plate number, had gone out earlier. The bill has been given the green light by a Missouri House of Representatives committee.

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Federal lawmakers are considering the “The AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2017.” The act would make tribes eligible for Department of Justice grants for developing and implementing AMBER Alert communication plans on Tribal lands. The bipartisan legislation is in response to the 2016 fatal abduction of 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike on the Navajo Nation. The case raised questions about gaps in communication and coordination between tribal and local law enforcement. The standing legislative committee of the Navajo Nation voted in July to support the measure. Learn more at https://www.tribaldatabase.org.

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Law enforcement officials in Christian County, Missouri, and Fort Wayne and Allen Counties in Indiana are encouraging residents to use a new app to help find missing children. The Swift 911 app can be used to help notify the public while officers are working to determine if the case meets the criteria for effective issuance of an AMBER Alert.

Allen County Sheriff David Gladieux said he was not pleased about the time it took to approve and activate a recent AMBER Alert and thought the new system would help prevent any delays.

The app has been used in Christian County to find missing children as well as to notify the public about weather events, gas leaks, bomb threats and other emergencies. The app sends messages by text, email, social media and phone to users in a specific geographical area.

New Jersey lawmakers are considering creating a “Zack Alert” to notify the public when someone flees from a serious accident. The alert is named after 21-year-old Zack Simmons, who was killed by the driver of a black SUV.

“Lives could be saved because a driver would think twice about leaving a scene due to the knowledge of what a Zack Alert would do,” said family friend Jennifer Jordan.

The statewide alert would notify law enforcement, media and the public when a driver has left the scene of an accident where someone was killed or seriously injured.

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GPS bracelet helps Florida deputies find child

Exchange student rescued after online scam

John Walsh partners with NCMEC, returns to TV

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New DNA tests can help identify missing Native Americans and solve crimes

Ottawa begins work on ‘Red Dress Alert’ for missing Indigenous women and girls

Two Iowa sisters become a voice for missing and murdered Indigenous people

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New photo technology helps find missing kids

Ongoing efforts return ‘stolen’ Ukraine children

Report: Migrant children still missing in Ireland

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DNA test helps U.S. man, stolen at birth, reunite with mother in Chile after 42 years

Brazilian government signs deal with Meta to track down missing children

American Samoa and Guam delegates propose legislation to increase jail time for traffickers

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NCMEC: How to spot fake missing child posters

Florida Missing Children’s Day brings healing

59 missing children rescued during FBI sting

Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit nabs first in manhunt trials

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U.S. Marshals’ innovative search operation recovers 225 missing children

Artificial intelligence increasingly makes kidnapping scams more believable

Wisconsin police find missing child in 11 minutes with new ‘Project Lifesaver’

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OJJDP releases statistics on missing youth

Official: More inclusive alert criteria needed

California introduces new Feather Alert

Native American Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan cites ‘urgent and critical need’ for MMIP solutions

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'Most wanted' couple captured in Mexico

U.S. foster parent charged in boy’s kidnapping

Kenyan group using age-progression imaging

Near 5-year search for U.S. girl ends in Mexico

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Ukrainian girl who vanished at start of war is one of thousands now missing

Canadian police credit AMBER Alerts for helping saving children’s lives

EU wants big-tech accountability in keeping children safe online

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Yurok Tribe joins U.S. Marshals in MMIP initiative

Lawmakers to FCC: Expand languages in alerts

Colorado adopts Missing Indigenous People Alert

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NCMEC’s new ‘Take It Down’ tool helps remove explicit web imagery of children

New Utah law aims to improve the (over)use of AMBER Alerts

Ebony Alert’ seeks to end racial disparity in missing person cases

Texas lawmakers pass ‘Athena Alert’ bill to create localized version of an AMBER Alert

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Florida officials providing 250,000 free child-ID kits

Colorado operation recovers 11 high-risk missing kids

Navajo Nation unveils new missing persons guidelines that emphasize empathy

Genetic testing company helps family of ‘Baby Melissa’ find her after 51 years

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Five mothers seeking ‘disappeared’ family members found murdered in Mexico

Research: Every day about 17 migrant children in Europe go missing for criminals’ intent

Missing Children Europe reflects on 20 years’ success ‘but more work is needed’

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MARYLAND STARTS ‘EMMETT TILL ALERT’ FOR HATE CRIMES

CALIFORNIA SALUTES 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF ITS AMBER ALERT SYSTEM

MORE STATES USING ALERTS FOR HIT-AND-RUN DRIVERS

U.S. HOUSE APPROVES ACTIVE SHOOTER ALERT SYSTEM

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Instagram Now Sharing AMBER Alerts

Texas boy suffers hearing loss after AMBER Alert blared through AirPods

North Carolina police consider charges against teen who faked abduction

Couple wanted in AN AMBER Alert attempts to sue Texas police

Alaska updates its emergency notification system

Pennsylvania judge recommends dismissing AMBER Alert suspect’s lawsuit

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Texas officers honored for saving two kidnapped children

Kidnapping survivor joins mother of missing teen to speak at Ohio AMBER Alert conference

Missouri enhances AMBER Alert system so alerts are more targeted

New Jersey missing child investigation uncovers child sex trafficking network

Wisconsin considers “Lily Alert” for missing children after tragic murder

Pennsylvania lawmakers consider hit-and-run alert

Texas AMBER Alert partners host first fundraising event

A Look Back at 50 Issues of the AMBER Advocate Newsletter

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