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A year and a half ago, nationally recognized CART expert Stacie Lick became AATTAP’s CART Liaison.

Man speaking to group of seated men and women

James Holmes joins Stacie Lick in providing guidance from the perspectives of former CART Commanders who know the ins and outs of a rapid response team’s creation and sustainability.

Men in front of a digital flow chart of information

Organizational charts help first responders see the big picture of how a CART will be structured during a missing child incident.

By Denise Gee Peacock

“Sometimes the solution to a problem is right in front of you, which may be a good sign you’re on the right track,” says Derek VanLuchene, AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) Program Manager for child abduction response team (CART) training and certification.

VanLuchene’s task was to help others overcome a significant hurdle: “Certain CARTs were struggling with getting up and running, despite days of training and support. And our goal is, and always has been, to create more active teams across the country.”

With all that law enforcement agencies juggle and with seemingly fewer resources to tap, “maybe the agencies were just feeling overwhelmed,” VanLuchene says. Knowing that the burgeoning CARTs needed more follow-up and mentoring, one way to help struggling teams was to connect them with “the best of the best.” A year and a half ago, nationally recognized CART experts James Holmes and Stacie Lick became AATTAP’s CART Liaisons. Lick and Holmes now offer guidance to CARTs from the perspectives of former CART Commanders who know the ins and outs of a rapid response team’s creation and sustainability. So, problem solved, right?

Not quite. In some cases, fledgling CARTs also needed reminders of the core essentials needed to build a strong team. To resolve that, “maybe we needed to look again at how we were teaching the implementation course,” VanLuchene recalls.

For two decades, the AATTAP—part of the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC) of Fox Valley Technical College—has been providing CART training and certification support funded by the U.S. Department of Justice. The process for managing and updating its training curriculum involves continually reviewing participant evaluation feedback, current research and case law, updated investigative resources, case studies, current trends, relevant adult learning strategies, input from subject matter experts, and more.

As a result, scores of CARTs have received assistance to create (and ultimately, federally certify) an effective, efficient, organized response team prepared for a missing child incident.

A eureka moment hit VanLuchene last fall, when he found himself updating the CART program’s two essential instructional manuals (see related sidebar, page 9) streamlining their content for ease of understanding.

Essential to any CART’s implementation are “12 Core Components” (see related sidebar)—which include agreed-upon deployment criteria, experienced and committed team members, well- crafted callout methods, and the like. But as important as those core concepts are, it dawned on VanLuchene that the instructional module centered on them received only two hours of focus time during three days of CART training. Perhaps that’s why the essential information wasn’t sticking, he wondered. They needed to spend more time on the components. “And frankly, while the old curriculum was good stuff, those components were worthy of their own course—or at least an updated course,” VanLuchene says.

After discussing it with AATTAP Curriculum Manager Cathy Delapaz and Deputy Administrator Byron Fassett, the group agreed. “Derek’s observation was brilliant,” Fassett recalls. As a team they set out to restructure the CART implementation course. The 12 Core Components would be front and center throughout a new two-day intensive course. What’s more, the class wouldn’t just address CART theory and best practices, “it would become a hands-on workshop, one in which the 12 Core Components are used to actually create a working CART in real-time,” VanLuchene says.

A Three-Pronged Approach
The reformatted curriculum—the CART- smart restart, if you will—is achieved via a three-pronged approach to building a CART in real-time as opposed to discussing its eventual creation.

The first prong involves a pre-meeting with agency stakeholders who will review the types of CART members that are needed and resources available. “That’s when we confirm that they’re ready to make the CART happen via the second prong of planning”—the new two-day class, or workshop, on the 12 Core Components—a deep dive into a successful CART’s key ingredients, which can be applied to the agency’s matrix of strategic personnel through a sample organizational flow chart that’s proven its value in CARTs across the country. “This way they can better visualize and understand the CART’s standard operating procedure (SOP),” VanLuchene says.

The third prong is a post-workshop meeting to confirm the CART team members and resources; it also includes mentoring from VanLuchene and one of the AATTAP Liaisons to help tie up any loose ends in CART configuration. “After all the prep work we’ve provided, when they come out the other side, they’ll be ready,” he says.

Louisiana as Pilot Project
Nine months ago, Louisiana State Police (LSP) Captain Jay Donaldson, who oversees Region 3 Criminal Investigations, was tasked by his superiors to form a statewide CART team that could work independently in each of the state’s three regions while also working as a cohesive whole in case of a major disaster involving missing people (one on the scale of Hurricane Katrina, he notes).

To create the regional/state CART, Donaldson knew right where to turn: to Derek VanLuchene, whom he had gotten to know over the years during various AATTAP-NCJTC trainings. Progress was swift, VanLuchene says. “No grass was growing under their feet; they wanted to get right on it.” The meetings took place over a four-month period, “which was fantastic considering some CARTs can take a year or more to form.”

After hearing about the updated CART curriculum, Donaldson was eager to get started. The first meeting was on February 19, with the more intensive hands-on sessions occurring on May 28 and 29. “I’m more of a workshop person myself,” Donaldson recalls of the two-day workshops. “I was just hoping everyone else on our teams would be too. Thankfully they were.”

With Louisiana serving as the new pilot project for the CART course that would soon play out around the country, Donaldson watched closely.

“What Derek did for us was exceptional,” Donaldson says. “Whenever we were doing tabletops, he broke us up by region. He said, ‘let’s put people together who are going to actually work together. That way we’ll see what happens, what ideas form.’ And then, once he did that, everything just started working, everything just started clicking.”

Finding the right people to be involved in planning and execution of the CART details is crucial. In any agency, people will do things because they’re told to. Then they’ll want to do so because their heart is in the mission. The commitment Donaldson witnessed in the room during the two-day planning session “had me realizing we had all the people whose hearts would be in the right place,” he says.

Donaldson had faith that the new way of learning-by-doing was working not only for his team, but also for others.

VanLuchene was equally pleased: “If they get a call tomorrow about a missing child, they could activate their CART team in whatever region it was needed. Their organizational chart is in place, their SOP is in place. They’re ready for deployment.”

Smart Solutions Ahead
A key obstacle to creating a CART is falling prey to misconceptions surrounding them. Some administrators may look at a CART as another task force that needs to be managed—without the budget or staffing to do so. They need as many resources as possible for their regular caseload of crimes.

“But in helping teams formulate a CART, we’re not asking people to suddenly put aside their normal duties. We’re asking people to think differently about how they work together on a missing child case,” VanLuchene says.

“Why not take the 12 Core Components of a CART and apply them to your response so you get the most effective, organized, efficient outcome?” he asks. “It’s just that simple.”

In other cases, where there are preexisting major incident response teams to tackle emergencies, those groups of responders can learn the 12 components of a successful CART and walk away with an SOP. “You become an active CART team based on your ability to respond to cases involving missing kids,” VanLuchene says.

Finding the resources can also seem overwhelming until stakeholders are invited to become a part of the process, says LSP Captain Donaldson. He cites one partnership in particular. “We invited the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to be involved in the training for the first time,” he says. “They were keen to observe and see if being in a CART was a space they wanted to share with us.”

That decision would be a natural. “Louisiana has so many bodies of water, and these guys know the camps or lakes or rivers or streams—which is where a child with autism, for instance, may be drawn to after a wandering incident,” Donaldson says. “And thankfully, they’re all in. They have the tools and resources, and these guys love what they do. Now they’re waiting for a mission. They’re all about saving children, if they can.”

The methodology for the new CART implementation course will also be used for AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) trainings. AIIC Program Manager Tyesha Wood and her team are currently observing the new curriculum in action and will be applying it to a forthcoming Tribal Response to Abducted Children (TRAC) initiative, which will help Tribal law enforcement bridge any gaps in child recovery knowledge and planning.

Meanwhile, CART Liaisons Lick and Holmes are working daily to ensure all current CARTs and ones in the making are taken care of. Both have managed CART teams so they relate to others’ challenges. “They say, ‘Here’s what we recommend based on our experience,’ ” VanLuchene says. “The Liaisons are helping bring the total CART training package together.”

12 Core Components of a CART

Response Criteria: This is a memorandum of understanding about the CART’s criteria and area of service and should have complete buy-in by all of the stakeholders involved
Team Composition: The predetermined callout team should include an experienced and committed group of subject matter experts in areas including search and rescue, interview and interrogation, expert witness testimony, command post operations, major case investigations (including cold cases), and more.
Notification and Deployment Protocols: For the CART to respond in a quick, preestablished timeframe, it must have a well-constructed and agreed-upon method to activate the callout and an updated list of contacts.
Communications: Each team should have a plan for how it will communicate with the CART commander, command post, and others during an activation. This includes having a well-staffed call center for public tips and dedicated personnel monitoring social media accounts. A leads tracking and management system is crucial for disseminating leads for follow-up.
Command and Control: This involves the structuring and outfitting of a command center, incident command system (command structure), and operational team leaders (search leads, volunteer management, and others).
Search, Canvass and Rescue Operations: Establish a plan for searching, canvassing, and rescuing that includes response time and deployment logistics, as well as tactics for the successful use of volunteers with predetermined tasks.
Training: Individual and CART agency training provides an opportunity for the team to test activation and callout procedures, revise rosters and contact information, update team members’ training and specialized skill records, inspect equipment inventory, adjust assignments, and review protocols.
Legal Support: The goal in an endangered missing or abducted child case is to rescue the child, develop a solid prosecutorial case against the offender, and do both without violating the constitutional rights of members of the community. Issues such as search and seizure and the role of the prosecutor in the CART command post should be incorporated into the CART protocols. Every CART should include a prosecutor and/or legal adviser who should be involved in all trainings.
Equipment/Resources Inventory. The inventory list goes well beyond tangible deployment needs, but includes detailed instructions on how every possible resource (including experts not part of the CART core team) can be accessed regardless of time or day. Every resource should have backup contact information (telephone and email), as well as procedures for making an after-hours callout.
CART Protocols: Established protocols, along with operating procedures and manuals, will help ensure consistency in a CART’s functionality. These documents must be shared among and accepted by all participating agencies, and any changes to policies and procedures must be documented in a consistent, singular location.
Victim Assistance and Reunification: When a child is recovered, it is critical for a variety of services to be made available as soon as possible—not only to address and physical/medical needs, but also the psychological distress resulting from the incident.
Community: Utilizing members of the team to provide training and awareness to the public may generate volunteering when an incident occurs.

— From A Guide to CART Program Components and Implementation.

>> Find AATTAP’s two recently updated implementation- and certification- focused guides at AMBERAdvocate.org/CART/resources.

>> Find all the information you need to stay up to date on CART training objectives at AMBERAdvocate.org/CART/training

Woman wearing police vest — Corporal Josée Melanson of Canada’s National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains. All 10 Canadian provinces have an AMBER Alert program in place. The three Canadian territories have not yet implemented AMBER Alert systems in their jurisdictions. (Photo credit: Royal Canadian Mounted Police).

By Jody Garlock

Early in her career with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Josée Melanson realized that having a strong sense of urgency is essential in missing child cases. It’s an urgency she now thrives on. About six months into her job as a patrol officer in the northeast province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Melanson responded to a call from a frantic mother who had reported her young son missing.

As Melanson and ther officers ran in search of the child, she saw a dumpster in her periphery. Drawing on her training, she stopped. The boy was next to the trash receptacle, hiding and scared from hearing his name being yelled by unfamiliar voices.

“That was one of my success stories I’ll never forget,” Melanson says. That feeling of franticness related to having a lost child “is very different from the other types of calls we received,” she says.

After 13 years as a patrol officer (also known as a General Duty member on patrol) and five years at the RCMP Training Academy, Melanson shifted to a position with RCMP’s National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains (NCMPUR), headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. For the past two years, she has coordinated NCMPUR’s National AMBER Alert Working Group, comprised of AMBER Alert Coordinators from provincial law enforcement agencies across Canada.

Melanson’s work is a critical component of the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program’s (AATTAP) Northern Border Initiative, which formalizes the long-standing cooperation between the two nations. We spoke with Corporal Melanson about her transition from patrol officer to national coordinator, the structure of Canada’s AMBER Alert system, and why international partnership is non-negotiable when a child’s life is on the line.

After being on patrol for more than a decade, how has it been settling into your role at NCMPUR?
One of the positive experiences with the RCMP is that you can work in different units, and this one is very different from what I did as a patrol member. I don’t have a police car here. I don’t wear my full uniform every day. It was definitely an inviting change—I could focus on the unit here. I’ve learned a lot and am still learning. I find as a police officer, it’s important to challenge yourself and learn every day. That’s what keeps my drive going.

Do you have the chance to work with AMBER Alert associates in the United States?
In my current position as the chair of the National Amber Alert Working Group (NAAWG), my role is focused on gathering training opportunities and best practices from our U.S. associates. Once we communicate about that, I share the information with AMBER Alert Coordinators here in Canada.

What type of work does NAAWG do?
First, we’re not involved in investigations. One of our mandates is to facilitate an information exchange—and providing training opportunities for members here and support for AMBER Alert conferences. We meet virtually at least twice a year. We had one of our recent NAAWG meetings where we discussed courses that are available through the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC) at Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC) to AMBER Alert Coordinators in Canada.

What about your AMBER Alert program—how is it structured?
In Canada, each province develops its AMBER Alert program independently, and the provincial committees have developed criteria to respond to the needs of their jurisdictions. Each province appoints an AMBER Alert Coordinator to oversee the program and each province has its set criteria. We will be made aware that an AMBER Alert has been issued, but it is the provinces—the coordinators— that take full responsibility of it. Here at the National Center, we’ll maintain and collect statistics on issued AMBER Alerts.

Tell us a bit about those statistics.
In 2024, there were eight total activations of AMBER Alerts in Canada. All of the 10 children involved were located safe and sound. In the first six months of 2025, two AMBER Alerts have been issued, with a total of four children involved. And again, all four children were found safe.

That’s impressive. How does 100 percent success make you feel?
Amazing. It’s a great day at work, right?— for all police officers throughout Canada. You feel the urgency when you know all the criteria are met and the AMBER Alert is issued. And then once the children are located, it’s a very powerful feeling.

What are your thoughts on cross-border collaboration via the AATTAP’s Northern Border Initiative?
I feel it’s crucial to have that, especially for the effectiveness of AMBER Alerts here in Canada. Since I’ve been in the unit for the past two years, Canada and the United States have established partnerships, making it easier to work together, share information, and coordinate efforts when it is believed that a child has been abducted across our borders. All the information and the training that we can see from [AATTAP and FVTC’s NCJTC]—and me sharing that with the AMBER Alert Coordinators in Canada and with the NCMPUR team as well—is very beneficial.

Woman with brown hair — *Yesenia "Jesi" Leon-Baron*

Child protection officials in the U.S. and Canada have had a longstanding working relationship. The Northern Border Initiative of the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) formalizes that as it focuses on strengthening preparedness for effective response to child abduction cases.

The collaboration, which is between northern states and Canada’s southern provinces, parallels AATTAP’s Southern Border Initiative with Mexico.

Yesenia “Jesi” Leon-Baron, Project Coordinator for International and Territorial Programs at AATTAP, says that partnering with Canada’s National AMBER Alert Working Group has helped pinpoint areas to address, such as additional training on alert activations that involve cross-border abductions. “Together, we’re building an understanding of Canada’s AMBER Alert coordination while developing training and technical assistance,” she says.

A virtual tri-national meeting with respective AMBER Alert Coordinators from Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. is being planned, likely for 2026.

The one-day training would cover topics such as initial investigative responses and how the AMBER Alert system works in each country.

“Child abduction knows no borders,” Leon-Baron says. “Evil doesn’t discriminate, and it’s not going to worry about borders either. So we need to make sure we are supporting each country’s investigations when it comes to abducted children. We can be a force multiplier.”

Photo illustration of a blue blanket with a pink heart pillow — In 2023, 59% of AMBER Alerts were for family abduction cases, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. The abductions tend to occur at transition points, such as when court-ordered exchanges of the child are scheduled to take place. Staff photo illustration.

By Jody Garlock

Engaging the public has always been at the heart of AMBER Alerts. The program, after all, was built on the premise of instantly galvanizing citizens and motorists to serve as an extra set of eyes to help law enforcement safely locate an endangered missing or abducted child. The power of that concept played out literally and figuratively in a case that gripped the quiet county-seat town of Fallon, Nevada.

On March 31, 2025, the Nevada Department of Public Safety issued an AMBER Alert that was disseminated to broadcast media and cellular devices around Washoe County. Ten-month-old Lyric Smitten had been taken by his noncustodial mother, Chelsea Daniels, earlier that day. According to information released by the Churchill County Sheriff’s Office, authorities were advised that Daniels had been distraught after a court removed the boy from her care and custody. She was reported to have a handgun and had threatened to harm herself and her son.

The case solidly met the criteria for activating an AMBER Alert. These criteria included the belief that the child was in imminent danger and there was enough descriptive information for the public to aid in the recovery.

Unlike most AMBER Alerts, this case had an additional layer of urgency: The child was scheduled to undergo heart surgery the following day.

As news of the missing boy quickly spread around Fallon and the other high desert communities of western Nevada, tips to 911 came in. Because the vehicle Daniels was driving was relatively common—a black SUV (specifically a Ford Explorer) with a Nevada license plate— several tips matched a general description.

Although the AMBER Alert provided the license plate number, motorists aren’t always able to capture the exacting details. Officers knew the dire situation required taking all tips seriously, even those where the information matched just a general description of the SUV. One such tip led to a Fallon elementary school being placed on lockdown until authorities confirmed that the vehicle reported on the grounds wasn’t Daniels’.

One particular tip, however, stood out. A caller reported seeing a vehicle matching the description and that was being driven by a woman in an area that aligned with earlier cell phone pings from the mother’s phone. Patrol and investigative units were already in the area and took swift action. They spotted the SUV traveling on a mountain road.

Collage of four images showing the AMBER Alert cell phone message, a Walmart, an elementary school, and a news report — **HOW IT UNFOLDED** (from left, top to bottom): The AMBER Alert pinged cell phones shortly after 2 p.m. for the Nevada infant taken by his noncustodial mother and believed to be in imminent danger. The last reported siting of the child was at a Walmart. An elementary school was placed on lockdown after a tip matched a general description of the mother’s vehicle there. About an hour after the alert was issued, authorities acting on another tip spotted the vehicle and safely recovered the boy. Local media reported the news, to the relief of residents.

After initially failing to stop, Daniels pulled over the vehicle, heeding the emergency lights and sirens from a sheriff’s deputy’s patrol vehicle. The infant was found safe; emergency medical responders also assessed the child’s health.

Authorities did not release information on the boy’s heart condition or surgery.

The Fallon Police Department took Daniels into custody on various charges, including kidnapping. Fallon authorities noted after the incident that concern about the child’s medical condition played a factor in the case rising to the level of an AMBER Alert.

Similar to how the public responded with tips, local authorities were quick to praise the public for its vigilance that contributed to the safe resolution. Churchill County Sheriff Richard Hickox also credited the multiple agencies and emergency medical responders who were involved. “We are grateful for the citizens who called in with sightings and information,” Hickox posted on Facebook. “The successful resolution of this situation is a prime example of a collaborative effort by many agencies striving toward one goal—and that is the safety of the public.”

Residents greeted news of the child’s safe recovery with similar gratitude. “Thank you to the people who spoke up and reported!” one person wrote on the Churchill County Sheriff’s social media page.

Carri Gordon, AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) Liaison for Region 5 (which includes Nevada), considers the case an example of the AMBER Alert system working as it was intended: by engaging the public to prompt a swift recovery. “I’ve activated alerts in the past where the tip came in within six minutes of the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) hitting cell phones, and it was from someone directly behind the suspect’s vehicle,” she recalls. “Law enforcement contacted and safely recovered that child in less than 15 minutes of the AMBER Alert going out. It’s literally lifesaving.”

During her 13 years as the state of Washington’s AMBER Alert Coordinator (AAC), Gordon handled more than 100 AMBER Alerts. Although alert activations for noncustodial parent abductions, such as in this case, have always been higher than stranger abductions, she reminds AACs that this doesn’t mean the child is free of danger. “Parents will—and do— harm their own children,” she says, dispelling a common misconception.

Gordon also knows from experience the pressure AACs feel every time an AMBER Alert is issued, even though they aren’t directly investigating the case. “As AACs we monitor our alerts as they go out and monitor the involvement on social media, such as the shares and likes,” she says. “When you see a case with a lot of public involvement—and tips that eventually lead to the location of the child—it makes you aware of how critical and valuable a tool like the AMBER Alert system is.”

Tim Williams, center, manager of the New York State Missing Persons Clearinghouse (NYSMP) checks progress with David Fallon, retired FBI investigator and NCJTC-AATTAP Associate.

Three females at investigation desk in conference room

: Intelligence Analyst Joy Johnston of the New York State Police answers questions during a rescue operation to locate children reported missing as runaways.

Two men looking at a computer monitor screen in a crowded room.

Samuel Lizzio and Mark Baney, New York State Police senior investigators, work a case. In 2024, New York closed 12,310 cases involving children reported missing as runaways, according to the Division of Criminal Justice Services.

A man at a long conference table ringing a bell in a crowded room

Alan Lapage, NYSMPC investigative supervisor, rings a bell to signal a missing child was safely located.

By Jody Garlock

It’s an early morning in March, and about 100 law enforcement officials, social services professionals, legal experts, and others are gathered in a hotel ballroom in Latham, New York. Wearing lanyards with name tags and sitting at tables with laptops and papers in front of them, they seem poised for a routine conference. But there’s a seriousness in the air and laser focus as they work on their computers or huddle into small groups.

Eventually, the ringing of a bell sounds across the room. Heads turn toward a man holding a brass school bellas the realization sets in: A missing child has been located.

By the end of the three-day Capital Region Missing Child Rescue Operation, that bell will have been rung an impressive 63 times. Simultaneously, a computer screen projected onto a wall showed the number in big, bold lettering. Both served as uplifting motivators for the agencies and experts who united for a goal of finding missing children at risk of endangerment, exploitation, or harm. “After the first or second bell ring, everyone gets it—it’s powerful,” says Tim Williams, manager of the New York State Missing Persons Clearinghouse (NYSMPC), one of organizers. “You could feel the energy in the room continue to increase.”

More than 60 local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private partners came together to explore new leads, review case notes, and leverage technology to find at-risk youth reported missing as runaways.

The 63 children and teens located during the first-ever rescue operation for the Albany, Schenectady, and Troy areas ranged in age from 2 to 17 years old when they were reported

missing, and from 6 to 22 when found, according to the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS). And the overall number of those safely located continued to climb, as work that was started wrapped up after the event. Williams says 71 missing children have now been located as a direct result of the rescue operation.

“These are emotional events,” says Kevin Branzetti (shown below right under quote), CEO of the National Child Protection Task Force (NCPTF), which partnered with NYSMPC on the operation and has similar recovery missions scheduled in other states.

“We know these cases can be emotional roller coasters. You see a lot of tears.”

To drive home the importance of such ventures, Branzetti and Williams point to statistics. At the end of 2024, New York had slightly more than 1,000 active missing children cases. The majority of the 12,000-plus cases annually—95 percent— are reported as runaways.

“Every missing child is an endangered missing child,” Williams says. “Our focus was the runaway population because it’s often overlooked.”

Strategic Teamwork

The Capital Region event grew out of training sessions between NYSMPC and the Arkansas-based NCPTF. “We started to think ‘Could we put all these people in the same room with the sole mission of finding kids and closing cases?’ “ Williams says.

In October 2024, NYSMPC and NCPTF spearheaded their first joint rescue operation. That venture in the Buffalo area safely located 47 children reported missing as runways. Branzetti and Clearinghouse staffers, including Williams and Cindy Neff, who recently retired as NYSMPC manager, applied lessons they learned from the Buffalo operation. Comparatively, the Capital Region operation was more complex, involving coordination among three police departments, three district attorney’s offices, and three county social services agencies, along with many other entities.

“One of the most critical components is securing full buy-in from local partners, law enforcement, social services, district attorneys, and child advocacy centers,” Neff says. “Their collaboration is essential because these operations go beyond just locating missing youth. It’s also about understanding the underlying reasons they went missing and identifying the support needed to help prevent it from happening again.” (For more on Neff see the sidebar that follows this feature.)

The Capital Region operation required months of planning and meetings to review cases with agencies and coordinate logistics. Participants were ultimately organized into four teams— two for Albany and one each for Schenectady and Troy. A pre-operation meeting was held for all the teams prior to the operation.

Each team had a similar composition: a Clearinghouse representative who acted as the organizer, a crime analyst who had access to local police records, at least one detective from the agency working the case, representatives from NCTPF and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), a probation official, someone from social services, and various other law enforcement officials. The goal was to ensure that each team had a variety of resources and skill sets, be it public records searching, tracking a cell phone, understanding social media work, or open-source intelligence. “No two police departments have the same sets of tools,” Branzetti says. “Everyone brings their tools to the game, and we get to share them.”

Adding a social services component—and having those professionals in the room prepared to go out when a child was recovered—was one of the lessons learned from the prior operation. Branzetti, Williams, and Neff note that the goal wasn’t just to find the child, but also to try to ensure the child doesn’t go missing again. “What we promote deeply is ‘Find. Listen. Help,’ “ Branzetti says. “It takes more than police to do that. It’s a society problem.”

The state’s Office of Children and Family Services coordinated with nonprofit organizations and victim assistance programs to assist the investigations and provide services and support for recovered children. “There was a whole support-service side of this ready to go and available—and put into action many times,” Williams says. If a child already had an assigned case worker, that person was notified.

A unique component was providing gift cards to ensure a child or teen had essentials, such as food, clothing, or haircare services. In some cases, the gift cards became an outreach opportunity for the social services worker to schedule a follow-up to take a teen shopping. “We wanted her to see that something is different today,” says Branzetti, whose organization secured donations to provide the gift cards. “We wanted her to understand that this isn’t the same old story. It’s about changing the trajectory.”

Additionally, the rescue operation also helps destigmatize the word “runaway.” “It’s a matter of changing the mindset of what that means,” Williams says.

“Everyone in the room is getting a better sense of the word as they work on the cases and realize that we can’t treat a runaway as ‘I’ll get to it when I get to it’ and instead say ‘Let’s make sure we’re doing something.’ “

‘Remarkable’ Collaboration

Heading into the rescue operation, the organizers didn’t have a set goal for the number of children they wanted to find. “If we can find even one missing child, that’s a positive,” Williams says. Because team members had started pre-work, some of the cases were able to be swiftly closed. A side benefit, Branzetti says, is that the rescue operation helps broaden or hone skills, and participants leave with added knowledge they can apply to their own cases. “These rescue operations turn into partial training events,” he says. “You actually may be writing a first search warrant or doing a first cell tower dump, or someone is walking you through how to track an IP address. You can’t beat that.”

The organizers also note that it’s heartening to see the camaraderie develop on the mixed teams, where members typically start out the rescue operation as strangers.

Williams says the operation proved to him how beneficial it is to bring together diverse groups. “We all tend to fall into the silo that we’re comfortable in, but we hear so many times, ‘Oh I wish I had reached out to you sooner,’ ” he says. “Sitting down at the same table, talking through cases, and sharing resources that are available is so important. Don’t be afraid to have those difficult conversations or continue to talk weekly or monthly to stay on top of things.”

For Neff, the rescue operation was a gratifying culmination to her long career. “When professionals from different agencies are brought together in the same room with a shared mission,” she says, “remarkable things can happen.”

Photo of woman (Cindy Neff) — *'Force of Nature': Cindy Neff recently retired after two decades of remarkable work.*

For Cindy Neff, the Capital Region Missing Child Rescue Operation was a fitting end to a long career of helping children. In April, Neff retired from the New York State Missing Persons Clearinghouse, where she worked for 20 years—the past 11 years as manager. “She’s a force of nature,” says Kevin Branzetti, CEO of the National Child Protection Task Force who worked with Neff on the New York rescue operations and various other initiatives.

Over the years, Neff has been a familiar face at national AMBER Alert symposiums, serving as an Associate for NCJTC-AATTAP. She also led the charge for establishing the New York State Cold Case Review Panel and developing the Find Them web application to support law enforcement working missing persons cases.

The issue of children with multiple missing episodes has always been close to her heart. In New York, about half of the missing children classified as runaways involve repeat episodes. Neff likens it to her personal experience of her mother being shuffled from one nursing home to another until she landed in a place where she was treated with compassion and dignity. Like with her mother, she feels runaway children are placed wherever there is an open bed, not necessarily where they will receive the care and services they need.

To address the issue, she helped form a statewide partnership that promotes a systems-based approach to supporting vulnerable children. This led to launching RIPSTOP (Runaway Intervention Program: Services, Training, Opportunity, Prevention), which identifies root causes and connects youth to targeted services. The hope is that RIPSTOP becomes a model for the state.

“I believe it represents the future of how we must address missing child cases: with empathy, data-driven solutions, and collaboration across systems,” Neff says. “We must reject the mindset of ‘They’re just a runaway—they’ll come back.’ Every missing child is at risk until proven otherwise, and every case deserves our full attention.”

In her immediate retirement, Neff is recharging and enjoying time with her grandchildren. She also plans to thoughtfully consider how she may stay involved in the field in the future. She encourages fellow Clearinghouse managers and AMBER Alert Coordinators to carry on the mission on behalf of missing children by setting clear goals, regularly assessing priorities, and building strong partnerships at every level. “This work cannot be done in isolation,” she says.

By Denise Gee Peacock

Our children are the heart of our communities—the keeper of our legacies. But sometimes the unthinkable happens. A child goes missing. And in those desperate moments, every second counts. So do AMBER Alerts.

Thus begins a new eight-minute AMBER Alert in Indian Country-focused video filmed in Santa Fe. It is the longest of three videos that focus on AMBER Alert being a lifeline—a rapid response system that mobilizes entire communities to help find missing and abducted quickly and safely.

In Indian Country, implementing AMBER Alert comes with unique challenges: jurisdictional rights, infrastructure and resources limitations, crime reporting complexities, and the need for cultural understanding and multiagency collaboration.

The AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) initiative—part of the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) of the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC) of Fox Valley Technical College—is a bridge meant to overcome such issues.

“We all have a role to play in protecting our children,” says NCJTC Director and AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen. “By working together, we can ensure that every community in Indian Country has the resources and support they need to implement AMBER Alert effectively.”

Feathers and smudging tool for blessing the event

A Pueblo of Pojoaque smudging ceremony took place to bless the occasion and its participants.

A member of the Bravebird film crew looks out at bison en route to Santa Fe.

Female photographer monitoring drone images

Pamela Foster holds a medallion necklace showing her and her daughter Ashlynne.

Sunrise over Santa Fe.

Pueblo of Pojoaque Police vehicle on the go during the filming

A member of the Pueblo of Pojoaque Police Department answers a call for help.

Pueblo of Pojoaque Police Department sign

Filming took place on the Pueblo of Pojoaque.

Four members of Tribal law enforcement greet each other in Santa Fe

Members of Tribal police departments from across the nation greeted each other on the first day of filming.

Pueblo of Pojoaque Nathan Baron shows satellite map during meeting

Detail of Chitimacha Tribal Police patch on uniform

Deputy Chief Taylor Patterson of the Miccosukee Tribal Police in Florida answers questions during filming of the new videos.

Photographer operating a drone for aerial views of setting

Director of Photography Ashley Siana operates a drone over the Santa Fe landscape.

Photographer getting shots of bison and terrain for video setting

Film crew looking at monitor of video work while checking sound

Film crew at work talking with Jada Breaux of Chitimacha Tribe

Chitimacha Tribal Police Captain Jada Breaux sits for questions during filming.

Video participants, members of the film crew and AMBER Alert in Indian Country team members enjoy some down time.

Group of participants who helped with new video series

Following completion of the video filming, all those involved gathered for a group photo.

The goal of the new video (one of three in total) and AIIC training, is to:

Cultivate awareness and build knowledge of available resources and support systems for Indian Country.
Encourage American Indian/ Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities to implement effective response plans.
Help Tribes understand the basics of the AMBER Alert system and evaluate their community’s preparedness.
Promote the relationship-building between AI/AN, state agencies, and law enforcement.
Emphasize the need for cultural awareness in handling missing/ abducted children cases.
Build agency among AI/AN communities to take proactive measures to safeguard their children—and their children’s children.

The AATTAP-AIIC team worked with two Indigenous filmmakers who form the heart of Bravebird, a company that regularly collaborates with the nationally respected marketing firm 6 AM. (See the sidebar “Telling Stories,” below.) Both firms are based in Wisconsin, and both “were perfect to work with based on their understanding of the sensitivity of this story,” says Tyesha M. Wood, Program Manager for AATTAP’s AMBER Alert in Indian Country initiative.

“We wanted to bring together voices of child protection officials from Tribes across the nation—law enforcement leaders and others who could feel comfortable in expressing what their concerns are and how the AMBER Alert in Indian Country program has helped them. And how it can help others too,” Wood says.

The video was filmed on the Pueblo of Pojoaque reservation, known to have existed since 500 AD. The New Mexico Tribe played host to the video’s participants, who came from northern California, south Louisiana, northern Florida, and all points in between.

AIIC’s main champion in the video series is Pamela Foster, who figured prominently in the first video produced for the initiative after passage of the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018. Foster is the mother of Ashlynne, who on May 2, 2016, was abducted—along with her brother Ian—and murdered in a remote area on the Navajo Nation. Ian managed to escape and run several miles to seek help. But while Ashlynne’s parents made frantic efforts to locate her, misunderstandings and jurisdictional hurdles on the reservation prevented an AMBER Alert from being issued until the next day, robbing authorities of critical hours in their search efforts.

“On that day, a part of me died, and life has never been the same,” Foster says. But it also propelled her to lobby forlegislative change that would prevent another Tribal family from experiencing what hers did.

“I made a promise to Ashlynne that I would do my part to fix the loophole that exists in the system,” Foster says. “I would fight with every fiber of my being to bring AMBER Alert to Indian Country.”

The video underscores the urgency of implementing AMBER Alerts through the lens of law enforcement professionals and others working on the front lines of protecting Tribal children.

“For far too long, an epidemic has been playing out in Indian Country as it relates to missing and murdered Indigenous children, adults, wives, relatives, brothers, and fathers. And it is a monster,” says Major Nathan Barton of the Pueblo of Pojoaque Police Department.

In the video, Foster makes a direct appeal to Tribal leaders. “If you haven’t already received the AIIC training, please reach out. Thanks to Ashlynne’s law, we can work with you to establish an AMBER Alert plan,” she says. “What’s more, the training is free and accessible, and it’s adaptive to your needs. We just need more Tribal participation for this to be effective.”

After the process, Foster had this to reflect on: “Sitting with the Tribal leaders and law enforcement officials who participated in the shoot was heartening. I was happy to hear them talk about how vital it is to protect our children on and off the reservation, and they each came with a powerful message to share,” she says. “It was good to see that we are building a connection with one another, and others—and that we are committed to being supported and heard.”

ACTION ITEMS:

Learn more about how AMBER Alert can protect Tribal Visit AMBERAdvocate. org/AIIC or email [email protected] for more information.
Follow AMBER Alert in Indian Country courses online, including the comprehensive MCI-IC series.
Contact your local Tribal leaders to discuss the importance of having a response plan in place.

Photograph of five people involved in the film's production — *The Bravebird crew in Santa Fe: Director Alex Miranda (far left), Director of Photography Ashley Siana, Director of Photography James Kwan, Sound Engineer Michael Twombly, and Producer Tim Peters.*

The new video’s director, Alex Miranda, and producer, Tim Peters, are the principals of Bravebird, an Indigenous-led filmmaking group based in Wisconsin that specializes in telling the stories of Indian Country.

“For us, and our families and communities, it’s important to share our stories with care, authenticity, and dignity," Miranda says.

One aspect of their work that shines through: “The land. Mother Earth,” he says. “She helps us realize that stories such as Ashlynne’s will never be forgotten.”

Bravebird was enlisted by the 6 AM Marketing team, also based in Wisconsin, for the care the group takes with delicate subject matter.

“Aaron [Hughes] and Laura [Fernandez] at 6 AM made this very easy,” Miranda says. “Everything was well thought through. We’re so complementary in our skills with each other. That just creates a very holistic experience.”

The goal was to create an emotional hook, front and center, explains 6 AM Creative Director Hughes. “That really starts with Pamela Foster [Ashlynne’s mother]. That’s what puts everybody in their seats paying attention at the start of this because of her experience,” he says. “Everything about her makes you pay attention.”

Foster was appreciative of the care that Bravebird and 6 AM crews devoted to helping her talk through the worst thing in life she has ever experienced: Ashlynne’s abduction and murder.

Says 6 AM Account Manager Laura Fernandez, “We had to make sure from the beginning that we had a deep understanding of Pamela's story, the [AATTAP-AIIC] program and the issues surrounding it, and the importance of those we would be speaking to—to try not to create the narrative,” she says. “It was a weight of emotional importance unlike anything I've ever done.”

Hughes adds: “We all felt like we were assembling something that could profoundly alter the course of someone’s life,” Hughes says. “If one child’s life can be spared because an AMBER Alert is in place, think of the ripple effect that will have. What a tremendous gift to participate in something like that.”

By Denise Gee Peacock

Lieutenant Chris O’Keefe of the Tulsa, Oklahoma, Police Department (TPD) has a handful of cameo appearances in the reality-crime TV series “The First 48.” But off screen, the real-life search for bad actors and innocent victims has been his calling for several decades.

Much of O’Keefe’s 24-year TPD career has focused on the rapid identification and apprehension of homicide suspects and other violent criminals, most recently in the TPD’s Fugitive Warrants Unit. In April 2023 he began supervising the TPD’s Sex and Violent Offender Registration Unit, where he also serves as AMBER Alert Coordinator (AAC). As AAC, O’Keefe weighs missing child-related factors as they are known before deciding whether to contact Jason Matheson of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol to initiate an AMBER Alert in partnership with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

We met the De Pere, Wisconsin, native at this year’s AMBER Alert and AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium in Washington, D.C. We reconnected with him in Tulsa to discuss his work.

What led you into law enforcement?
I knew I wanted to get into public service, something to help people on a daily basis. Maybe I just read too many superhero comic books as a kid. But after getting a B.A. in sociology from St. Norbert College in De Pere, I did some law enforcement training at Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC) in Appleton before joining the U.S. Army. Then, when my wife was offered a job in Tulsa, I tapped into my FVTC training and Army experience to sign up for the TPD academy. I joined the organization in 2001.

How does being an AAC mesh with the other work you do for the TPD?
It’s a natural fit. An AMBER Alert is essentially a manhunt, and I’ve developed an expertise in finding people. Now I oversee the process after countless directives to “Go, go, go—find them!” I also manage the sex offender registration process, and those are the individuals we look at right away whenever there’s a missing child case.

How many AMBER Alerts do you issue on average?
In the last two years, we’ve issued about six AMBER Alerts. But I couldn’t even begin to count the number of times we’ve discussed if a missing child case should warrant an AMBER Alert, or an Endangered Missing Alert, or be addressed some other way.

What are your biggest challenges?
One involves a perception that if we don’t issue an alert, we’re ignoring the situation. But truth is, we bring plenty of resources to bear to find a child. This was a topic of conversation at the recent AMBER Alert and AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium. There’s a lot we can do if a case doesn’t meet our criteria—issue social media posts, work with license plate readers, ping a cell phone. The case can get resolved even quicker if we have solid information to work with right away.

What guides your ultimate decision?
I go by informed instinct, combining that with what I hear from people on the front lines—particularly the responding officers or in some cases our dispatchers, digging into what their first impression of the situation is, and whether they believe the child to be in danger. That’s why first-responder training is essential.

Do you enlist a child abduction response team (CART)?
We have a call tree of people on our incident management team (IMT) who are paged during an AMBER Alert or Endangered Missing situation, and the IMT includes a crisis unit that focuses on child molestation cases. They’re truly an organizational force. We have an AMBER Alert Center within our headquarters and the IMT will use it as its command post, manning the phones, sorting through tips, procuring resources. All the tips flow through me and I decide the priority of them. We then keep track of who we’ve sent where to check out the tip, and I organize all that. We also try to keep the family as close as possible and have a victim advocate on hand.

What types of missing child cases are the most complex?
Stranger abductions—the real nightmare ones, with no information on vehicles or suspects—are thankfully very rare. Parental abductions are the most common—and complicated. Generally, a parent can’t abduct their child if they have the legal right to be with that child, whether all the time or just some of the time. It’s only when the parent says they’re going to go harm themselves and/or the child that we immediately know it warrants an AMBER Alert.

What helps you navigate such complexities?
If there’s even a chance that a parent could hurt the child, we’ll err on the side of caution and issue an AMBER Alert. The challenge lies within the legalities. We worry about unleashing the full force of law enforcement on a parent who hasn’t committed any crime. That can result in liability issues. And that’s where our training and experience have to come into play—and asking the right questions.

Being an AAC is stressful work. What motivates or inspires you?
The times we’ve had AMBER Alerts I’m never short of help. It’s not just from the people on call; we see that every patrol officer is going to stop what they’re doing to help find the child. I also get calls from the regional sheriff’s department, Oklahoma Highway Patrol, FBI, and the U.S. Marshals. It’s amazing. I’m also grateful to have a family that’s been supportive of my work.

By Denise Gee Peacock

The 2025 National AMBER Alert and AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium, held February 25-26 in Washington, D.C., brought together nearly 200 state and regional AMBER Alert coordinators, missing person clearinghouse managers, Tribal leaders, and public safety officials from across the U.S. and its territories, including American Samoa, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

Presenters and speakers included more than two dozen subject matter experts in missing child investigations and rapid response teams, emergency alerting, law enforcement technology, and Tribal law enforcement. Special guests included four family survivors who shared their powerful stories—and lessons learned.

*U.S. Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona addresses attendees at the 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium in Washington, D.C.*

Also there to address participants was Eileen Garry, Acting Administrator of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and U.S. Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona’s 5th Congressional District and co-sponsor of the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018.

The annual collaborative learning event is funded through the DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs and administered by the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) and its AMBER Alert in Indian Country (AIIC) initiative, both affiliated with the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC) of Fox Valley Technical College.

The symposium’s goal is to engage participants in discussing current issues, emerging technology, and best practices for recovering endangered missing and abducted children. Another objective is to improve the process of integration between state, regional, and rural communication plans with federally recognized Tribes from across the nation.

For the second year we enlisted the event management app Whova to help attendees plan their days, share their thoughts, and connect with each other. In keeping with that, we’ll let participants do most of the talking as we share event highlights.

This conference is a testament to the power
of collaboration. We’re here to bridge gaps,
share best practices, and innovate.
We’re here to hear the voices of those
who have experienced the unimaginable;
to honor their strength and resilience.

Janell Rasmussen

NCJTC Director / AATTAP Administrator

Never forget the difference you make in a child's
life. Ours is hard work, and sometimes gets us down.
But remember my family’s story. And never lose your
passion for keeping children safe.

Sayeh Rivazfar

Abduction survivor/law enforcement veteran/keynote speaker

AMBER Alert and Ashlynne’s Law
both save lives. Thank you for ensuring
your communities are prepared to
respond to every parent’s worst nightmare.

Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs (Fifth U.S. District)

U.S. Representative Andy Biggs

Arizona's 5th Congressional District

I will continue to push forward and spread
awareness, particularly about Indian Country,
hoping that one day jurisdiction and sovereignty
will not play a role in the search for a child.
And that every Tribe will have a plan
in place if an AMBER Alert ever
has to be activated.

Jada Breaux

Captain, Chitimacha Tribal Police Department, Louisiana

Sayeh [Rivazfar] is an incredible mother, an incredible warrior. Hearing her story was captivating, humbling, and gut-wrenching. As a mother of two young boys, I found her story beyond impactful. It provided a tangible sense of just how urgent it was to return home and continue the work.

Kelsey Commisso

Alerts Coordinator, Arizona Department of Public Safety

AMBER Alerts: To Activate or Not Activate was my absolute favorite session. Since I’m new to my position, it really made me think!

Whytley Jones

AMBER Alert Coordinator, Louisiana State Police

I’d never heard of the ‘Baby in a Box’ case [involving Shannon Dedrick], and the ending surprised me. I loved hearing the investigative lessons learned from it.

Michael Garcia

Detective, Honolulu Police Department, Hawaii

Pasco County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office Captain Larry Kraus did an excellent job in explaining the application, effectiveness, and obstacles of OSINT. He is super-smart and relatable to those of us who may be tech-challenged.

John Graham

Investigator, Taylor County (Texas) Sheriff’s Office

Erika Hock did a great job of presenting the Charlotte Sena case. Her humility shown through, especially when sharing the searching mother’s criticisms [of their alerting process] … and how she’s looking to implement some of the mother’s suggestions.

Ana Flores

Senior Case Manager, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

SYMPOSIUM OVERVIEW
The symposium featured 28 presentations and workshops on relevant and pressing topics within child protection—each meant to deepen attendees’ understanding of current challenges and solutions. Click here to see the full agenda and here to read the speakers’ bios.

FAMILY PERSPECTIVES

Pamela Foster: Keynote speaker (parental/ AMBER Alert in Indian Country focus)
Sayeh Rivazfar: Keynote speaker (abduction survivor/law enforcement focus)
Noelle Hunter: Presenter (international parental child abduction focus)
Desiree Young: Presenter (parental focus)

INVESTIGATIONS / RESOURCES

AMBER Alert Coordination: Essential Resources
Missing Persons Clearinghouse Managers
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Updates
Search Methods in Tribal Communities
Tribal Response to Missing Children
U.S. Marshals Service Support for Missing Children

CASE STUDIES

“Baby in a Box” (Shannon Dedrick / Florida)
CART Response to Child Sex Trafficking (New Jersey)
Charlotte Sena Campground Abduction (New York)
Gila River Indian Community (Arizona)

ALERTING / TECHNOLOGY

AMBER Alerts: To Activate or Not Activate?
FirstNet Authority Updates & Resources (Indian Country)
IPAWS Emergency Communications Updates
Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) Analysis

CHILD ABDUCTION RESPONSE TEAMS (CARTs)

Pasco County, Florida
State of New Jersey

Bill Boldin, U.S. Marshals Service, 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium

Bill Boldin, Senior Inspector/National Missing Child Program Coordinator for the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), talks with attendees about how the USMS is helping find missing children.

Eileen Garry, Acting Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention, OJJDP, at the 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium

Eileen Garry, Acting Administrator for the DOJ's Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention, thanks symposium participants for their child protection work.

Janell Rasmussen at the 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium in Washington, DC

AATTAP Administrator/NCJTC Director Janell Rasmussen welcomes 2025 Symposium participants.

Pamela Foster, mother of Ashlynne Mike, gets a hug from U.S. Congressman Andy Biggs of Arizona at the 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium in Washington, DC

Pamela Foster shares a hug with U.S. Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona's 5th Congressional District.

Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs, walks with Pamela Foster (mother of Ashlynne Mike), and Janell Rasmussen, NCJTC Director/AATTAP Administrator at the 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium in Washington, DC

From left: Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs (5th District), AMBER Alert in Indian Country advocate Pamela Foster, and AATTAP Administrator/NCJTC Director Janell Rasmussen.

Ashlynne Mike, Pamela Foster, necklace, Alica Murphy Wildcatt, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

Knowing that Pamela Foster's daughter, Ashlynne Mike, loved butterflies, AATTAP Administrator/NCJTC Director Janell Rasmussen presented Foster with a meaningful gift. The sterling silver necklace features a butterfly with the name “Ashlynne Mike” intricately cut into its wings. The necklace was crafted by AATTAP-AIIC Project Coordinator Alica Murphy Wildcatt, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

Sayeh Rivazfar, Ahmad Rivazfar, The AMBER Advocate

Sayeh Rivazfar is shown with her father on the cover of The AMBER Advocate. Numerous participants were moved to share their contact information with her—and their support.

Sayeh Rivazfar, Randy Mitchell, Santa Rosa County Florida Sheriff's Office, at the 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium in Washington, DC

Sayeh Rivazfar stands with a career shadowbox bequeathed to her by Florida Sheriff's Deputy Randy Mitchell. Mitchell had worked to see justice served after Sayeh was brutally assaulted and her sister, Sara, was murdered by a family friend in 1988. Mitchell was proud of Sayeh's decision to go into law enforcement.

Sayeh Rivazfar's Punky Brewster tennis shoes on evidence bag

Sayeh Rivazfar brought the blue and pink Punky Brewster tennis shoes she had on when she and her younger sister, Sara, were abducted and brutally assaulted in 1988. Sara did not survive.

Sayeh Rivazfar and unidentified female at the 2025 National AMBER Alert and AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium, Washington, DC

Symposium participants lined up to thank childhood assault/abduction survivor Sayeh Rivazfar—who also is a law enforcement veteran—for her moving keynote presentation.

Derek VanLuchene at the 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium in Washington, DC

AATTAP Child Abduction Response Team (CART) Manager Derek VanLuchene visits with attendees before the IPAWS/emergency alerting workshop.

Dr. Noelle Hunter, Jenniffer Price-Lehmann, international parental child abduction, IPCA, Muna

AATTAP Deputy Administrator Jenniffer Price-Lehmann, left, introduces Dr. Noelle Hunter before her powerful presentation on international parental child abduction (IPCA). Hunter's 4-year-old daughter, "Muna," was illegally taken by her non-custodial father to West Africa. She ultimately was able to return home, but only after a "full court press" by Hunter and others to make that happen.

Riley Borges, William "Billy" Oku, Hawaii

Hawaii detectives Riley Borges and William "Billy" Oku share a friendly "mahalo" during a break.

Jenniffer Price-Lehmann, Brittni Farmakes, Yesenia "Jesi" Leon-Baron, Jill Nysse

Dyana Chase with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (seated center) before discussing the "Baby in a Box" case at the 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium in Washington, DC

"Finding Shannon [Dedrick] renewed our sense of hope that a child could be found alive—even after five days of searching," said Dyana Chase (center), Special Agent/CART Supervisor, Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE)

Bill Boldin, left, and Byron Fassett at the 2025 National AMBER Alert and AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium, Washington, DC

Bill Boldin with the U.S. Marshals Service (left) talks with AATTAP Deputy Administrator Byron Fassett before the start of the symposium.

Desiree Young, mother of Kyron Horman, speaks to attendees at the 2025 National AMBER Alert and AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium in Washington, DC

Desiree Young—mother of Kyron Horman, missing for nearly 15 years—expresses hope that she will learn more about her 14-year-old son's disappearance from his Oregon elementary school.

Bradley Russ with Eileen Garry at the 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium in Washington, DC

NCJTC Executive Director Brad Russ with OJJDP Acting Administrator Eileen Garry.

Erika L. Hock of the New York State Police discussing the Charlotte Sena case during the 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium in Washington, DC

New York State Police Senior Investigator Erika L. Hock presented a study of the Charlotte Sena abduction case.

FirstNet Authority, Jasper Bruner, Angel Benally, Tyesha M. Wood

From left: FirstNet Authority's Jasper Bruner and Angel Benally join AATTAP's AMBER Alert in Indian Country Manager Tyesha M. Wood before the FirstNet-focused presentation.

2025 AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium

Symposium-goers filled numerous meeting rooms during the 2025 learning event.

Retired New York State Police Investigator Sayeh Rivazfar holds up one of the Punky Brewster tennis shoes she was wearing during an assault on her at age 8—a crime that also took the life of her younger sister, Sara (seen with her in the top photo, on right).

Sayeh Rivazfar’s life was forever changed on September 22, 1988. That was when her mother’s boyfriend took her, then age 8, and her 6-year-old sister Sara, from their home in Pensacola, Florida, drove them to a remote area, brutally assaulted them, slashed their throats, and left them to die. Sayeh survived; her sister did not.

While living with her father and brother in Rochester, New York, Sayeh chose to join the New York State Police. She has since retired after two decades’ work, but her child protection work continues.

“I decided early on not to let trauma take me down. I use it as fuel to help others.”

Rivazfar displayed a shadow box that belonged to Santa Rosa County (Florida) Sheriff’s Deputy Randy Mitchell. When assigned to her case, the new father was outraged over the pain inflicted on her and her sister. He and Rivazfar kept in touch over the years. “He was proud of my law enforcement career,” she said.

Then, in 2012, shortly before he died of cancer, she received a package from him—his “career in a box,” including his badge and shield, along with a poignant letter. “It means the world to me, as he did.”

*Rivazfar with Randy Mitchell, who bequeathed her his “career in a box” (right).*

Dr. Noelle Hunter and her daughter "Muna" — *Dr. Noelle Hunter with her daughter “Muna”*

On New Year’s Day 2011, Dr. Noelle Hunter’s worst fear was realized: Her ex-husband had illegally taken their 4-year-old daughter to live in his home country of Mali, West Africa.

Thus began the college professor’s quest to have Maayimuna (“Muna”) returned to her—after nearly three years of “full-court press” work.

It’s now her mission to help others navigating the complex mire of international parental child abduction (IPCA).

As an AATTAP/NCJTC Associate, she also helps law enforcement understand how to best respond to IPCA cases. They also should understand this: “All abductions are local. The response a parent gets from that first call for help means everything.”

**Click here to learn more about Dr. Hunter’s story—and a poignant encounter she had with a Maryland State Trooper**.

Pamela Foster: ‘Indian Country Needs AMBER Alert’

Pamela Foster and her late daughter Ashlynne Mike — *Pamela Foster with daughter Ashlynne.*

Pamela Foster—the mother of Ashlynne Mike, namesake of the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018—was introduced to Symposium attendees by U.S. Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona’s 5th Congressional District. Biggs worked with Foster, and Arizona Senator John McCain to ensure passage of “Ashlynne's Law” two years after her 11-year-old daughter’s abduction and murder on the Navajo Nation reservation in 2016.

The Act provides numerous resources to Indian Country to bolster Tribal knowledge, training, technology, and partner collaboration to ensure children who go missing from Native lands can be found quickly and safely.

“Those of you in Tribal law enforcement, if you haven’t already received training, please schedule it as soon as possible,” Foster said. “We need law enforcement on Tribal land to share information with outside agencies so they can quickly apprehend criminals. Every child has the right to feel safe and live life to its fullest, and my fight is based on what I have experienced as a mother and a parent. I don’t ever want what happened to me to happen to another person.”

Foster’s powerful presentation was a gift to all who experienced it. Then she was given a gift—which provided another moving moment.

Read about Pamela's message, and the gift in honor of Ashlynne, here.

❖ Marshal More Support

*U.S. Marshals Service Senior Inspector Bill Boldin (left) with AATTAP Deputy Administrator Byron Fassett*

“We’re good at hunting down fugitives. We’re now putting that toward finding missing children. It’s not something we’re known for. But we want to focus our efforts on kids with the highest likelihood of being victimized, of facing violence.” – Bill Boldin, Senior Inspector/National Missing Child Program Coordinator, U.S. Marshals Service (USMS)

Proven track record: From 2021 to 2024, 61% of missing child cases were resolved within seven days of USMS assistance.

❖ Model CARTs

Photo of Stacie Lick — **Leading by example:** Read more about retired Captain Stacie Lick's CART success.

“Mandates are pathways to support.” – Stacie Lick, Captain (Ret.), Gloucester County (New Jersey) Prosecutor’s Office

Having a dedicated, well-trained child abduction response team (CART) is essential to finding a missing child, using all available resources, when every minute counts. But symposium-goers know that building and sustaining a CART are significant obstacles for agencies with slim staffs and budgets.

The CART experts from New Jersey and Florida who shared advice at the symposium have spent nearly two decades overcoming those challenges by thinking creatively and strategically, such as getting buy-in for the expansion of New Jersey's CARTs after the high-profile Autumn Pasquale case in 2012. Or by having a well-thought-through staffing and resource plan, one that can be applied multi-jurisdictionally.

As a result of Captain Stacie Lick’s efforts to compile CART best practices for Gloucester County, New Jersey now mandates that all 21 of its counties have an active CART that follows standardized policies and procedures, and learns from mandatory after-action reporting. In 2008, as Lick was building Gloucester County’s CART, she was greatly inspired by the Pasco County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) Missing Abducted Child (MAC) Team.

Each MAC deploys with a command post with a lead investigator assigned to it. It also has coordinators assigned to these critical tasks: leads management; neighborhood/business canvassing and roadblocks; sex offender canvassing; resources oversight; volunteer search management; search and rescue operations; logistics; public information and media relations; crime scene management; legal representation; analytics; and cybercrimes/technical support. A family liaison and victim advocate will also be on hand to provide valuable assistance.

MODEL MANUALS
Many of the best practices used by the New Jersey and Pasco County, Florida, CARTs can be found in two newly updated, downloadable CART resources—one on implementation and the other on certification—both produced by AATTAP.

❖ Maximize Messaging

Law enforcement technology consultant Eddie Bertola provided several updates related to the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS) overseen by the Federal Emergency Management System (FEMA).

Illustration of FEMA's Message Design Dashboard advantages for IPAWS — *IPAWS’ new Message Design Dashboard provides templates to help law enforcement save time and ensure alerting consistency. It also offers message previews and testing.*

The IPAWS portal that law enforcement uses to request AMBER Alerts now has a more streamlined interface. And within that is the new Message Design Dashboard (MDD), “an intuitive structure taking message crafting from 15 minutes to five minutes,” Bertola said.

MDD features drop-down menus that provide access to essential information that can be provided in a consistent manner and allow best usage of the 360-character limit within varied templates. It also can check for typos and invalid links and allow for easier message previews and system testing.

In other messaging news, another development is the Missing and Endangered Person/MEP Code, which was discussed in both the IPAWS workshop and updates session hosted by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).

Approved in August 2004, the addition of the MEP code to the Emergency Alert System (EAS) will enable law enforcement agencies to more rapidly and effectively issue alerts about missing and endangered persons by covering a wider range of ages and circumstances than AMBER Alerts alone. MEP alerts will utilize the same infrastructure as AMBER Alerts, thus allowing for widespread dissemination through various media channels.

❖ Intelligence Gathering

*Captain Larry Kraus* *of the Pasco County* *(Florida) Sheriff’s* *Office, Research* *& Analysis Division, led the OSINT discussion.*

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) analysis is the leveraging of data from publicly available communication sources such as social media apps, messaging boards, gaming platforms, and the dark web. This research complements more traditional law enforcement databases (criminal databases, LInX, LeadsOnline) and can yield more real-time clues.

Bad actors are increasingly digital obsessed—and inadvertently work against themselves by taking photos and videos with geolocations and time stamps—while leaving other digital breadcrumbs.

OSINT analysts requires continuous training on ever-evolving information-sharing channels. They need to understand how to avoid gleaning intelligence that can be challenged in court (and potentially weaken public trust). All the while they have to battle data overload from the sheer volume of information that needs assessing.

It’s imperative that agencies hire professionals capable of navigating such complexities, Kraus said of intelligence analysts, whom he calls “the unsung heroes of law enforcement.”

FINDING LOST PERSON BEHAVIOR
“I can’t believe I didn’t know about the Lost Person Behavior resource,” one attendee said on Whova. Mentioned during Pasco County’s CART workshop, “LPB,” as its known for short, refers to the science- and data-based research of Dr. Robert J. Koester, whose field guide-style book outlines 41 missing persons categories and provides layers of behavior a person in each classification will likely follow.

❖ Welcoming U.S. Territories

Partners from American Samoa, Guam, and Puerto Rico traveled numerous time zones to attend this year’s symposium. “They really appreciated getting to meet their counterparts in the States,” said Yesenia “Jesi” Leon-Baron, AATTAP Project Coordinator for International/Territorial Programs *(shown fourth from left)*.

❖ DNA: 'Give People Back Their Names'

In his “Genetic Genealogy” presentation, crime scene forensics expert Ed O’Carroll cited several ways to “give people back their names,” adding “crime is more solvable than ever before.”

• Look afield: Re-open a case involving a long-term missing person, or one with unidentified human remains, and let the growing realm of reputable DNA labs help solve a crime once thought unsolvable. “Our labs are overworked, so we need to find more ways to use private ones,” O’Carroll said.

• Be a “genetic witness”: Encourage people on the genealogy sites GEDmatch and AncestryDNA to opt in to giving law enforcement a broader field of DNA samples to consider when trying to pinpoint someone who may have committed a violent crime. “As many of us know, CODIS only gives a hit about half the time we use it.”

• “Prevent tomorrow’s victim by solving today’s case today,” O’Carroll said. Know the latest technology, including Rapid DNA, an FBI-approved process that can provide a scientific correlation in as little as 90 minutes.

❖ Decoding Alerting Decisions

911 illustration — **NEW COURSE OF ACTION:** AATTAP’s new course, 911 Telecommunicators and Missing & Abducted Children (aka “911 T-MAC”) is a must for public safety telecommunicators and members of law enforcement who face public calls for help. Look for online and in-person training opportunities here.

This was the second year for AATTAP Region 1 Liaison and alerting veteran Joan Collins to teach the popular class designed to help attendees analyze real-world cases of missing children and AMBER Alert requests, noting the key factors within the criteria that determine when an alert is issued; evaluate AMBER Alert effectiveness by comparing case details with activation criteria and assessing factors that influence decision-making; and propose improved response strategies.

Collins’ style is to amiably pepper participants with more than a dozen widely varying missing child scenarios, often throwing daunting updates into the mix. Participants responded using the Poll Everywhere app, which tabulated their responses in real-time on a large viewing screen.

“The alerting sessions instill confidence in new AMBER Alert Coordinators as well as seasoned ones,” Collins said. “The scenarios spark vigorous discussions, and networking with fellow AACs underscores the fact that they all go through the same process, even if criteria may differ.”

By Jody Garlock

Red Lake, Minnesota, set on the idyllic shores of one the state’s largest lakes, is typically a tranquil community. But on March 15, 2024, it bore witness to an unfathomable chain of events. The sirens of fire trucks and police cars echoed throughout the Red Lake Nation’s towering pine and birch trees as first responders raced toward a one-story home from which smoke was billowing.

Tragically, emergency responders found two young boys with knife wounds inside the house; both boys died. The area was a crime scene, and agents from the FBI and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) were among those who joined the investigation.

Red Lake Police authorities would also soon learn that a third child lived at the house. Three-year-old Ethan Stately, authorities realized, was missing and feared to be in danger, taken by his mother (who also was the mother of the two other boys).

Although the Red Lake Department of Public Safety had never before initiated an AMBER Alert, Department Director Kendall Kingbird Sr. and Lieutenant Geoff Pierre sensed how dire the situation was. “We had to get it solved and find our missing boy and mother,” Kingbird says. “And we needed to do that as soon as possible.” The AMBER Alert that followed would be the first one issued for any Minnesota Tribe.

Photos of Ricky Wuori and Janell Twardowski with the Minnesota BCA as well as the AMBER Alert poster for Ethan Stately. — “With this AMBER Alert, we hit all the components,” says Minnesota AMBER Alert Coordinator Janell Twardowski (right), who worked on the case with BCA Assistant Special Agent in Charge Ricky Wuori (left) and others.

The case’s participating law enforcement agencies consider the collaboration a textbook example of an AMBER Alert response. From the beginning, state, Tribal, and federal partners coordinated efforts and shared information. The FBI immediately partnered with the Red Lake public safety department and BCA—responsible for issuing AMBER Alerts in Minnesota—and avoided communication silos to ensure resources were aligned and deployed. And the on-site presence of BCA Assistant Special Agent in Charge Ricky Wuori, alongside FBI agents and Red Lake officers, facilitated rapid decision- making and an efficient, unified response.

The AMBER Alert itself solidly met all of the criteria. There was an abundance of information: the mother’s and child’s photos, a picture of the vehicle, the complete license plate number, and a distinctive Red Lake Nation tag. The alert also provided enough descriptive information to prompt a motorist who had seen the AMBER Alert to call authorities. “He spotted the vehicle, confirmed the license plate, and called 911,” says Janell Twardowski, AMBER Alert Coordinator (AAC) with the BCA’s Operations Center. “With any AMBER Alert, we’re relying on the public to respond, and that’s exactly what happened in this case.”

Less than two hours after the statewide AMBER Alert was issued around 9 p.m., authorities acting on the motorist’s tip pulled over the mother’s vehicle on a Minnesota highway. The toddler was safe inside, but showed signs of neglect. The mother, Jennifer Stately, was arrested and has since been federally charged with various counts of murder, arson, and child neglect. (An indictment alleges that Stately fatally stabbed one of her boys and slashed the other before setting the house on fire and fleeing with Ethan. She has filed an insanity defense.)

The Red Lake Nation, one of the state’s 11 federally recognized Tribes, has full sovereignty, subject only to the federal government. (It’s one of two Minnesota Tribes exempt from Public Law 280; therefore state courts/government have no jurisdiction.)

The fact that Kingbird and Pierre made the swift decision to initiate the department’s first-ever AMBER Alert stems in part from a trusted relationship with Wuori, who works out of the BCA’s regional office in Bemidji. “They have assisted us with a lot,” Kingbird says.

Wuori credits ongoing communication as key to building trust between agencies. “When you have a good relationship, it’s easier to get things moving,” he says. “It’s constant communication—stopping in and checking on everybody from time to time, not just when you need something.” Tribal investigators regularly meet with BCA agents, and BCA has held training specific to AMBER Alerts. Additionally, over the years, Minnesota’s Tribal communities have received ongoing training and support from the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) and its AMBER Alert in Indian Country initiative, which are funded by the U.S. Department of Justice and supported by the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act.

As Minnesota’s AAC, Twardowski points to similar relationship-building needed to ensure an AMBER Alert reaches as many people as possible. She credits the state’s media with timely stories and the state’s transportation department with posting roadside alert messages. “As an agency, we are committed to leveraging our partnerships to reach as many Minnesotans as possible,” she says.

In the aftermath of the incident, an outpouring of emotion filled the Red Lake community. A walk of remembrance and candlelight vigil were held to honor the 5- and 6-year-old brothers who died. Yet despite the profound grief, displays of hope and strength emerged. “We’re a tight-knitcommunity,” Kingbird says. For him, the tragedy instilled confidence in the AMBER Alert process. “We couldn’t have asked for a quicker response and a better outcome,” he says. “We’re glad the child was located, and it wouldn’t have been possible without an AMBER Alert.”

By Jody Garlock

Working on behalf of children has been the crux of Shelly Smitherman’s 28-year career with the state of Tennessee. Early on, she investigated abuse cases for the Department of Children’s Services in Nashville.

Later, as a drug agent with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), she was assigned to help search in the case of Holly Bobo, a nursing student whose abduction and murder led to the state expanding TBI’s Endangered Child Alerts to include persons over the age of 18. But it was when she began working as an agent in the TBI’s Criminal Intelligence Unit that she saw firsthand the impact of AMBER Alerts.

In her first case involving a missing child, a TBI AMBER Alert for a 15-year-old girl kidnapped by her 50-year-old teacher sparked a nationwide search. Public tips ultimately led to the teen’s safe recovery in California. “I feel like we had the whole nation looking for this child,” Smitherman says of the 2017 case.

Later that year, Smitherman became Tennessee’s AMBER Alert Coordinator (AAC) and Assistant Special Agent in Charge overseeing TBI’s Missing Persons Unit, a position she has held for eight years.

“I’ve always been passionate about working investigations when children are in danger,” she says of her varied roles.

Nearly three decades into her career, that passion hasn’t changed. But the processes have, as technology dramatically shifted alerting and investigations. “I remember a time when intelligence meant writing information on a spreadsheet on a piece of paper,” Smitherman says.

It’s been five years since The AMBER Advocate talked with Smitherman, so we caught up with the law enforcement veteran to discuss changes and challenges. As it happens, she had spent the previous day issuing an AMBER Alert in a case involving a noncustodial parent who had threatened to harm his 2-year-old; the girl was safely recovered. “It’s a reminder of the importance of agencies working together for one goal,” she says.

How has the process of issuing an AMBER Alert changed in the past five years?
In the past five years, we have definitely improved the process to request an AMBER Alert from local agencies. We now have a digital request form—the “push-packet”—that can be completed on scene from a cell phone or computer. The form contains all of the essential information that we will need to rapidly issue the alert. We provide training to local agencies across the state on a regular basis to ensure agencies are equipped before a child goes missing in Tennessee.

What are some specific advancements that are helping after an alert is issued?
One of our biggest advancements is license plate readers (LPRs). Those have been a game-changer for us if there’s a vehicle involved in locating a missing child. They also give us access to find a vehicle in a different state. Microsoft Teams has been another game-changer. We can put criminal intelligence, a suspect’s driver’s license, criminal history, and the AMBER Alert poster in a Teams chat and everybody gets that information in real time. Even someone on the ground in the middle of “Nowhere, Tennessee” can have access to real-time intelligence.

Luring is a growing issue due to more children using social media. How are you addressing this in your state?
The majority of our Endangered Child Alerts—we have about 40 a year—are kids meeting with someone they met online. Luring is going to be a continued problem as long as kids have cell phones or ways to access social media. There’s no way to control it. Kids don’t understand the risks of talking to a complete stranger until maybe they’ve met up and they’re put in danger. We’re always steps behind in an investigation that involves social media because the apps and platforms they use change every day. We have to figure out ways to find them quicker, and that’s the hard part.

On the flip side, how does TBI use social media to its advantage?
One thing we do is issue alerts through Bitly. On average, about 800,000 people view them on social media. Having 800,000 people helping us look for that missing child—we definitely want that help. With that many people looking, we’re going to find the child faster.

What about any accomplishments—what makes you proud?
I’m really proud of TBI’s role in missing children investigations. We don’t stop after we issue an AMBER Alert. We’ll have at minimum 10 to 20 agents assisting on the case. Everybody stops what they’re doing and helps. Our crisis team is obviously involved. We’ll also have the criminal investigations, criminal intelligence, and cybercrime units assisting. And our Child Abduction Response team (CART) responds statewide to all AMBER Alerts. [TBI’s CART program is certified by the U.S. Department of Justice.]

What advice do you have for fellow AACs?
It’s really important for AMBER Alert Coordinators, especially new ones, to get to know the coordinators in surrounding states. I have a good relationship with the other state coordinators in our Southeast Region. We share and discuss information and ideas with each other. Tennessee is connected to so many states, so having contacts where I can reach out at any time has been a great tool. So often, I need assistance from another state during an alert, and being able to call someone I met at AATTAP [AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program] meetings or the National Symposium for help is truly an advantage and saves so much time getting to the right person in another state.

How important has your networking been?
So often, I need assistance from another state during an alert, and being able to call someone I met at AATTAP [AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program] meetings or the national symposium for help is truly an advantage. It saves so much time getting to the right person in another state, especially when time is of the essence.

What would you like local law enforcement agencies to know?
Reach out. If an agency isn’t sure if something meets the AMBER Alert requirements, call and we’ll talk it through. Sometimes local agencies may take steps—such as interviews and surveillance—that could be done after we issue the AMBER Alert. That’s time where something could have gone in a bad direction for the child, and it puts us behind in getting the public’s help to search. Every second counts, so reach out.

Photo of a man holding a small girl outside in darkness, with trees visible in background. Caption for photo reads: Bienville (Louisiana) Parish Deputy Sheriff Jeremy Gros holds the 10-year-old after she was found safe in the woods. Gros was the first rescuer seen on the drone footage. The grateful child hugged him after he helped her up from the ground, where she had been sleeping. She returned home safe—and, according to authorities, also hungry. Photo credit reads: (Rescuer) Webster Parish Sheriff’s Office — A thermal imaging drone (top left) helped rescuers locate a 10-year-old girl who had sleep-walked her way into the dark piney woods near her North Louisiana home. Bienville (Louisiana) Parish Deputy Sheriff Jeremy Gros was the first rescuer to reach Peyton Saintignan (shown sleeping, top right, and with Gros at bottom). Photos: Webster Parish (Louisiana) Sheriff’s Office

By Jody Garlock

On the afternoon of Sunday, September 15, 2024, a call came into the Webster Parish Sheriff’s Office (WSPO) in Minden, Louisiana: 10-year-old Peyton Saintignan was missing.

The girl had seemingly vanished while sleepwalking. This was something she had reportedly done inside her Dubberly home (35 miles east of Shreveport), but she had never left the house. Family members and neighbors had already spent an hour searching for the brown-haired girl, who was last seen at bedtime the previous night. With dense woods and dangerous wildlife such as wild hogs and rattlesnakes in the area, authorities knew that bringing Peyton to safety required quick action.

As the Sheriff’s Office dispatched its resources, the Louisiana State Police issued a Level II Endangered/Missing Child Advisory—a notification of a child believed to be in danger, but whose case doesn’t meet the criteria for an AMBER Alert.

The intensive 10-hour search that ensued brought together numerous law enforcement agencies, Homeland Security, and hundreds of volunteers. Tracking dogs, off-road vehicles, a helicopter, and aerial surveillance drones were all activated. But it would be a drone equipped with cutting-edge thermal technology that saved the day—and the girl.

At around 10:30 p.m. that evening, the operator set up his specialized equipment and onward and upward the drone went. Remarkably, within about 20 minutes, the drone’s ability to detect heat signatures was penetrating what by then was extreme darkness—and zeroed in on Peyton in the piney woods.

The riveting rescue footage that went viral showed the pajama-clad girl curled up on the ground and then waking as rescuers approached her in the woodsy terrain.

Local and national media alike recounted the happy ending. “Other than some mosquito bites, she was perfect,” Webster Parish Sheriff Jason Parker told ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “It’s truly a miracle.”

The case spotlights not only the importance of enlisting emerging technology to find missing children, but also the need to engage the public: The drone operator who spotted the girl had traveled from out of state, volunteering his services after hearing the breaking news about the search.

Photo of a man sitting on an outdoor chair and looking down at a drone control in his hands; he is sitting by a pickup truck that has its gate down and a flat-screen TV in the bed of the pickup. Photo credit reads: (Sheriff/drone operator) Webster County Sheriff’s Office — Josh Klober, co-owner of Drone Management Services in Magnolia, Arkansas, operates the equipment he volunteered for the search. Photo: Webster County (Louisiana) Sheriff's Office

Heat of the moment

In neighboring Arkansas, Josh Klober, who co-owns Drone Management Services in Magnolia, was watching a Sunday football game at his home when reports of the massive search in north Louisiana spread across the region. Knowing his drone’s thermal-imaging camera could detect body heat with pinpoint accuracy, even in areas obscured by dense woods, the father of two felt compelled to make the 90-minute drive to the search area.

Klober offered his assistance and waited until authorities gave the go-ahead after a search helicopter finished its work. He set up his equipment, which included a generator and a large flat-screen TV to monitor the drone footage in real time from the bed of his pickup truck. It was parked in the vicinity of where a hunter’s trail camera had earlier captured an image of the wandering girl.

His strategy at piloting the drone was simple: Think like a child. “There’s big, wooded areas around, but I’m trying to think like a 10-year-old,” Klober told Arkansas’ KNWA-TV. His hunch was that a child (albeit one who was sleepwalking) may not stray too far from the road, so he decided to contain his search within 40 yards of it.

Less than 30 minutes in, Klober could see a hot spot, which upon zooming in, revealed an image of the girl lying on the ground. The location was about 1 ½ miles from her home and 300 yards from where the trail camera recorded her.

Video footage shows how initial claps turned to silence when authorities gathered around the pickup truck realized the girl wasn’t moving. Klober kept the drone’s spotlight on her to guide rescuers to the exact location. As the TV screen showed Bienville Parish Deputy Sheriff Jeremy Gros making his way to her, the girl slowly raised her head. A joyful cry of “She’s awake!” was followed by claps from the group around Klober’s truck who were witnessing the rescue in real time.

After the rescuer lifted her up from the ground, the grateful girl put her arms around his waist in a hug. “It was pretty emotional for everybody,” Klober told “Inside Edition.”

Grateful community

The viral video of the rescue garnered thousands of comments from people impressed with the precision of the drone’s thermal-imaging technology that cut through the dense, dark forest.

They also praised rescuers, including Klober, who was singled out as a hero. “Drone operator deserves a medal!” one person commented on YouTube. “How altruistic of him to take it upon himself to rush over, dedicate his time and effort.” “Citizens helping other citizens—that’s how it’s done!” said another person.

The WPSO used its Facebook page to update the public on the story and express gratitude to Klober, Drone Management Services, and the agencies and volunteers who helped search forand safely recover Peyton.

While Klober stated in a local news interview “there’s a little bit of luck involved” in any type of drone search. “But whether someone else found her, or we found her,” he said, “I’m just glad she was found.” Sheriff Parker appeared more pragmatic about the recovery operation, praising it as a “truly cooperative effort.”

By Jody Garlock

Fred Rogers’ famous advice to “look for the helpers”—intended to steer children toward safety in times of chaos or tragedy—has endured for decades. And Morrissa Ahl-Moyer definitely falls into the category of a helper. Her 20-plus years in public safety took her from being a volunteer first responder, to a 911 telecommunicator, and now, Director and Clearinghouse Manager of the North Carolina Center for Missing Persons (NCCMP), a division of the state’s Department of Public Safety based in Cary. The NCCMP receives more than 10,000 missing persons reports annually.

“I’ve always been a helper of sorts with my career choices,” says Ahl-Moyer, whose job includes being North Carolina’s AMBER Alert Coordinator (AAC). “For me now, it’s getting to make sure troopers and dispatchers have what they need.”

Since stepping into her role in June 2023, Ahl-Moyer has stepped up NCCMP’s training, including working with law enforcement authorities to ensure they understand the state’s AMBER Alert process and the online portal.

Her outreach during her first year on the job included hosting a missing persons resources class in her hometown of Dunn, North Carolina, where she started as an EMT. To her surprise, more than 200 officers and public safety personnel showed up for the event.

“It confirmed I was on the right track,” Ahl-Moyer says. “It’s training we need, and we need to do more of it.”

That message is something she champions whether she’s training law enforcement or participating in or attending state and national conferences.

We caught up with Ahl-Moyer when she was in another form of helper mode: voluntarily working night shifts at a communication center to lessen the load on 911 telecommunicators handling calls after Hurricane Helene’s destruction in western North Carolina.

Telecommunicators tend to be overlooked in the [AMBER Alert] decision-making process, but they can be the best source of information. They’re truly the ‘first’ first responders—the ones who get the initial call when a child goes missing. And often they have the knowledge to say, ‘Hey this might fit the criteria for an AMBER Alert.’

Morrissa Ahl-Moyer Director/Clearinghouse Manager, North Carolina Center for Missing Persons

How does having 911 telecommunicator experience inform your AMBER Alert Coordinator (ACC) work?
As a telecommunicator who answered after-hours calls for NCCMP, I had a basic knowledge of how the alert process worked, the criteria, and the information needed before we contacted the AMBER Alert Coordinator for approval. I also recognized a knowledge gap. Most of the agencies had never requested an AMBER Alert before and weren’t sure of the process. This was further exacerbated when there was a transition from faxing forms to an online portal. I’ve been working to ensure everyone knows how the process works.

How do you help people understand AMBER Alerts and other endangered missing advisories?
Training is everything. It’s vital in our line of work. That’s why I’ve conducted sessions at symposiums, the state’s 911 Conference, local law enforcement agencies, communication centers, and more. Doing so gets important information out to those who need it the most. I go over the basic criteria for issuing an AMBER Alert and give them an overview of the process. Beyond discussing the essentials, getting out and meeting people gives me the chance to say, “Here’s my cell phone number. Even if you think a case doesn’t meet our AMBER Alert criteria, let’s talk about it.”

After transitioning from 911 to ACC did you experience any challenges?
Understanding the technical side of IPAWS [Integrated Public Alert & Warning System] was an initial hurdle. Luckily, one of the on-call team members is a guru and has helped me learn more about it. In my previous role, we would only do the EAS [Emergency Alert System]—and we were done. I’ve now realized that it’s so much deeper than that. I’m still learning it all.

What’s new with NCCMP in terms of projects you’re working on?
One project is that we’re in the building phase of a missing child repository. It will update weekly from the NCIC [National Crime Information Center] files, but it also gives me the option of real-time manual entry. If a missing child doesn’t meet AMBER Alert criteria, I can put the word out and it will send a media notification. It will increase awareness when every minute matters. It’s a first for our state, and I’m excited about it.

What issues regarding missing children concern you the most?
Human trafficking is a major problem. I really was blinded to it before coming into this role. It’s scary to see how easy it can be to end up in trouble, especially when there are so many at-risk young people across the nation. Online enticement is another growing concern. I’m also seeing that 15-year-old minority females are reported missing more than any other demographic, which needs more of our research and understanding.

Calling All 911 Telecommunicators

AATTAP’s course, 911 Telecommunicators and Missing & Abducted Children (“911 T-MAC,” for short) is essential not only for law enforcement and public safety telecommunicators but also for any members of law enforcement and support staff who address public calls for help.

The interactive training session equips 911 telecommunicators with needed skills and resources by:

Analyzing real cases to recognize various types of missing child incidents and how they are reported.
Exploring optimal practices using systems and standards from the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO ANS 1.101.4-2022).
Addressing resilience-building strategies to cope with emotionally demanding cases.

The course represents a full update of AATTAP’s “Telecommunications Best Practices for Missing and Abducted Children” (TELMAC) class, which launched in 2010 as both a classroom offering and as a self-paced online class.

The 911 T-MAC class launched this past fall in Appleton, Wisconsin, where more than 60 telecommunicators from around the country attended the pilot training session.

“The amount of information presented during the class was perfect,” one participant said. “It was all presented in a way that wasn’t overwhelming, but engaging and easy to understand.”

The class will be offered in person and online starting this spring. Watch for training opportunities at bit.ly/911tmac.

By Denise Gee Peacock

While searching for their missing child, parents carry a heavy load—assisting law enforcement, rallying media and public interest in the case, and working to keep food on the table—all while not completely unraveling. But another group of family members is also struggling: the missing child’s siblings.

As sibling survivor Trevor Wetterling recalls, “People would always ask, ‘How are your parents doing?’ And I’d think, ‘What about me? Don’t they care how I’m doing?’ ” Meanwhile, he says, “I’d come home from school, and everyone was sitting around being quiet. No one would tell me what was going on.”

Like other sibling survivors, Trevor’s feelings stem not from self-centeredness, but from a need to validate his own trauma, his own sense of worth.

Trevor is the brother of Jacob Wetterling, an 11-year-old who was kidnapped at gunpoint by a masked man in 1988. Trevor was with Jacob when the abduction occurred, making the ordeal even more traumatic. The Wetterling family spent nearly three decades searching for Jacob until 2016, when his killer divulged to law enforcement where the boy’s body could be found. This, of course, came as another blow.

Trevor and his sisters, Amy and Carmen, are three of 16 sibling survivors of missing children willing to talk candidly about the challenges they faced—and sometimes continue to reckon with. If struggling siblings are lucky, they’ll find support from well-trained professionals. If they’re even luckier, they’ll find strength from those who truly understand their needs: Fellow survivors—whom Zach Svendgard calls “our chosen family.”

Zack is the brother of Jessika Svendgard, an honor student who, at age 15, left home after receiving a bad grade. Alone and vulnerable, she was lured into the hands of sex traffickers until she could break free from her abusers. Zack appreciates Jessika’s strength—and works to share it. “The world is a heavy thing to try to balance all on our own shoulders,” he says. “But powerful things can happen when kind people are enabled to take action.”

The action these siblings have taken is helping update a comprehensive resource for children going through similar struggles: the multimedia guide, What About Me? Finding Your Path Forward When Your Brother or Sister Is Missing.

The new 98-page What About Me? is the second edition of a guide first published in 2007. It was spearheaded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) / Office of Justice Programs (OJP) of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Its development was overseen by the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP) / National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC) of Fox Valley Technical College.

Contributors to What About Me? bring clarity to the complex needs siblings face: Children in families with missing siblings can’t easily process what they’re experiencing. They aren’t hearing the particulars from law enforcement. They aren’t trained to respond to an intrusive or hurtful question from the media. They don’t know how to navigate their frayed family dynamics. And they need help.

The guide provides tangible ways that siblings of missing children can handle stress, the investigative process, and media interactions. It also can help them express their needs to their loved ones and family advocates, and find helpful resources during either a short or prolonged period of uncertainty, fear, and grief.

What About Me? features the voices and perspectives of eight sibling contributors while weaving in advice from seven other siblings who participated in the first edition. It also reflects the expertise of DOJ/AATTAP/NCJTC subject matter experts, child/victim advocates, and relevant, credible U.S. agencies that can help.

The sibling contributors have survived vastly different experiences: Some have missing siblings who were kidnapped by strangers or abducted by family members, while others have siblings who ran away or were lured away from home. Some of their siblings were found safe and returned home. One contributor is herself a victim of a horrific abduction and assault—in which her younger sister was murdered. Others have siblings whose whereabouts still remain unknown, or they were found deceased.

Click here to access a PDF of this advice from the sibling survivors. Share it with anyone searching for a loved one.

To produce What About Me?, OJJDP/OJP tapped the AATTAP publications team led by Bonnie Ferenbach, and NCJTC Associate Helen Connelly to coordinate the project. The group also played key roles in updating When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide, released in 2023.

Connelly is a longtime advocate for missing children and their families. In 2005, while serving as a senior consultant for the U.S. Department of Justice, Connelly and Ron Laney, then Associate Administrator of OJJDP’s Child Protection Division, teamed up to produce the first-ever sibling survival guide, What About Me? Coping With the Abduction of a Brother or Sister, published in 2007.

“Through Helen and Ron’s vision and compassion, this guide, as well as numerous other resources, have provided support, encouragement, help, and resources needed by so many families,” says AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen.

With Connelly’s encouragement, past and present sibling contributors participated in writing the guide because they recognize shared pain—and potential dilemmas. “Trauma, if left untreated, can manifest itself in harmful ways later in life,” says sibling contributor Heather Bish.

The sibling survivors who worked on the updated resource valued the chance to collaborate with others in “the club nobody wants to belong to,” says Heather, who contributed to both editions. “But our experiences are special,” adds contributor Rysa Lee. “We have the tools that can help others.”

Sibling survivor / guide contributor Rysa Lee — **Watch** the sibling survivors discuss their stories and **read** their advice to others.

At the project’s start, the siblings met virtually before gathering in person in Salt Lake City in January 2024. There, they bonded, and wholeheartedly shared their experiences and advice on camera for the new edition’s companion videos. “Working with the other siblings of missing persons left me shocked at the outcomes they had; in some way, they each had answers,” says contributor Kimber Biggs. “It was comforting to know that getting answers is even possible.”

Content talks continued, and the guide began to take shape. Then, on May 22, 2024, a powerful two-hour roundtable was held at OJJDP offices after the National Missing Children’s Day ceremony in Washington, D.C.

The siblings agree that “there is no right or wrong way to survive, it is just our own,” Heather says. “We hope that sharing our experiences will empower other siblings to forge ahead, and possibly empower someone else to do the same.”

Each of the sibling contributors discussed their lives now as social workers, teachers, and counselors. Contributor Sayeh Rivazfar has dedicated two decades of her life to serving in law enforcement, investigating crimes against children, before her retirement two years ago.

Sayeh doesn’t think of herself as a victim or survivor: “It’s more than that. I see myself more as a thriver, despite the odds.” She credits this to the love and support she has received over the years from family members, friends, and caring professionals.

“A guide like this would have been so helpful to us,” she says. “But we hope that now, with its help, with our help, children can know they are not alone. That we care about them, and want them to thrive too.”

Rysa adds another positive take. There is light to be found in the darkness of tumult, she says. “Siblings do come home, and my family is living proof.”

New guide’s sibling contributors

Kimber Biggs, sister of Mikelle Biggs (Arizona) Kimber was 9 when her 11-year-old sister, Mikelle, was kidnapped on January 2, 1999, while riding her bike near their family’s Arizona home. Mikelle was never seen again. Since then, Kimber has spent 25 years advocating on her sister’s behalf. Through the Facebook page Justice for Mikelle Biggs, Kimber shares updates on Mikelle’s case to more than 29,000 followers. Also, since late 2023, Kimber has worked as an AATTAP- NCJTC Associate, providing her powerful family perspective to investigators learning how to best work with victims’ families in missing persons cases. “It has taken a lot of work and therapy to get to the place I am today,” she says. She also remains hopeful that her sister’s case will be solved. “A new detective has been assigned to what was a very cold case,” she told attendees at the 2024 National AMBER Alert and AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium. “The fact that he’s eyeing a significant suspect in the case makes it feel like something is finally happening.”

Rysa Lee, sister of Maayimuna “Muna” N’Diaye (Alabama) Rysa was 14 when her 4-year-old sister, “Muna,” was abducted by her biological father to Mali, West Africa, on December 27, 2011. Rysa and Muna’s mother, Dr. Noelle Hunter, began a relentless campaign to bring “Muna” home—which thankfully occurred in July 2014. Since then, the family has tirelessly advocated on behalf of international parental child abduction (IPCA) cases via the organization they founded, the iStandParent Network. While her sister’s IPCA case was relatively short, “that year and a half was by far the most difficult and longest time of my life,” Rysa says. “To this day, I have never felt as empty and distraught as I felt during that time. The fact that my youngest sister was across an ocean and not in the room next to me sleeping every night was incredibly painful.” Rysa found comfort in high school band and color guard participation, listening to music, “and leaning on my friends to cope.” She currently works in banking and attends the University of Alabama in Huntsville, where her mother, an assistant professor of political science, oversees the International Child Abduction Prevention and Research Office (and contributed to the Family Survival Guide).

Cory Redwine, brother of Dylan Redwine (Colorado) On November 18, 2012, Cory was 20 years old when his 13-year-old younger brother, Dylan, traveled to stay with their father on a scheduled court-ordered visit. The next day his father would report Dylan as missing. The teen’s whereabouts remained unknown until 2017, when his father was convicted of second-degree murder and child abuse in Dylan’s death. Before then, Cory and his family spent nearly a decade searching for Dylan. They have since spent years seeking justice for him and educating others about the legal loopholes in parental custody issues that can prove deadly. (Cory and Dylan’s mother, Elaine Hall, is now an AATTAP/ NCJTC Associate who discusses her family’s case with law enforcement; she also contributed to the Family Survival Guide.) Cory recalls the court process being “long and arduous; it brought up so many emotions for me. But it also made me realize that I am stronger than I thought I was, that my voice and words are powerful,” he says. Now a father of two, Cory finds it an honor to helps adults facing difficult situations. “My experience, different as it is from theirs, allows me to help them through challenging times and come out better on the other side.”

Sayeh Rivazfar, sister of Sara Rivazfar (New York) After her parents’ divorce in 1985, Sayeh and her younger siblings had “child welfare officials in and out of our home due to physical and mental abuse at the hands of our mother and others,” Sayeh says. “Unfortunately, [our mother] thought having men in our lives would help us. But her boyfriends weren’t all good. In fact, one changed our lives forever in the worst way imaginable.” In the middle of the night of September 22, 1988, one of those boyfriends took the sisters from their home, drove to a remote area, brutally assaulted both girls and left them to die. Sayeh, then 8 years old, survived. Sara, age 6, did not. “From that day forward, I felt guilty for surviving and had dreams of saving my sister from this nightmare,” Sayeh says. “I was determined to bring her killer to justice.” Thankfully she was able to do just that. She and her brother, Aresh, moved to Rochester, New York, to live with their father, Ahmad (now a nationally known child protection advocate and Family Survival Guide contributor). Sayeh’s passion to help others, especially children, inspired her to join the New York State Police force, from which she recently retired after two decades of child protection and investigative work. She now focuses on being a good mother to her son. “I’m proud of the work I’ve done, and even prouder of the children I’ve helped,” she says. “The story never ends, but it can have a better ending than one might think.”

Heather Bish, sister of Molly Bish (Massachusetts) On June 27, 2000, Heather’s 16-year-old sister, Molly, went missing while working as a lifeguard. Molly’s disappearance led to the most extensive search for a missing person in Massachusetts history. In June 2003, Molly’s remains were found five miles from her home in Warren. While the investigation into her sister’s murder continues, Heather uses social media to help law enforcement generate leads and “share her story—our story,” she says. Heather was supportive of her parents’ work to create the Molly Bish Foundation, dedicated to protecting children. “I carry that legacy on today,” she says. She has filed familial DNA legislation for unresolved cases and advocates for DNA analyses for these types of crimes. She also has served on the Massachusetts Office of Victim Assistance Board and was part of the state’s Missing Persons Task Force. “As a mother and a teacher, my hope is that children never have to experience a tragedy like this.”

Zack Svendgard, brother of Jessika Svendgard (Washington) In 2010, Zack’s younger sister, Jessika, first ran away, and then was lured away from their family home near Seattle. As a result, the 15-year-old became a victim of sex trafficking. It took 108 days for Jessika to return to her family and get the help she needed, Zack says. “Her recovery in many ways was just the beginning. In many ways the broken person who came home was not the little girl who had left.” Jessika’s ordeal has been featured in the documentaries “I Am Jane Doe” and “The Long Night.” She and her mother, Nacole, have become powerful advocates for victims of sex trafficking and instrumental in passing legislation to increase victim rights, issue harsher punishments for sex offenders, and shut down websites that facilitate sex trafficking. (Nacole is an AATTAP/NCJTC Associate who provides her family perspective to law enforcement; she also contributed to the Family Survival Guide.) “We’ve joined organizations such as Team HOPE [of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children/NCMEC] to provide counseling to others, and are ourselves committed to therapy and self care.”

Amy & Carmen Wetterling, brother of Jacob (Minnesota) On October 22, 1989, Amy and Carmen’s brother, 11-year-old Jacob, was abducted at gunpoint by a masked man while riding his bike with his younger brother, Trevor, and a family friend. His whereabouts were unknown for nearly three decades, but on September 1, 2016, Jacob’s remains were found after his killer confessed to the crime. Jacob’s abduction had an enormous impact—not only on his family, but also on people throughout the Midwest, who lost their sense of safety. Amy, Carmen, and Trevor have been inspired to help others by their mother, Patty Wetterling. Patty has shared countless victim impact sessions with law enforcement across the U.S. (many of them AATTAP/NCJTC trainings). She is co-founder and past director NCMEC’s Team HOPE, co-author of the 2023 book, Dear Jacob: A Mother’s Journey of Hope, and a contributor to the Family Survival Guide. “Jacob inspires us every day,” Amy says. “He believed in a fair and just world, a world where all children know they are special and deserve to be safe.” Adds Carmen, “Jacob believed that people were good. And he lived his life centered on 11 simple traits.”

Additional contributors:
Learn about the siblings who shared their advice for the 2007 first edition of What About Me? Coping With the Abduction of a Brother or Sister here.

Sibling contributor Sayeh Rivazfar—a retired 20-year veteran of the New York State Police—with her son. [Photo: MaKenna Rivazfar] — Sibling contributor Sayeh Rivazfar—a retired 20-year veteran of the New York State Police—with her son.

Helpful advice for the helpers

What About Me? includes a detailed section of guidance relating to law enforcement and judicial processes. It also provides tips for navigating traditional media and social media. Consider these insights from the sibling contributors.

During a law enforcement investigation

Siblings “may have a law enforcement officer with little or no experience with a missing children case, seems uncomfortable and distant, or someone who jumps in with both feet,” says Sayeh Rivazfar. The retired law enforcement professional is the survivor of a heinous crime against her and her sister, Sara, who did not survive. “If you want to talk to a different officer, speak up,” Sayeh advises.
Children are especially confused by law enforcement’s intrusion upon their home and being asked what seems like invasive questions. Help them understand that this is normal—either directly or with the help of a family/child advocate.
“Just because you don’t hear about progress doesn’t mean they’re not making any,” one sibling notes. Try to schedule regular check-in calls with the family. Let families know that while law enforcement is unable to share every detail of the investigation, they can strive to apprise the family of their progress while keeping lines of communication open and productive.
If children are expressing anger toward their parents, emphasize that “your parents are still your parents, they still love you, and they care about your feelings—even if they can’t show it right now,” contributors say.
Be prepared for such questions as:
»How do I handle phone calls during the search?
»How should we handle our missing sibling’s social media and email accounts?
»Can I still go into my sibling’s room?
»Will we get their belongings back?

Working with traditional/social media

There’s no such thing as “off the record,” contributors say.
To foster quality reporting “find the journalist who provides compassion and truth, and give them an exclusive interview,” Sayeh advises.
With nonstop anonymous, uniformed sources on social media, tell children to “be prepared for positive and negative running commentary,” Rysa Lee says.
Propose potential answers (in italics) to commonly asked media questions that often make children uncomfortable:
»Do you think your sibling is still alive? I hope so.
»What happened? I don’t know, and I don’t want to talk about it with you.
»Was your sibling sexually abused? I don’t know, but it’s not something I want to discuss.
»How does this situation make you feel? I don’t want to talk about my feelings right now.

Medford Township, New Jersey, Police Chief Arthur Waterman discussing CART training/certification in Burlington County

Burlington County, New Jersey, CART certification preparation

Burlington County, New Jersey, Prosecutor Lachia Bradshaw regarding CART certification preparation

By Denise Gee Peacock

AATTAP Child Abduction Response Team (CART) Assessors James Holmes, Stacie Lick, Vonyale Montgomery, and Lead Assessor/CART Manager Derek VanLuchene (in neon vests) can be seen working with multiple law enforcement agencies from Burlington County, New Jersey, during a large-scale training exercise to strengthen responses to missing and endangered children incidents.

Nearly 100 members of law enforcement joined in the exercise “to enhance their knowledge of how to handle cases involving our most vulnerable populations,” said Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia Bradshaw.

“The training was designed to be a worst-case scenario involving a missing boy who suffers from epilepsy,” reported Fox 29. “Following protocol, the investigation gradually ramps up to a full-scale activation of CART,” one involving about 30 actors.

Burlington County is expected to be the fifth team in New Jersey to receive CART certification from the U.S. Department of Justice with AATTAP/NCJTC's help.

“This is definitely an excellent educational experience for all our personnel,” noted Medford Township Police Chief Arthur Waterman.

“Thank you to Fox 29 for reporting on the excellent work being done by Burlington County to bring together partners to prepare to respond to missing and abducted children,” said AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen.

>> Watch the story here! https://www.fox29.com/video/1550356

My dearest Ashlynne,

Here’s wishing you what would have been your 20th birthday today — November 13, 2024.

Instead of writing out your card like I always did, today I will cherish our special moments while wishing you a happy birthday.

Tears of joy flow as I remember the day you were born. It was on a beautiful autumn sunset, the leaves of the trees clinging on to the branches and the sun casting its last golden rays through the hospital window. The sunray lit up our room, telling me another star was born and what a special gift you would be.

As I travel down memory lane, I sigh, I smile and I cry, knowing that heaven gave me the best 11 years that I could ever ask for. And today, Ashlynne, we who loved you honor your beautiful life, and we send you our sweetest memories and birthday wishes to you in heaven.

For those who did not know Ashlynne, here’s what I would tell you about her. She was such a creative spirit. For one thing, she was musically gifted. She loved the xylophone and piano, and she played those in her school assemblies every chance she had. She also was a natural born artist who won awards for her paintings.

In addition to those gifts, she was smart, shy, and kind-hearted. Her favorite food was spaghetti. Her favorite colors were yellow and purple. And for these and so many other reasons, her friends adored her.

Ashlynne’s desire to spread happiness extended to our farm, where she loved taking care of her animals. She had cats, dogs, and chickens. She was very special to everyone, and everything, she touched.

That’s why her loss has broken so many of our hearts. But that also has emboldened us.

Ashlynne was 11 years old when she was abducted and murdered on the Navajo Nation on May 2, 2016. A series of jurisdictional hurdles delayed the search for her, and because of that I worked tirelessly to ensure no other child, or their family, would need to face the same tragedy as ours endured. It was vital that Tribal lands improve training and access to the AMBER Alert system across this country.

The first realization of that dream came on April 13, 2018, when “Ashlynne’s Law” (S. 772) was officially signed into law as the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018. Ashlynne’s Law now helps Tribal communities develop programs to safely recover endangered missing or abducted children. So much has been accomplished, while there is a great deal left to do—and a lot of support to make that happen.

I take pride in knowing that, and think Ashlynne would too. And to Ashlynne I say, your presence is so deeply missed. But your love and influence continue to touch so many lives. I believe that is the best birthday gift we can give you.

HAPPY 20th birthday, my darling girl. But to me, you will be Forever 11.

With eternal love,

Mommy

Banner of Ashlynne Mike promoting the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018 — Editor’s Note: All of us within the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program and AMBER Alert in Indian Country Initiative are forever indebted to Pamela Foster for her ongoing efforts to help law enforcement respond quickly and effectively when a child goes missing in Indian Country.

Photo of two women standing near the U.S. Capitol.

Photo showing the seal of American Samoa

AATTAP Project Coordinator Derek VanLuchene speaks to a group of child protection professionals in American Samoa

Photo of a woman sitting at a table, with other people behind her, listening in a classroom setting in American Samoa.

Participants shown at tables, with their heads bowed in prayer, during the AATTAP visit

Group portrait of AATTAP meeting attendees in the Northern Mariana Islands.

Customs and Border Protection members attend the AATTAP workshop in the Northern Mariana Islands.

Gold challenge coin for the Governor of Guam and AMBER Alert pin.

Group of AATTAP leaders gathered with Guam representatives

Photo of people sitting at a table listening to a AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen, standing behind a podium in Puerto Rico.

Photo showing exterior of police headquarters in San Juan, Puerto Rico

Photo of 20th Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico,Jenniffer González-Colón, speaking at an event.

Photo showing the screen of a laptop, people in a classroom setting, and a larger screen at front of a classroom; both screens show the opener for a “Child Sex Trafficking Case Study.”

Group of AATTAP leaders with law enforcement professionals involved in the Northern Border Initiative, in Bonners Ferry, Idaho

Photo of three men and a woman sitting around a table talking with AATTAP in Canada.

Photo of a computer screen showing 25 squares with a person or name of someone attending a virtual meeting.

By Denise Gee Peacock

The United States’ 14 territories—three in the Caribbean, 11 in the Pacific—play a key role in ensuring our collective national security. In turn, the U.S. ensures each homeland has the security it needs to protect its own—especially its children. That’s because the need for AMBER Alerts resonates in every language.

In the past 30 years, AMBER Alert programs have helped law enforcement safely recover 1,200 missing children. Those successes—and lessons learned from not having plans and resources in place to quickly mobilize when a child goes missing—have prompted other countries to seek guidance from the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program (AATTAP).

As a U.S. Department of Justice initiative, the AATTAP—part of the National Criminal Justice Training Center of Fox Valley Technical College—provides free training and technical assistance to U.S. territories, Indian Country, and other countries with Department of Justice (DOJ) funding. Trainings improve law enforcement’s response to cases of endangered missing and abducted children. They also address endangerment dynamics that often are not well understood: high-risk victims, children in crisis, and the commercial sexual exploitation of youth.

Since all U.S. territories are islands, careful consideration of weather is always in play, with hurricanes and typhoons threatening both travel and infrastructure.

AATTAP’s work with each territory includes first conducting high-level needs assessment meetings to learn and understand the important considerations unique to each territory’s cultural, geographic, and technological needs and challenges—to ensure these dynamics are addressed in training and resource efforts. AATTAP’s Child Abduction Response Team (CART) training is also delivered to key partners who will be part of their comprehensive response.

“Each territory’s capabilities and needs can be very different, so we spend the bulk of our time initially listening and learning about the issues they face,” says AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen. “Puerto Rico, for instance, has an AMBER Alert Coordinator and AMBER Alert system in operation. But that’s currently not the case in American Samoa, Guam, or the U.S. Virgin Islands. They’re all at very different places in terms of how they’re responding to cases involving missing children.

“Geographically some of the islands are closer to other countries than they are to us, so these issues have to be considered before we prepare training plans for them,” Rasmussen explains. “Our work has to be developed to address the specific problems they face—whether it’s child sex trafficking or a lack of resources, such as high-speed Internet access.”

Many territories, for instance, do not have access to Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) or the Internet Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS). They also lack road signs for public alerting. Additionally, “their children are often taken to a different country, which adds a whole new layer of complexity for collaboration and contact expectations,” Rasmussen explains.

Knowing this, AATTAP leaders and subject matter experts have flown tens of thousands of miles to ensure U.S. territories’ needs can be met. “It’s important they know we offer the same level of training and technical assistance as we do in the States.”

Here are some of the regions where AATTAP partnerships are helping save lives.

American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands

From the U.S. mainland, travel to American Samoa, Guam, or the Northern Mariana Islands in the south-central Pacific Ocean requires nearly 24 hours of flying time. American Samoa, for instance—the only inhabited territory south of the Equator—is 2,200 miles from Hawaii to the northeast, and 1,600 miles from New Zealand to the southwest.

For nearly two years, the federal government has been working to uphold National Defense Authorization Act provisions that ensure U.S. territories have the training and technical assistance needed to protect their citizens and children. This includes challenges related to integrating and facilitating AMBER Alert programs.

In February of this year, the team conducted two days of needs-assessment meetings in Pago Pago, American Samoa. Then in July, the team visited Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands to do the same.

As is the case on the U.S. mainland, each needs-assessment meeting involves facilitated discussions about law enforcement procedures, the territory’s needs for fully and quickly investigating missing child incidents, their emergency messaging capabilities, and ultimately what AATTAP training and technical assistance they would like to have.

Reception to the visits was warm and enthusiastic. Often present were U.S. congressional delegates, local and federal law enforcement and telecommunicators, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) dedicated to child protection.

“Our partners are appreciative that we’re willing to go to great lengths to work with them where they live,” says AATTAP Project Coordinator Yesenia “Jesi” Leon-Baron, who manages territorial, international, and Southern/Northern Border Initiatives. “Doing so helps us see what their challenges are in safely recovering endangered and missing children.”

This support is a lifeline to the islands. As Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Department of Public Safety Commissioner Anthony Macaranas told the Saipan Tribune, “One of our biggest challenges is that we’re far away from the United States mainland.” Thus, creating or strengthening AMBER Alert plans will help the CNMI build relationships with key members of law enforcement “and help us progressively move forward,” he said.

One case in the Northern Marianas that people would like to see resolved involves missing elementary-school-age sisters Maleina and Faloma Q. Luhk, who mysteriously disappeared while waiting for a school bus near their home in May 2011.

“All of these things we’re getting [from the AATTAP and others] are to prepare us, and the long-term plan is to finally sit down and come up with a strategic plan” on implementing AMBER Alerts, Macaranas said. “It involves a lot of manpower, data, and of course funding … but in the end, we’re going to have this program here.”

Trafficking “is one of the greatest crimes imaginable,” said High Chief Uifa’atali Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen of American Samoa. To address that, James Moylan of Guam co-sponsored the Combating Human-Trafficking of Innocent Lives Daily (C.H.I.L.D.) Act of 2023, which raises convicted child traffickers’ mandatory minimum jail time from 15 to 25 years.

“Before we left American Samoa, the Governor’s Office presented each of us with a framed ‘warrior’s weapon’—calling us warriors for the missing and abducted children in the territory,” Leon-Baron says.

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is the only U.S. territory with an AMBER Alert plan and program coordinator fully in place at the time of this reporting. Their ongoing goal is to continually refine their existing plan and provide a coordinated and sustainable law enforcement response.

AATTAP has been involved in ongoing assistance with Puerto Rico since holding the first in-person training session there in January 2023. Team members delivered the Child Abduction Response Team (CART) training, along with Rescue, Recovery, and Reunification field-training exercises for CART members and other law enforcement in Puerto Rico.

In May 2024, the AATTAP team returned for a needs assessment visit to discuss Puerto Rico’s ongoing challenges, emerging trends, and the training and technical assistance needed to bolster response readiness.

Puerto Rico’s law enforcement leaders intend to continue CART training, Leon-Baron says. They also plan to participate in such courses as AMBER Alert Activation Best Practices (AAABP), Initial Response Strategies & Tactics When Responding to Missing Children Incidents (IRST), and Search and Canvass Operations in Child Abductions (SCOCA).

Southern Border Initiative (Mexico) and Northern Border Initiative (Canada)

AATTAP’s well-established Southern Border Initiative (SBI) is focused on building preparedness for effective response to cases of endangered missing and abducted children in Mexico and the U.S. through cross-border collaboration and planning. Meetings AATTAP has held with federal and state partners in the last two years have underscored the impact of this type of collaboration.

The most recent meeting—held August 1 in Chula Vista, California (across the border from Tijuana, Mexico)—drew more than 100 law enforcement and NGO members who rely on cross-border collaboration to bring missing children safely home. AATTAP piloted a full-day version of its Cross-Border Abduction training, with some participants leaving their homes at 2 a.m. to attend, Leon-Baron says.

AATTAP Associate David Camacho recalled the impact of the event: “We were thankful to have them all there; they had amazing questions, and we reviewed them carefully.”

One conversation “was tough to even consider,” Leon-Baron says. “Some shared with us that in Tijuana, there’s a movement to allow a child of age 9 to consent to sex.”

This is one of many cultural issues that need to be addressed, Leon-Baron says. “We know their laws and judicial processes do not mirror ours. But what does align is our shared commitment to collaboration and cooperation. Thankfully state and federal U.S. and Mexico law enforcement, are developing critically important working relationships.”

The power of relationship-building was especially apparent at an Alerta AMBER Regional Conference in Monterrey, Mexico, hosted by the DOJ’s Overseas Proprietorial Development Assistance and Training Section (OPDAT) in late August 2023.

Mexico’s Alerta AMBER for baby Angela was quickly broadcast throughout the country.

As the three-day conference began, a 1-year-old girl, Angela, was abducted August 28 after her parents were murdered during an invasion of their Ciudad Juarez home.

Yubia Yumiko Ayala Narvaez, Regional Coordinator of the Gender-Based Violence Unit/Chihuahua North Prosecutor’s Office, and Mexico’s National AMBER Alert Coordinator, Carlos Morales Rojas, were at the conference. They worked together to release national and state alerts for Angela.

Media and public response to both alerts came swiftly. (See photo above.) By the next day, the kidnappers, likely aware the case was receiving national attention, abandoned Angela in a Ciudad Juarez doorway. A woman found the infant and immediately called 911. And less than 30 hours after the issuance of the state AMBER Alert, the child was safely recovered.

“Narvaez and Rojas met for the first time as they arrived for the conference. This was just one of so many examples of how incredibly important regional events like this are to the ongoing work to build preparedness for effective response to cases of endangered missing and abducted children—in Mexico and the U.S.—through cross-border planning,” Leon-Baron says.

AATTAP’s Northern Border Initiative (NBI) also relies heavily on collaboration between Canadian provinces’ child protection officials and U.S. counterparts. Like Mexico, Canada also has Tribal components. “But the dynamics are different,” Leon-Baron explains. The professionals’ work often involves family abductions of children, either taken into or out of one country to another.

AATTAP visits have included Canadian AMBER Alert Coordinators and members of both the U.S. Customs & Border Patrol, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and Tribal law enforcement (such as the St. Regis Mohawk Police Department). And the next NBI event—a focus group meeting—was held this September in Bonners Ferry, Idaho.

Serbia and Argentina

One of AATTAP’s highest-profile international endeavors was working with officials from the Bureau of Narcotics and International Law Enforcement (INL) and the Republic of Serbia to help that country launch its AMBER Alert-style program “Pronadji Me” (“Find Me”) in June 2023. The AATTAP-INL-New York-Virginia team also advised Bosnia-Herzegovina on their AMBER Alert-style plan.

The meeting, held at the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C., also featured insight from Virginia and New York child protection officers. Virginia State Police AMBER Alert Coordinators Sergeant Connie Brooks and Lieutenant Robbie Goodrich outlined how their state AMBER Alert activations are decided and disseminated. Additionally, New York State Police AMBER Alert Coordinator Erika Hock, New York State Missing Persons Clearinghouse (NYSMPC) Manager Cindy Neff, and NYSMPC Investigative Supervisor Timothy Williams participated virtually to discuss their state’s AMBER Alert program requirements.

In March 2024—nine months after the U.S. meeting—Serbia activated its first “Find Me” Alert after a 2-year-old girl Dana Ilic disappeared in the town of Bor. Television and radio stations interrupted their programs to share details about Dana, including the time and place of her disappearance, and her clothes and age. Citizens also received SMS (short message service) alerts.

“Though Serbia’s first AMBER Alert sadly did not result in Dana’s safe return, the country is learning from the alert’s implementation, which will help other children who go missing,” Rasmussen says.

Serbia’s “Find Me” Alert is modeled on U.S. AMBER Alerts.

Although in-person meetings are always preferred, virtual meetings do have their advantages. Consider AATTAP’s one-day CART Virtual Instructor-Led Training with Argentina—an event in which AATTAP collaborated with the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children.

“The response was overwhelming,” Leon-Baron says. “We had hundreds on our call, with many more wanting to join.” AATTAP’s next trainings with Argentina were in October.

Dominican Republic, U.S. Virgin Islands, and beyond

Meetings with child protection and government officials in the Dominican Republic and U.S. Virgin Islands have been delayed due to hurricanes, but the AATTAP planned to visit this fall.

“Our work is really just beginning,” Rasmussen says. “Now that we’ve assessed the territories’ needs, we plan to go back and help them get their AMBER Alert programs where they need to be. There is a lot of training ahead—focusing on on investigative strategies, first responders, search and rescue teams—and all of it will be informed by the geographical and cultural considerations that we have seen firsthand.”

Rebecca Sherman contributed to this report.