2025 AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium

A Gifted Moment
Knowing that Pamela Foster’s daughter, Ashlynne Mike, loved butterflies, NCJTC Director/AATTAP Administrator Janell Rasmussen presented Foster with a sterling silver necklace featuring a butterfly with Ashlynne’s name 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. The moment brought Foster to tears. “I will treasure this,” she said. “Thank you for always remembering Ashlynne.”

Ashlynne Mike’s mother, Pamela Foster, center, is shown with U.S. Representative Andy Biggs and Janell Rasmussen, NCJTC Director/AATTAP Administrator. “Pamela is a tremendous voice—a tremendous advocate for children,” Biggs said.

By Denise Gee Peacock

Throughout the 2025 National AMBER Alert & AMBER Alert in Indian Country Symposium, Indian Country discussions primarily centered on the need for training, technology, and collaboration

One workshop led by the Phoenix-area Gila River Police Department (GRPD) focused on a child abduction case in 2024, which occurred shortly after the GRPD had its first AMBER Alert in Indian Country implementation meeting and child abduction tabletop exercise (CATE).

Thanks to the scenario-based primer, following the missing child report, the GRPD was immediately able to activate resources, connect with partnering law enforcement agencies, and coordinate the successful response.

Pamela Foster served as keynote speaker. Her daughter, Ashlynne Mike, was abducted and murdered on the Navajo Nation reservation in 2016. In introducing Foster to attendees, Congressman Biggs said, “Not long after arriving in D.C., I met with her and learned of her tragedy. We decided to work together and try to turn her loss into something positive, something that addressed the specific needs of Tribal communities.”

Working with Foster, and U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona, Biggs helped champion passage of the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018, which provides training and tools for Tribes to best respond if a child goes missing. Find an excerpt of Foster’s message to attendees here.

Pamela Foster’s powerful presentation is excerpted here.

You are all advocates, protectors, and innovators. And we are here to work on behalf of two beautiful little girls who tragically lost their lives: my daughter, 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike, and 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, namesake of the AMBER Alert program.

In the wake of my daughter’s abduction and murder in 2016, I found out that our Navajo Nation, and other Tribes across the country, did not have the most recognized public safety tool, the AMBER Alert—the cornerstone of communication to protect our children. Thus, the resources needed to quickly search for Ashlynne were unavailable. That was tragic.

Statistics show that Indian country experiences a disproportionately high rate of violent crime. That should cause an overwhelming amount of concern.

We are accountable to our communities to find solutions to improve public safety. This is why I lobbied for passage of Ashlynne’s Law [the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act], which helps provide training and tools for Tribes to quickly respond should a child go missing.

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.

Indian Country needs AMBER Alert.